{"id":217620,"date":"2026-01-19T20:54:51","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T20:54:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/19\/family-accused-of-torturing-3-year-old-to-death-during-exorcism-seeks-to-have-case-thrown-out-under-racial-justice-act\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T20:54:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T20:54:51","slug":"family-accused-of-torturing-3-year-old-to-death-during-exorcism-seeks-to-have-case-thrown-out-under-racial-justice-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/19\/family-accused-of-torturing-3-year-old-to-death-during-exorcism-seeks-to-have-case-thrown-out-under-racial-justice-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Family Accused of Torturing 3-Year-Old to Death During Exorcism Seeks to Have Case Thrown Out Under Racial Justice Act"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>In 2021, a three-year-old girl named Arely Naomi Proctor died on the altar of the Iglesia Evangelica Apostoles y Profetas church in San Jose, California.<\/p>\n<p>First responders reported that there were signs she had been tortured for 12 hours.<\/p>\n<p>Medical examiners later determined that she died of mechanical asphyxia and smothering.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors say Arely was killed by members of her own family, several of whom have been in police custody ever since.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><noscript><\/noscript><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"561\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-19-at-2.52.46-PM-1024x561.png\" alt=\"Three-year-old Arely Naomi Proctor was allegedly murdered during a ritual exorcism.\" class=\"wp-image-545894 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-19-at-2.52.46-PM-1024x561.png 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-19-at-2.52.46-PM-300x164.png 300w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-19-at-2.52.46-PM-768x421.png 768w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-19-at-2.52.46-PM-960x526.png 960w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-19-at-2.52.46-PM-1080x592.png 1080w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-19-at-2.52.46-PM-1200x657.png 1200w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-19-at-2.52.46-PM.png 1628w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 760px) calc(100vw - 20px), 720px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-19-at-2.52.46-PM.png\" loading=\"lazy\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Three-year-old Arely Naomi Proctor was allegedly murdered during a ritual exorcism.<span class=\"image-caption-credit\"> (YouTube)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The victim\u2019s mother, Claudia Elisa Hernandez, 29, allegedly told police that she believed her daughter was possessed.<\/p>\n<p>Arely\u2019s uncle, Rene \u201cAaron\u201d Hernandez Santos, 23, and grandfather Rene Trigueros Hernandez, 63, allegedly participated and provided the same motive when questioned by police.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/arely-naomi-proctor-death-alleged-exorcism-san-jose-church\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CBS News<\/a>, one church official stated that the Hernandezes were attempting to \u201cliberate her of her evil spirits.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>All three were charged with felony assault on a child causing death. The district attorney in the case has requested a punishment of 25 years to life for each suspect.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Hernandez] strangled her multiple times to the point where the victim went unconscious, she stuck her hands down her throat, and continued this course of conduct for almost a full day,\u201d prosecutors allege.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mother of Girl Killed in Apparent Exorcism Faces Judge in San Jose\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/djhHi61Tr_I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Now, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kron4.com\/news\/bay-area\/mother-charged-in-deadly-san-jose-church-exorcism-makes-rja-motion\/?fbclid=IwY2xjawPTdqNleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETExMVAwUEdFd3dEMk93ZXVqc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHt8KJdmlFtrYWv3CQK7wvLY_zSlqW2wIcKW-95TYUdI2-iBU88moDaoGYA0A_aem_KsQ-z486VffffUgQSaVlvw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">KRON<\/a> news, the suspects have filed a joint motion to have their case dismissed under the terms of California\u2019s Racial Justice Act (RJA).<\/p>\n<p>The family allegeds that police and prosecutors showed bias toward them because of their religious faith, ethnic identity, and national origin.<\/p>\n<p>The Hernansezes say that they were practicing their faith as Salvadoran Pentecostals, and that they have \u201can absolute belief in divine, supernatural intervention.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The suspects claim that the exorcism was overseen by the pastor of their church, Trigueros Hernandez.<\/p>\n<p>They say the pastor has safely performed numerous exorcisms in the past, and that he once saw a crocodile 12 to 18 inches long emerge from a woman after he prayed over her for six hours. <\/p>\n<p>Just days before her arrest, Arely\u2019s mother posted a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=K_U3A9ZnuPg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">YouTube video<\/a> in which she stated, \u201cLike, I could sit here and be negative\u2026 be sad about the whole situation that she passed away, but it\u2019s like, there\u2019s no point, you know, because it is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We will have further updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehollywoodgossip.com\/2026\/01\/family-accused-of-torturing-3-year-old-to-death-during-exorcism-seeks-to-have-case-thrown-out-under-racial-justice-act\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reading Time: 2 minutes In 2021, a three-year-old girl named Arely Naomi Proctor died on the altar of the Iglesia Evangelica Apostoles y Profetas church in San Jose, California. First responders reported that there were signs she had been tortured for 12 hours. Medical examiners later determined that she died of mechanical asphyxia and smothering. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":217622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-217620","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hollywood"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}