The trial begAns Tuesday for a Milwaukee preacher accused in the suffucation death an autistic child during a religious ceremony.
Ray Hemphill is charged with felony abuse of a child.
Authorities said 8-year-old Terrance Cottrell Jr., died when Hemphill pinned him down while trying to release demons in his Faith Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith last summer.
Prosecutors call it an "exorcism," but Hemphill's attorney said it was a "prayer service."
Hemphill is not an ordained minister, and church leaders said he was not sanctioned to cast out devils.
In an exclusive interview with 12 News, the little boy's father said he fears Hemphill is going to get away with murder.
"It was child abuse, but it caused death. So why not add that to it? Cause I don't think this man should just get away with a slap on the wrist," Terrance Cottrell said.
"Sometimes bad things happen. That doesn't mean there's a crime involved. That's what happened in this case," Hemphill's attorney, James Kachelski, said last September.
The medical examiner ruled homicide by suffocation, but the district attorney said he can't win a conviction with that charge in court.