In 2009, the principal at North Port High School in Sarasota, Florida, began performing one of his hobbies on the students - hypnotism.

Then, within a three-month period, three students he had hypnotized tragically lost their lives. In 2012, their families filed a wrongful death lawsuit. Would the principal be found liable for their deaths?

This episode was researched and written by Gabrielle Russon, Matt Stroud, and edited and narrated by Jillian Jalali.

Original music, scoring, and editing by Kory Hilpmann.

CIVIL is a new podcast from the team at the Court Junkie Podcast.