So how did Jim beat the multiple murder charges?
Must be in the deleted scenes.
"I'm in the empire business."
The detective investigating the murders saw what was really going on during the film's climax.
http://houstonrambler.blogspot.com/
True, but what was the detective going to say - that the witchboard did it? Also, from the eyes of the detective, he might have witnessed certain weird things that he did not understand or was unable to explain, but would he give a supernatural interpretation to that? If he said a spirit did it, he would be fired or even put into a mental institution.
Also, there were also the other deaths. They would probably have explained away Zarabeth's death as an accident, but how about Brandon's body with a claw hammer through his forehead?
Exactly, and didn't the detective die in the scene? That just leaves Jim and his story of how his girlfriend got possessed. I'm sure the prosecution loves cases like that.
shareNo, the detective did not die. But all he knew was that he tried to save "Linda" from Jim but she almost knocked him out, and Jim shot the "witchboard" and then fell out the window. He saw the two acting strange but had no reason to believe in anything supernatural. So there were still the murders to be explained and Jim was the main suspect.
shareMy guess is that there wasn't much or any concrete evidence on Jim to formally charge him with the murders. The Lloyd, Zarabeth, and Brandon deaths are all open to speculation, with Jim being a person of interest, but nothing further.
In truth, the screenplay didn't seem to bother with this detail, so I guess it's up to the viewer to let their imagination run wild.