The 70-minute videotape, which the therapists made themselves, showed Candace, bound in a flannel sheet and covered with pillows, being forced to struggle to breathe like a newborn child. When the terrified girl begged for air, Watkins said, “You gotta fight for it.” When she screamed she was dying, Watkins and Ponder shouted, “Go ahead and die.” In fact, Candace had choked on her own vomit and was unconscious; she died in a local hospital the next day. Watkins and Ponder testified they had no idea the girl was in danger and that the therapy was only intended to cure her disruptive behavior. The jury didn’t buy it, and the pair now face up to 48 years in prison. Gov. Bill Owens signed a bill to ban rebirthing in Colorado; it’s called “Candace’s Law.”
