Miami, USA - A self-described Vodou priestess who was arrested for trying to bring a human skull into the country to ward off evil spirits is expected to plead guilty to a lesser charge today.
Myrlene Severe is scheduled to appear at 3:30 p.m. today before U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn.
The 30-year-old Miramar woman will likely plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of illegally storing human remains, punishable by a maximum of only one year in jail. She had faced up to 15 years in prison. But the federal prosecutor changed the charges from three felonies to one misdemeanor in a hearing in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale late last month.
Prosecutors originally charged her with three felonies: intentionally smuggling a human head into the United States, not having the proper paperwork and bringing hazardous material onto an airplane.
But prosecutors agreed to change the charge to the seldom-used misdemeanor statute that prohibits a person from storing human remains except at a licensed facility like a medical examiner's office or cemetery.
Since Severe has never been convicted of a crime, she would likely get zero to six months jail time, although she could face a year.
The deal puts Severe -- who is a legal U.S. resident but a citizen of Haiti -- in the best position possible in terms of avoiding deportation. Typically, people are deported for crimes of ''moral turpitude'' -- usually felonies.
Severe has been bombarded with questions from authorities and reporters since she was stopped by federal agents at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Feb. 9. She was arrested but released a few days later after paying $10,000 bond.
Federal agents found a skull inside Severe's luggage when she was returning to Florida from a trip to Haiti. The skull, with black curly hair, was in a cotton rice bag along with a banana leaf, dirt, small stones and a rusty iron nail. Broward County Medical Examiner Dr. Joshua Perper determined the skull was from a black man about 40 years old or younger who died more than a year ago.
Severe told federal agents that she planned to use the skull to ward off evil spirits as part of her Vodou religion. Severe, who has practiced Vodou since childhood, is a priestess in her native Haiti and in South Florida, her attorney, Kenneth Hassett, said.