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javaguru
Banned
I respect the freedom of individuals to practice their religious beliefs but this is disgusting...the sad part is that 39 states have laws protecting religious nuts from child abuse prosecution based on their religious beliefs.
Jury Weighs Faith-Healing Death Case Against Girl's Dad - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com
A jury in central Wisconsin was deliberating Friday in the case of a father charged with homicide for allegedly praying instead of taking his dying daughter to a doctor.
A prosecutor told jurors in closing arguments that Dale Neumann acted selfishly and killed his daughter in a test of his extreme religious beliefs.
The prosecutor argued that Neumann failed to meet his legal obligations as a parent and should be found guilty of homicide.
Neumann's attorney said his client honestly thought praying would heal his 11-year-old daughter Madeline and contended he did nothing criminally wrong.
Closing arguments ended Friday morning after four days of testimony in the second-degree reckless homicide trial. The jury began deliberating later in the day.
The girl's mother was convicted of the same charge in May.
Neumann was the last witness called Thursday in his trial in Wausau.
He told jurors he couldn't seek medical treatment for Madeline — who suffered from undiagnosed diabetes — without disobeying God.
"I can't do that because Biblically, I cannot find that is the way people are healed," Neumann said.
Prosecutors contend the 47-year-old father of three other children had a legal duty to take the girl to the hospital because her health had deteriorated to the point she couldn't walk, talk or eat.
Neumann testified he believed praying for the girl was needed because all healing comes from God and he never expected her to die.
"If I go to the doctor, I am putting the doctor before God," Neumann said. "I am not believing what he said he would do."
Madeline died March 23, 2008, of diabetes on the floor of the family's rural Weston home as people surrounded her and prayed.
Neumann, who once studied to be a Pentecostal minister, preached to the jury about his faith in God's healing powers and cried out like he was talking to the Lord. He said he has been a born-again Christian since 1982.
He testified he thought Madeline had the flu or perhaps a fever but never expected her die. He thought she was in a deep sleep but not unconscious, even though her breathing was labored.
At one point in his nearly four hours of testimony, Neumann cried and nearly whispered to the jury.
"Who am I to predict death when death is an appointed time for all of us?" he asked.
Doctors testified earlier in the trial that Madeline would have had a good chance of surviving if she received medical treatment, including insulin and fluids, before she stopped breathing.
His wife and the girl's mother, Leilani Neumann, was convicted of second-degree reckless homicide this spring and faces up to 25 years in prison when sentenced Oct. 6.
Leilani Neumann testified earlier in her husband's trial that she noticed her daughter had been weaker and drank a lot of water — some early symptoms of diabetes — about two weeks before she died.
The prosecutions of the mother and father were separated so that each could be called upon to testify in the case against the other.
Also Thursday, a woman who prayed with the Neumanns and helped give Madeline a sponge bath hours before she died testified she thought the girl had the flu.
"She looked a little pale. I could see that she was weak," Lynn Wilde told the jury. "She would respond when we would call her name. She would make noises. She moved her head."
Wilde, a loyal member of Neumann's Bible study group, testified for the defense as Neumann's attorney tried to show the father didn't know how ill his daughter was.
Wilde said the five adults and three other children at the home prayed and took communion in an effort to heal the girl. She went home and took a nap, expecting the Neumanns to call later and say Madeline was fine and walking again.
"I believe in the power of prayer," Wilde testified.
The girl died about two hours later. Someone called 911 when she stopped breathing.
Jury Weighs Faith-Healing Death Case Against Girl's Dad - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com
A jury in central Wisconsin was deliberating Friday in the case of a father charged with homicide for allegedly praying instead of taking his dying daughter to a doctor.
A prosecutor told jurors in closing arguments that Dale Neumann acted selfishly and killed his daughter in a test of his extreme religious beliefs.
The prosecutor argued that Neumann failed to meet his legal obligations as a parent and should be found guilty of homicide.
Neumann's attorney said his client honestly thought praying would heal his 11-year-old daughter Madeline and contended he did nothing criminally wrong.
Closing arguments ended Friday morning after four days of testimony in the second-degree reckless homicide trial. The jury began deliberating later in the day.
The girl's mother was convicted of the same charge in May.
Neumann was the last witness called Thursday in his trial in Wausau.
He told jurors he couldn't seek medical treatment for Madeline — who suffered from undiagnosed diabetes — without disobeying God.
"I can't do that because Biblically, I cannot find that is the way people are healed," Neumann said.
Prosecutors contend the 47-year-old father of three other children had a legal duty to take the girl to the hospital because her health had deteriorated to the point she couldn't walk, talk or eat.
Neumann testified he believed praying for the girl was needed because all healing comes from God and he never expected her to die.
"If I go to the doctor, I am putting the doctor before God," Neumann said. "I am not believing what he said he would do."
Madeline died March 23, 2008, of diabetes on the floor of the family's rural Weston home as people surrounded her and prayed.
Neumann, who once studied to be a Pentecostal minister, preached to the jury about his faith in God's healing powers and cried out like he was talking to the Lord. He said he has been a born-again Christian since 1982.
He testified he thought Madeline had the flu or perhaps a fever but never expected her die. He thought she was in a deep sleep but not unconscious, even though her breathing was labored.
At one point in his nearly four hours of testimony, Neumann cried and nearly whispered to the jury.
"Who am I to predict death when death is an appointed time for all of us?" he asked.
Doctors testified earlier in the trial that Madeline would have had a good chance of surviving if she received medical treatment, including insulin and fluids, before she stopped breathing.
His wife and the girl's mother, Leilani Neumann, was convicted of second-degree reckless homicide this spring and faces up to 25 years in prison when sentenced Oct. 6.
Leilani Neumann testified earlier in her husband's trial that she noticed her daughter had been weaker and drank a lot of water — some early symptoms of diabetes — about two weeks before she died.
The prosecutions of the mother and father were separated so that each could be called upon to testify in the case against the other.
Also Thursday, a woman who prayed with the Neumanns and helped give Madeline a sponge bath hours before she died testified she thought the girl had the flu.
"She looked a little pale. I could see that she was weak," Lynn Wilde told the jury. "She would respond when we would call her name. She would make noises. She moved her head."
Wilde, a loyal member of Neumann's Bible study group, testified for the defense as Neumann's attorney tried to show the father didn't know how ill his daughter was.
Wilde said the five adults and three other children at the home prayed and took communion in an effort to heal the girl. She went home and took a nap, expecting the Neumanns to call later and say Madeline was fine and walking again.
"I believe in the power of prayer," Wilde testified.
The girl died about two hours later. Someone called 911 when she stopped breathing.
