On December 23th, of 1985, a pair of young men from Nebraska shot themselves after listening to Judas Priest records. One of the men, Raymond Belknap, shot himself and died while the other, James Vance, only demolished his face and rode around town shocking people with his disfigurement. Being the only one to survive, he left and told a message to his friend's mom saying, "I believe that alcohol and heavy metal music, such as Judas Priest, led us or even 'mesmerized' us into believing that the answer to 'life was death'". James Vance later died in 1988 from drugs and complications from from his numerous surgeries. Even though dead, his message was kept alive. Reno Judge Jerry Whitehead states that the first amendment can't protect CBS records and Judas Priest from the lawsuits from the victims' families. The case revolves around subliminal messages they argued that in Judas Priest's album "Stained Class", the song "Better by You, Better than Me", the track encouraged listeners to commit suicide and the words "Do It" were repeated constantly throughout the song. The lawyer for Mr. Belknap's family says "Judas Priest and CBS pander this stuff to alienated teenagers, the members of the chess club, the math and science majors don't listen to this stuff. It's the dropouts, the drug and alcohol abusers, so our argument is you have a duty to be cautious when you're dealing with a population susceptible to this stuff". Suellen Fulstone, the lawyer representing CBS records and Judas Priest argued that the two young men had lived a "sad and miserable lives" and led to their deaths "long before any connection with heavy metal music". Also stating "the risk that ideas may cause undesirable behavior" and "is a small price to pay for a free society". Both CBS and the band deny the claim citing "I don't think music causes you to commit suicide; if the circumstances of life make your outlook so hopeless, it has nothing to do with what you hear, see or read". The families thought otherwise, even though both men had a long, troubled life. Both dropped out of high school, drift from job to job and were into guns. Suellen Fulstone says they were two young men with nowhere to go, no strong relationships, no futures". The case was later dismissed, with Judas Priest pleading not guilty.
The Judas Priest Trial
Judas Priest were sued by the parents of two young men that killed themselves after listening to Judas Priest record, Stained Class.