The families of three Florida high school students who died after being hypnotised by their principal will each receive $200,000 in legal settlement from the school board.
The board of the Sarasota County School has approved the $600,000 legal settlement to the bereaved loved ones of Wesley McKinley, 16, Brittany Palumbo, 17, and Marcus Freeman, 16.
The three teenage students all died after undergoing hypnosis sessions with North Point High School Principal George Kenney.
"It's something they will never get over. He altered the underdeveloped brains of teenagers, and they all ended up dead because of it," lawyer Damian Mallard, who represented the victims' families told reporters, as quoted by Christian News.
Freeman, a quarterback for the school's football team, died in a car crash in March 2011, after he supposedly fell into a state of hypnosis while driving the vehicle. The victim had sought Kenney's help, believing that hypnosis would help him concentrate on the field.
The month after Freeman's accident, McKinley was found dead hanging outside of his home. The student was likewise hypnotised by the school principal on the same day he died.
That same year, Palumbo was also found hanging in her closet, after she sought hypnosis sessions with Kenney in an attempt to improve her grades.
Palumbo's mom, Patricia, said the school board is also liable for what happened to her daughter.
"The school board is as negligent as Dr. Kenney is, or Mr. Kenney, I should say. I need those other families to know that I'm trying to help their kids and their families so that they don't end up like my daughter and my family," the hypnosis victim's mother said.
Aside from the three students, Kenney is believed to have also hypnotised some 75 students and members of the school staff from 2006 to 2011. He resigned from his post as school principal in May 2011.
