Jury Weighs Faith-Healing Death Case Against Girl's Dad

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Jury Weighs Faith-Healing Death Case Against Girl's Dad

Friday, July 31, 2009

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." (And which He didn't do, you dumb prick.)

[Feck]

Delusions of Abraham ?

Fuck him hope they have fun with that evil nut -job in prison.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Cunt.

No. I like cunts.

Corpse-cunt.

[maiforpeace]

Jury Weighs Faith-Healing Death Case Against Girl's Dad

Friday, July 31, 2009

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." (And which He didn't do, you dumb prick.)

You will keep us updated I hope?

Wouldn't that be great if my jury duty next week would be something like this, but alas, it probably will be some boring business.

[RPizzle]

All it takes is one staunch creationist to hang a jury.

[tattuchu]

I'd like to hear the outcome of this case as well.
I don't understand this fellow's tortured logic. How does a belief in a god, and the supposed power of praying to that god, preclude the option of bringing a sick person to the doctor? It's God that imbued the doctor with his gifts, isn't it? Anyway, this is an interesting case because the question it raises is, "Well, do we believe in this shit or don't we?" I mean, we here on this forum don't believe it, obviously, but most people do. Most people believe that there is a god, and that there is power in praying to this god. So how can we (meaning the majority of believers) condemn him?
Similarly, there was just a case in the news recently in which a woman killed and ate her child's brain. Her excuse? The devil made her do it. Of course she's insane. But why do the believers also say she's insane? Do they believe this stuff only when it's convenient? I mean, they say they believe in God. They say they believe in the Devil. This woman claims she was influenced or coerced by this Devil. Okay. So do we believe in these things or do we not believe in these things?!

[AshtonBlack]

No fucking excuse. The law should be blinkered to religion where HUMAN FUCKING RIGHTS are at stake. "Send him down."

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Neumann's wife, Leilani, was convicted on the same second degree reckless homicide charge in May.

The judge plans to have the couple's sentencing the same day, October 6th.

Each of them face up to 25 years in prison.

I've marked my calendar with the URL for the news sources. I'll post the results as soon as they appear.

[AshtonBlack]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8180116.stm

Guilty.

[Existentialist1844]

WAUSAU, Wis. (Aug. 1) - A Wisconsin man accused of killing his 11-year-old daughter by praying instead of seeking medical care was found guilty Saturday of second-degree reckless homicide.

Dale Neumann, 47, was convicted in the March 23, 2008, death of his daughter, Madeline, from undiagnosed diabetes. Prosecutors contended he should have rushed the girl to a hospital because she couldn't walk, talk, eat or speak. Instead, Madeline died on the floor of the family's rural Weston home as people surrounded her and prayed. Someone called 911 when she stopped breathing.

Neumann's 41-year-old wife, Leilani, was convicted on the same charge in the spring and is scheduled for sentencing Oct. 6. Both face up to 25 years in prison.

Their case is believed to be the first in Wisconsin involving faith healing in which someone died and another person was charged with a homicide.

The six-man, six-woman jury deliberated about 15 hours over two days before convicting Neumann. Jurors submitted four questions to Marathon County Circuit Judge Vincent Howard before reaching a verdict. In one, the panel asked whether Neumann's beliefs in faith healing made him "not liable" for not taking his daughter to the hospital even if he knew she wasn't feeling well.

Neumann, who once studied to be a Pentecostal minister, testified Thursday that he believed God would heal his daughter and he never expected her to die. God promises in the Bible to heal, he said.

"If I go to the doctor, I am putting the doctor before God," Neumann testified. "I am not believing what he said he would do."

Marathon County Assistant District Attorney LaMont Jacobson told jurors Friday that Neumann was "overwhelmed by pride" in his interpretation of the Bible and selfishly let Madeline die as a test of faith.

Neumann knew he should have taken his daughter to a doctor and minimized her illness when speaking with investigators, Jacobson said, calling Neumann no different than a drunken driver who remarks he only had a couple of beers.
The father said Thursday he thought Madeline had the flu or a fever, and several relatives and family friends testified they also did not realize how sick she was.

Doctors testified that Madeline would have had a good chance of survival if she received medical care, including insulin and fluids, before she stopped breathing. They said the 911 call came too late.

Defense attorney Jay Kronenwetter said Neumann sincerely believed praying would heal his daughter and he did nothing criminally wrong.

"Dale Neumann was doing what he thought would work for his daughter," Kronenwetter said. "He was administering faith healing. He thought it was working."
Of course, the praying didn't work, Kronenwetter said: "He was terribly wrong and no one feels that more than Dale Neumann."

http://news.aol.com/article/father-pray ... p%2F496034

[charlou]

Fucking YESSSSSSSSS!!!

A win for rational humanism.

Thankyou for posting this, Exi.

[Faithfree]

The story actually made it on to the radio news over here as I was driving around this afternoon.

Good decision.

[RPizzle]

This makes me very happy. It seems that society is progressing, at least for this week.

[Rum]

From the BBC web site. A quote from this twat of an excuse for a human being:-

"If I go to the doctor, I am putting the doctor before God," he said. "I am not believing what he said he would do."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8180116.stm

[RPizzle]

From the BBC web site. A quote from this twat of an excuse for a human being:-

"If I go to the doctor, I am putting the doctor before God," he said. "I am not believing what he said he would do."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8180116.stm

It's so easy for him to say that, but I really wonder what HE would do if he had an easily treated disease that was otherwise fatal...

It is kinda funny how those that believe in faith healing seem to almost always take a side order of chemo with their prayer.