Judge allows charges in Wis. prayer-death case
Judge allows charges in Wis. prayer-death case
By The Associated Press
12.02.08
WAUSAU, Wis. — A judge refused yesterday to dismiss reckless-homicide charges against parents accused of praying instead of seeking a doctor's care as their 11-year-old daughter died of untreated diabetes.
Marathon County Circuit Judge Vincent Howard rejected arguments that prosecuting Dale and Leilani Neumann violated their constitutional rights to freedom of religion and due process.
"The free exercise clause of the First Amendment protects religious belief, but not necessarily conduct," Howard wrote in a 20-page decision.
Parents have a legal obligation in Wisconsin to project their children, care for them in sickness and do whatever may be necessary for their "care, maintenance and preservation, including medical attendance if necessary," the judge said.
The sole issue for a jury to decide is whether the parents reasonably knew that refusing to rush the girl to a doctor threatened her with death, Howard wrote.
The Neumanns have pleaded not guilty to second-degree reckless homicide, which carries a maximum punishment of 25 years in prison.
Their daughter, Madeline, died at their Weston home on Easter after becoming too weak to speak, eat, drink or walk, prosecutors said. They claim the girl — nicknamed Kara — likely had symptoms for weeks and perhaps months that should have prompted her parents to seek treatment.
Leilani Neumann, 40, has said the family believes in the Bible, which says healing comes from God, and she never expected her daughter to die as they prayed for her. The parents told investigators the girl had not been to a doctor since she was 3.
Dale Neumann, 46, considered his daughter's illness "a test of faith," the criminal complaint said.
The couple's attorneys, Gene Linehan and Jay Kronenwetter, and prosecutors Jill Falstad and Lamont Jacobson did not return telephone messages left yesterday at their Wausau offices.
Judge Howard has said he expected his decision to be appealed no matter how he ruled, delaying any trial, given that it's the first case of its kind in Wisconsin.
The judge ruled the parents have a constitutionally protected right to freely exercise their religious belief in prayer to cure illness. "However, their right to transfer religious belief into conduct must yield to neutral, generally applied criminal statutes designed to protect public safety," Howard wrote. "Justice cannot give a free pass to anyone who claims that their religious beliefs blinded them to that which a reasonable person would be able to observe as a matter of fact."
Prosecutors must be able to challenge the source and strength of the parents' religious beliefs and such an inquiry would not enter "the forbidden realm of the First Amendment," Howard said. The power of prayer to heal, while common in nearly all religions, cannot be proven, he said.
"Thus, if (the parents) genuinely believed that prayer alone would save their daughter and that she was in no danger of dying without medical care, then they could not be found criminally negligent," the judge wrote.
Prosecutors have argued the couple rejected advice from relatives to get the girl to a doctor and did other things beside pray — including putting droplets of water in her mouth — to try to heal her.
Howard ruled that two Wisconsin laws — one that says it is not child abuse to treat illness through prayer alone and a homicide law that makes no exception for prayer — are not inconsistent to the point of violating the parents' due-process rights in having "fair notice" of prohibited behavior.
"There admittedly is no line in the applicable statutes that would have given the Neumanns precise notice that their reliance upon its statute accommodating prayer for treating disease or illness was passing into the realm of criminal conduct," Howard wrote. "But it is not necessary to define such a line between lawful and unlawful conduct with mathematical precision. The spiritual and prayer accommodation statute gives notice to those who wish to take advantage of it that the exemption is not without limit."
Unlike in some other states with similar laws, there is a limit in Wisconsin's "willingness to accommodate religious means of treatment" for illness in children, Howard wrote.
Previous
Wis. parents accused of praying instead of treating dying daughter
Friends had urged Neumanns to get help for Madeline, who had undiagnosed diabetes, but according to criminal complaint, father considered illness 'a test of faith.' 04.29.08
Related
Child deaths test faith-healing exemptions
Criminal cases in Oregon, Wisconsin have revived concerns about exemptions that most states grant to parents who rely on religion instead of doctors to treat sick children. 11.23.08
News summary page
View the latest news stories throughout the First Amendment Center Online.
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=20939
By The Associated Press
12.02.08
WAUSAU, Wis. — A judge refused yesterday to dismiss reckless-homicide charges against parents accused of praying instead of seeking a doctor's care as their 11-year-old daughter died of untreated diabetes.
Marathon County Circuit Judge Vincent Howard rejected arguments that prosecuting Dale and Leilani Neumann violated their constitutional rights to freedom of religion and due process.
"The free exercise clause of the First Amendment protects religious belief, but not necessarily conduct," Howard wrote in a 20-page decision.
Parents have a legal obligation in Wisconsin to project their children, care for them in sickness and do whatever may be necessary for their "care, maintenance and preservation, including medical attendance if necessary," the judge said.
The sole issue for a jury to decide is whether the parents reasonably knew that refusing to rush the girl to a doctor threatened her with death, Howard wrote.
The Neumanns have pleaded not guilty to second-degree reckless homicide, which carries a maximum punishment of 25 years in prison.
Their daughter, Madeline, died at their Weston home on Easter after becoming too weak to speak, eat, drink or walk, prosecutors said. They claim the girl — nicknamed Kara — likely had symptoms for weeks and perhaps months that should have prompted her parents to seek treatment.
Leilani Neumann, 40, has said the family believes in the Bible, which says healing comes from God, and she never expected her daughter to die as they prayed for her. The parents told investigators the girl had not been to a doctor since she was 3.
Dale Neumann, 46, considered his daughter's illness "a test of faith," the criminal complaint said.
The couple's attorneys, Gene Linehan and Jay Kronenwetter, and prosecutors Jill Falstad and Lamont Jacobson did not return telephone messages left yesterday at their Wausau offices.
Judge Howard has said he expected his decision to be appealed no matter how he ruled, delaying any trial, given that it's the first case of its kind in Wisconsin.
The judge ruled the parents have a constitutionally protected right to freely exercise their religious belief in prayer to cure illness. "However, their right to transfer religious belief into conduct must yield to neutral, generally applied criminal statutes designed to protect public safety," Howard wrote. "Justice cannot give a free pass to anyone who claims that their religious beliefs blinded them to that which a reasonable person would be able to observe as a matter of fact."
Prosecutors must be able to challenge the source and strength of the parents' religious beliefs and such an inquiry would not enter "the forbidden realm of the First Amendment," Howard said. The power of prayer to heal, while common in nearly all religions, cannot be proven, he said.
"Thus, if (the parents) genuinely believed that prayer alone would save their daughter and that she was in no danger of dying without medical care, then they could not be found criminally negligent," the judge wrote.
Prosecutors have argued the couple rejected advice from relatives to get the girl to a doctor and did other things beside pray — including putting droplets of water in her mouth — to try to heal her.
Howard ruled that two Wisconsin laws — one that says it is not child abuse to treat illness through prayer alone and a homicide law that makes no exception for prayer — are not inconsistent to the point of violating the parents' due-process rights in having "fair notice" of prohibited behavior.
"There admittedly is no line in the applicable statutes that would have given the Neumanns precise notice that their reliance upon its statute accommodating prayer for treating disease or illness was passing into the realm of criminal conduct," Howard wrote. "But it is not necessary to define such a line between lawful and unlawful conduct with mathematical precision. The spiritual and prayer accommodation statute gives notice to those who wish to take advantage of it that the exemption is not without limit."
Unlike in some other states with similar laws, there is a limit in Wisconsin's "willingness to accommodate religious means of treatment" for illness in children, Howard wrote.
Previous
Wis. parents accused of praying instead of treating dying daughter
Friends had urged Neumanns to get help for Madeline, who had undiagnosed diabetes, but according to criminal complaint, father considered illness 'a test of faith.' 04.29.08
Related
Child deaths test faith-healing exemptions
Criminal cases in Oregon, Wisconsin have revived concerns about exemptions that most states grant to parents who rely on religion instead of doctors to treat sick children. 11.23.08
News summary page
View the latest news stories throughout the First Amendment Center Online.
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=20939
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Lady Anastasia on -
Wis. parents accused of praying instead of treating dying daughter
By The Associated Press
04.29.08
WESTON, Wis. — Parents who prayed as their 11-year-old daughter died of untreated diabetes were charged yesterday with second-degree reckless homicide.
Family and friends had urged Dale and Leilani Neumann to get help for their daughter, but the father considered the illness "a test of faith" and the mother never considered taking the girl to the doctor because she thought her daughter was under a "spiritual attack," the criminal complaint said.
"It is very surprising, shocking that she wasn't allowed medical intervention," Marathon County District Attorney Jill Falstad said. "Her death could have been prevented."
Madeline Neumann died March 23 — Easter Sunday — at her family's rural Weston home. Her parents were told the body would be taken to Madison for an autopsy the next day.
"They responded, 'You won't need to do that. She will be alive by then,'" the medical examiner wrote in a report.
An autopsy determined that Madeline died from undiagnosed diabetic ketoacidosis, which left her with too little insulin in her body. Court records said she likely had some symptoms of the disease for months.
The Neumanns each face up to 25 years in prison if convicted. The couple and their attorney did not return messages left by the Associated Press in time for this story.
Falstad said the Neumanns have cooperated with investigators and are not under arrest. They have agreed to make an initial court appearance tomorrow, she said.
Randall Wormgoor, a friend of the Neumanns, told police that Dale Neumann led Bible studies at his business, Monkey Mo Coffee Shop, and believed physical illness was due to sin, curable by prayer and by asking for forgiveness from God, the complaint said.
Wormgoor said he and his wife, Althea, were at the Neumann home when Madeline — called Kara by her parents — died. Wormgoor said he had urged the father to seek medical help and was told the illness "was a test of faith for the Neumann family and asked the Wormgoors to join them in praying for Kara to get well," the complaint said.
Althea Wormgoor said she "implored" the parents to seek medical help for the girl, according to the complaint.
Leilani Neumann, 40, told the AP previously that she never expected her daughter to die. The family believes in the Bible, which says healing comes from God, but they have nothing against doctors, she said.
Dale Neumann, 46, a former police officer, has said he has friends who are doctors and started CPR "as soon as the breath of life left" his daughter's body.
According to court documents, Leilani Neumann said in a written statement to police that she never considered taking the girl, who was being home-schooled, to a doctor.
"We just thought it was a spiritual attack and we prayed for her. My husband Dale was crying and mentioned taking Kara to the doctor and I said, 'The Lord's going to heal her,' and we continued to pray," she wrote.
The father told investigators he noticed his daughter was weak and slower for about two weeks but he attributed it to symptoms of the girl reaching puberty, the complaint said.
A day before Madeline died, according to the criminal complaint, the father wrote an e-mail with the headline, "Help our daughter needs emergency prayer!!!!." It said his daughter was "very weak and pale at the moment with hardly any strength."
The girl's grandmother, Evalani Gordon, told police that she learned her granddaughter could not walk or talk on March 22 and advised Leilani Neumann to take the girl to a doctor.
Gordon eventually contacted a daughter-in-law in California who called police on a non-emergency line to report the girl was in a coma and needed medical help. An ambulance was dispatched shortly before some friends in the home called 911 to report the girl had stopped breathing, authorities said.
One relative told police that the girl's mother believed she "died because the devil is trying to stop Leilani from starting her own ministry," according to the complaint.
The Neumanns said they moved to Weston, a suburb of Wausau in central Wisconsin, from California about two years ago to open the coffee shop and be closer to other relatives. The couple has three other children, ages 13 to 16; they are living with relatives.
The family does not belong to an organized religion or faith, Leilani Neumann has said.
Everest Metro Police Chief Dan Vergin said the parents once belonged to the Lighthouse Pentecostal Church but later became what he called religious "isolationists" involved in a prayer group of five people.
"They have gone out on their own," he said. "They have a very narrow view of Scripture and I would say not many people hold to that narrow of view."
In March, an Oregon couple who belong to a church that preaches against medical care and believes in treating illness with prayer were charged with manslaughter and criminal mistreatment in the death of their 15-month-old daughter. The toddler died March 2 of bronchial pneumonia and a blood infection that could have been treated with antibiotics, the state medical examiner's office said.
Update
Judge allows charges in Wis. prayer-death case
'The free exercise clause of the First Amendment protects religious belief, but not necessarily conduct,' county circuit judge writes in case involving death of girl whose parents tried to treat girl's diabetes with prayer. 12.02.08
Related
High court denies faith-healing parents' appeal
Justices refuse to hear case of Pennsylvania couple convicted of involuntary manslaughter for refusing medical treatment for daughter. 05.01.01
Ore. parents indicted in daughter's faith-healing death
Followers of Christ Church members Carl and Raylene Worthington could face more than six years if convicted on manslaughter charges. 04.01.08
Teen's death prompts Ore. legislators to re-examine faith healing
Neil Beagley, 16, died of treatable urinary-tract disorder while family, church members prayed over him; his niece died last March of treatable infection. 06.23.08
Neb. high court to reconsider infant-blood screening
County attorney's office says it has dismissed case so issue is moot; parents say they want to make sure that if they have more children, county won’t seize them to perform test. 09.03.08
Child deaths test faith-healing exemptions
Criminal cases in Oregon, Wisconsin have revived concerns about exemptions that most states grant to parents who rely on religion instead of doctors to treat sick children. 11.23.08
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=19976
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Permalink Reply by Lady Anastasia on
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Ok, so, be honest. What are your thoughts on the matter?
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Permalink Reply by Royal on -
I'm sorry its retarded and ignorant in the estreme to watch your child die when you cann afford treatment and deliberately denying them life because of your beliefs is just to damn silly to call anything but ...I would do anythiing...any treatment any cure any chant, medicine, anything that would work to protect my child .....and if anyone objected angel or devil...I'd strangle them with their own wings ...sorry thats just how i feel...these people are ignorant.....Pray at the hospital or when shes getting the treatment
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Permalink Reply by Lady Anastasia on
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No Need to Apologize! Get Mad, Get Angry, Debate the Issue!
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Permalink Reply by Iriseyes on -
Its hard to know what goes on in the minds of these types of people. Years ago my Xhusband worked at a pallet mill and the forklift driver was Jehovah Witnesses and they did not believe in doctors and such. Their daughter needed a blood transfusion and did not allow her to have it as the blood was "something" foreign in her body. The father told his co-workers that they were not going to allow her to have the "blood" my x was furious he said to him. "YOU are going to let her die rather than to have the blood" and he said YES we will. My X argued with him and told him he was a child abuser and all sorts of things. I try not to meddle in someones believes but if it causes "HARM" to a child or person then I feel its very wrong not to seek medical care. Heck I don't like doctors much either you pay them mega bucks for 5 min of work then half the time you have to go back and get treated again. My beliefs are quite different than these parents. I think they should be in trouble.
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Permalink Reply by Royal on
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Itas funny how all these acts of faith seem to effect other people.....In this case the child has no real choice...even if they agree to this non sense they are probably doing what they were told by their parents ...
It also seems very arrogant that the parents see every illness that effects them as some great divine ,,,as if the only thing God or Goddess had to do with their day was test their faith by making a child ill...The world is what it is for the most part and it is our choices that make it better or worse than it is ...Even there is some kind of fate , and I'm not sure there is, even if it is some kind of fate for the child to be sick....there is more nobility in trying to do something than in simply watching it happen and blaming the heavens
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Permalink Reply by papaed on -
The parent's defense lawyers could claim they are mentally incompetent and a jury would probably agree. I've read through the stuff you printed here looking for any remorse from the mother... and find none. The father seemed to have a little more sense, but was dominated by the mother. He is probably openly grieving and she is probably suppressing and substituting that grief into more prophesying. I would say she was delusional, possibly schizophrenic. There's several references to her saying why this happened, what God wanted, and why the Devil did this.
I wonder if the final results will be made public. I also find it interesting that neither the prosecutor nor the defense would return calls. I suppose they both know that the public will condemn the parents and that the publicity will make finding a non-biased jury next to impossible. I'd predict it will stretch out over years as a result.
Nice post about a very sad and frightening event, Lady Anastasia.
papaed
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Permalink Reply by Beth on -
I believe in signs and portents. Duh--I'm a pagan. Comes with the territory. But I was raised Christian, and I know enough about the imagery and history to know that even the Christian experience speaks in signs and portents. For a child to die by the hand - or lack thereof - of Christian parents, on Easter Sunday, the day Jesus was resurrected - Sounds to me like Jesus has stepped into the discussion and put in his two cents. It's a shame most Christians believe that miracles like were mentioned in the bible just stopped once the bible was published, because this seems like the most daunting comment yet issued on the question of prayer healing. "We prayed, and Jesus let her die on the day he was raised from the dead."
Seems pretty cut and dried to me. Here's hoping someone somewhere gets the clue-by-four, and maybe prayer-healing deaths will cease. No one should leave it up to God to live their life for them. The Lord and Lady--the Holy Trinity--the great Source--made us so WE can live, not so God can do all the work and make all the choices. It's one thing to leave yourself open to divinity, but it's another to rewrite your self with it. We have personalities and preferences and likes and dislikes and talents and weaknesses for a reason. It seems like the biggest weaknesses come out when people try to sacrifice all the rest of it to become little godlings. We already had god walk the earth once, and look how that turned out. ...Okay, maybe that was a little nasty, but this story doesn't exactly make me proud of my Christian brothers and sisters.
May Jesus and Jehovah get their flock in order. And may the rest of us have any clue as to how to help.
And in the meantime, I'll be praying for the other three kids. Maybe we all should.
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Permalink Reply by Winter Moon on -
I have to say I am glad that the judge is allowing this to go to court. I am ALL FOR freedom of religion. The parents have every right to make such a life-threatening decision - for themselves. For their children they should never have allowed this. How prideful to think that their god is testing them, like Abraham, and that if their faith is enough, their daughter will be spared. How sinful to risk their daughter for their pride. I have never liked judging anyone, but in this, I will stand and judge them by their own standards. My very Catholic roommate is so forever concerned with the "sin of pride". I have never seen it exemplified so well.
Thank the Goddess that the other children are living with relatives and not the mother. Did anyone else note that the mother believes that the child died to prevent her (the mother, not the daughter) from starting her own "ministry"?
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Permalink Reply by niteowl1311 on -
Very disturbing story, but unfortunately not all that uncommon. I'm Pagan and a Pediatric Nurse ( YES, those two go together well ). I certainly believe in Religious Freedom and follow the motto: Do as ye will, harm NONE! I also believe in medical care ( DUH!) and the power of prayer. This is not about "Religious Freedom", this is about arrogance and ignorance. God/Goddess or whoever your Higher Power is gave us Doctors and Knowledge to prevent harm and treat illness.
If the parents want to refuse medical treatment ( for THEMSELVES ), no problem. But witholding treatment for their daughter is plain and simple abuse/neglect.
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Permalink Reply by Breandán on -
I can see where you are coming from...
Though just a few points. I think the judge may have been speaking about more than the practice of religion when he said "conduct". With the freedom of religion (actually with the freedom of almost everything) comes with the need for the responsibility to exercise your freedoms in an appropriate manner.
In my opinion, blind faith at the expense of a child's life is simply STUPIDITY.
And I am a person of faith. But I will not rely on the Gods to come to the rescue all the time. I am of the belief that the Gods also demand responsibility, and these people did not act responsibly. Yes, I imagine their grief must be great, but the law is the law, and they violated it.
Fairy Bear said:Like most of you I think the parents acted tragicly HOWEVER the Judge's decision that "The free exercise clause of the First Amendment protects religious belief, but not necessarily conduct...." is scary.
"Why yes you can believe in the Goddess but you just can't worship her!" or "You can be Jewish or Muslim but no, you cannot circumsize your sons!" "You can believe that being gay is natural but no, you cannot perform same sex marriages."
These parents clearly believed they were doing what was best for their child. They did not deliberately kill her. T I believe they have suffered enough. I don't have an answer but putting them on trial is not the answer!
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Permalink Reply by niteowl1311 on
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The First Amendment grants us Religious Freedom and with that comes a responsibility: use the brain that was given to us. The reasons given by the parents for not seeking medical care sound idiotic : illness is a punishment? .....the Devil did it?.....Mother can't start her own Ministry?.......
Not sure if a court room is the appropriate place to address this, but we have laws designed to protect people , their rights and their well being. I do not believe the Judge is trying to infringe on the parents' right to worship as they wish, he is working within the Legal system to seek justice for an innocent child's death due to negligence.
Excercising our Religious Freedom does not include harming others. PERIOD.
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