04:02 PM CST on Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Associated Press

File / AP

Dena Schlosser

McKINNEY — The pastor of the church attended by a woman accused of fatally cutting off the arms off her 10-month-old daughter told jurors Wednesday that mental illness is actually demon possession that can't be cured with medication.

Dena Schlosser, 37, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the death of Margaret in November 2004. She was not taking her anti-psychotic medication at the time of the slaying.

"I do not believe that any mental illness exists other than demons, and no medication can straighten it out, other than the power of God," said Doyle Davidson, the 73-year-old minister of the Water of Life Church where Dena Schlosser and John Schlosser attended several times a week.

Dena Schlosser's attorneys have faulted her husband and beliefs of the family's church for downplaying and normalizing her strange behavior. John Schlosser testified Tuesday that he did not seek medical help when his wife told him she wanted to "give the baby to God" about a week before their daughter's death.

Prosecutors contend that Dena Schlosser knew right from wrong in the baby's death.

Davidson said he hardly knew the family, although John Schlosser testified earlier that Davidson was the first person he called after his wife told him what she had done.

Davidson, who has a cable TV show in the Dallas area and several states, also testified that he has cast demons out of parishioners and seen evil spirits—including one 6 feet tall with a long tail.

Dena Schlosser was arrested after police responding to a 911 call found her in the living room, covered in blood, still holding a knife and listening to a church hymn.

The doctor who treated Dena Schlosser earlier in 2004 described her as "delusional and hyper-religious," and another defense witness, scriptural expert Rev. Kathryn Self, has characterized the beliefs of Davidson's church as far outside mainstream Christianity.

After her arrest, Dena Schlosser was diagnosed with manic depression. In February 2005, a jury deliberated only a few minutes before deciding she was mentally incompetent to stand trial and she was committed to North Texas State Hospital. But in May, a judge decided she was competent.

She had been accused of child neglect in the months before Margaret's death, but a state investigation found she did not pose a risk to the 10-month-old or her other two daughters. The case was one of a number of high-profile deaths that led to recommendations to overhaul the state's child welfare agency.

Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty. Dena Schlosser would face life in prison if convicted.