Arne Cheyenne Johnson's possession defence

The 1981 killing of Alan Bono in Brookfield, Connecticut, and the murder trial in which Arne Cheyenne Johnson's lawyer tried to argue demonic possession.

Alan Bono, 40, managed a kennel in Brookfield, Connecticut, and was the landlord of Arne Cheyenne Johnson, 19, who was employed by a tree surgeon. The New York Times reported that on 16 February 1981, after an argument, Johnson stabbed Bono. People magazine said Johnson used a pocket knife while Debbie Glatzel, his fiancée, watched, and that Bono died about an hour later. By People's account it was the first recorded homicide in the town's 193 years. Time reported that Johnson's sisters were also there and signed police statements saying they saw him stab Bono.

Johnson was indicted for first-degree murder in March 1981. His lawyer, Martin Minnella, wanted to argue that demons had possessed him and pointed to two British cases that had allowed such a defence, according to the University of Virginia School of Law's archive. Judge Robert Callahan refused, ruling that possession could not be proved by scientific or objective evidence. Minnella turned to self-defence instead. Wikipedia describes it as the first known US case in which a defence tried to prove innocence through a claim of possession, and it is also called the "Devil Made Me Do It" case.

On 24 November 1981 the jury convicted Johnson of first-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to 10 to 20 years and, the law school archive says, served 5. Time returned to the case in October 2023, in a piece on the Netflix title The Devil on Trial.