After the Judge issued Preliminary Instructions to the jury, the attorneys began their first official statements to the jury. 

Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk, representing the State of Arizona began her opening statement Tuesday afternoon by naming Kirby Brown, 38, James Shore, 40 and Liz Neuman, 49 as three vibrant, healthy adults, eager to gain knowledge. Instead of the knowledge they sought, Polk says they found "death in Mr. Ray's sweat lodge."

An opening statement is meant to describe to the jury what they can expect to see and hear as part of the trial. It is not meant to argue the case, or try to convince a jury that one side or another is right or wrong. It is simply supposed to prepare the jury for what will be presented in the days, weeks and sometimes, months, ahead.

Ray is being charged with manslaughter, defined in the Arizona Revised Statutes (ARS) § 13-1103 (A) (1) as, "recklessly causing the death of another person."

'Recklessly' is defined further in ARS § 13-105 (10) (C): "'Recklessly'" means, with respect to a result or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense, that a person is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the result will occur or that the circumstance exists. The risk must be of such nature and degree that disregard of such risk constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the situation. A person who creates such a risk but is unaware of such risk solely by reason of voluntary intoxication also acts recklessly with respect to such risk."

The Prosecution's Opening Statement

Pointing out that 56 people followed Ray into the tent, Polk said that by the end of the 'heat endurance challenge', 20 people were down, with several of those unconscious. Three had died.

Polk then plays a tape of the 911 call, in which the caller says that two of the sweat lodge participants have no pulse. One male, one female. "Not breathing," the caller states. The caller calls back again with an update, one person is burnt, and 3 are not breathing. "Three?" asks the dispatcher.

According to Polk, Brown and Shore died of heat stroke, and Neuman died 10 days later with her family at her side, as doctors removed her from life support. She suffered a multi-organ failure from hypothermia due to prolonged sweat lodge exposure. Neuman was also a member of the 'Dream Team' a group of people who were experienced in the Spiritual Warrior retreats and there to assist the participants.

Ray's Spiritual Warrior retreat was meant to ensure the 5 Pillars of Success, Polk said:

• Financial
• Relationships
• Physical
• Mental
• Spiritual

It was right about at this point during the opening statement that an audio tape was heard, "Welcome to Spiritual Warrior. Time is short. Tick, tock, tick, tock. We don't have a lot of time left. Tick, tock, tick tock." The voice heard was Ray himself, speaking at the 2009 Spiritual Warrior retreat at Angel Lodge in Sedona.

Many in the courtroom seemed startled, not expecting to hear Ray's voice during the Prosecution's opening arguments. A couple of stifled gasps were heard in the audience.

[Editor's note: eNewsAZ is in the process of obtaining the recording of the opening statements and will provide it at a later time.]

A great deal of the 2009 Spiritual Warrior retreat was recorded, and Polk played several clips from it, (these were characterized as being "taken out of context" by Luis Li, attorney for James Ray, later in the afternoon when he made his opening statements) effectively demonstrating Ray's leadership in the Spiritual Warrior Retreat.

Many of the audio clips Polk played referenced death, eerily phrophetic when heard in hindsight. "The question is not whether or not you're going to physically die, you are," Ray's voice was heard to say. "The question is how you live."

Polk used Ray's voice as she continued to describe several activities that would occur during the retreat, holotropic breathwork, Samurai Game, Vision Quest, the Sweat Lodge. "The point is to have an altered experience," Ray's voice said, explaining that it takes an altered experience to move you forward in life.

"You will feel as if you're going to die." Ray's voice continued to describe the upcoming sweat lodge experience, "The true Spiritual Warrior will conquer death... when you emerge you will be a different person... you must surrender to death in order to survive it."

Once in the sweat lodge, even when participants began to show signs of distress, Ray did not stop the 'heat endurance challenge', Polk alleges. She named off several instances when it might have seemed prudent to stop the event and tend to participants having difficulties, but Ray continued on, until the very end.

Polk claimed that at one point, someone even called out to Ray that one of the participants was not breathing, and they needed help. "We'll deal with it when we're done," was the reported reply from Ray.

"No one alleges that Mr. Ray intended to kill anyone," Polk states, and then reminds the jury of the definition of manslaughter. "The risk must be of such nature and degree that disregard of such risk constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the situation."

Opening Statement for the Defense

"The deaths of James Shore, Kirby Brown and Liz Neuman are a tragedy," Li said as he began his opening statement. "Nothing will change that. They died as a result of an accident, not a crime."

"Mr. Ray is eager to be here," Li continued, noting that it's taken a long time for the trial to begin. "The State has accused Mr. Ray of killing three people. Don't go into the jury room with emotion, anger or prejudice. Listen hard to the evidence. Argument is not evidence... make the State prove every fact beyond reasonable doubt."

Li then went on to say that the State's position is that Mr. Ray killed 3 people because he encouraged people to stay beyond their abilities. "But these people were all adults. And in American adults can choose for themselves."

• The State was presenting an "Adults can't choose for themeselves" theory, he said. He went on to point out several things that he believes refutes that theory:
• There was no force, instead on the tapes the jurors heard in Polk's opening statement were words like, "You can do this."
• Participants made the choice weeks in advance, when they signed up and signed the waiver. That waiver did list the Vision Quest, and sweat lodge - described as very hot.

"If I 'choose' to participate," Li explained. "I have not been coerced, I assume full responsibility. People chose not to participate."

Two sisters did leave, he pointed out. And before the sweat lodge ceremony, a woman chose not to participate

Ray told participants that if it got too hot, they could leave, just do so in a safe manner, according to Li. He said that was the reason for the instructions that they could only leave at the end of the round. Li reminded the jury that there was a pit in the center filled with hot rocks, and it was dangerous for them not to follow Ray's instructions.

Li also pointed out that the sweat lodge was not a building, it was a structure coverd with blankets, sleeping bags and a tarp. Li said that Ray just wanted people to be safe.

Furthermore, he noted that Ray did not build, design or own the lodge, he rented it for the sum of $107,200.

The next subject Li tackled was the cause of death. Pointing out that the State's theory for the cause of death was heat stroke, which would cause people to feel 'tingly' and light-headed, and eventually lead to organ failure and death. According to Li, however, heat stroke has 2 critical criteria:

• Elevated internal temperature of 104 or higher
• Severe dehydration

Li said that testimony would show that none of the people hospitalized had elevated temperatures or suffered from severe dehydration.

On the contrary, Li pointed out that Ray was continually encouraging the participants to hydrate.

"But, from day one, people suspected toxins," Li said, offering an alternative theory of the cause of death. He then proceeded to point out several facts:

• Although the detectives removed soil samples, the State didn't have them tested
• The wood used was not standard firewood, it was pressurized, construction wood from a building project. "Filled with toxins," according to Li.
• The tarps were stored in a building that had rat poison chunks on the ground
• Ray did not choose which wood to use to burn, or store the tarps
• Less than 48 hours after the tragedy, the owners of Angel Lodge tore the sweat lodge apart, destroyed the scene, cut up the tarps, burned the remains of the structure and raked the ground clean.

That was because, "The State looked in only one direction," Li said, pointing to Ray at the table as an indication of where the State was looking. He said they didn't explore the idea of toxins, despite a variety of initial medical comments suggesting the illness and deaths might be from something other than heat stroke.

But, before Attorney Li was able to finish his opening statements, it was time to recess for the evening.

The next day, Li continued his opening statements, quickly reviewing some of the points he made the day before.

Then he talked about the Samurai Warrior game, asking, "Were they talking about death, really seriously dying, or was it a metaphor?"

Li noted that similar metaphors can be found in the Bible, too, quoting from Corinthians, "I die daily."

Li suggested that juors ask themselves certain questions during the upcoming trial:

• "Was he saying, 'I want you all to die' or was he using a metaphor?"
• "Were they adults?"
• "Were they forced to do anything?"
• "Are they able to think for themselves like any other American in this country?
• "Did Mr. Ray cause three people to die?"
• Whether or not Ray knew and was consciously aware that people were dying.

According to Li, Ray was making a point with the exercises and activities he had planned for the week. The point was, "You can overcome."

"Everyone thought it was going to be tough like a marathon," Li said. "But nobody thought anyone was going to die."

What happened was not criminal, Li asserted again. "It was a terrible, terrible tragedy."

Family and Friends Respond

Two rows in the courtroom were reserved for the families of the victims. At times they were overcome by emotion, but they mostly sat quietly, listening intently.

That evening, Tom McFeeley, Kirby Brown's cousin took a few moments to speak with the media representatives.

When asked how he was doing, he said, "We're doing well. There is no good outcome here, of course. We'll never get what we want, which is to have our loved one returned to us."

McFeeley appeared to be offended, although not surprised, by the defense arguments, which he deemed to be "simplistic".

"He [Ray] knew people were in danger, no matter what caused it," McFeeley said.

Connie Joy also was in the courtroom. At one time, Joy said she and her husband were in Ray's inner circle, very close friends with Ray. Now she's the author of the book, "Tragedy in Sedona."

Joy, who attended many other James Ray International events, as well as previous Spiritual Warrior retreats said she wasn't surprised, "We were expecting something like this to happen," she stated. As a matter of fact, Joy said she and her husband were signed up to attend the 2009 Spiritual Warrior retreat, and they pulled out 2 weeks before the event, believing that Ray was pushing people too hard and beyond what was safe.

Could she have prevented what happened? Joy shook her head. "No, probably not."

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