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When their 11 year old daughter became sick, Dale and Leilani Neumann choose faith healing over medicine.
Despite their prayers, Madeline died from complications related to diabetes in 1988 and her parents were convicted of reckless homicide and sentenced to 180 days in jail.
The sentences were put on hold while the couple appealed and this week the Wisconsin Supreme Court reaffirmed the homicide verdict in Madeline’s 2008 death.
The parents were sentenced to 30 days in jail every year for the next six years and were placed on 10 years’ probation.
The couple’s attorney argues Dale and Leilani can’t be charged since parents who choose spiritual treatment for their children can’t be charged with child abuse.
Prosecutors in Wisconsin agree that’s true but claim everything changes once a child dies.
The court said "if we were to adopt the parents' reasoning, no prayer-treating parent would know what point is beyond 'a substantial risk of death' until the child actually stopped breathing and died.”
The couple can still appeal to the Supreme Court if they wish.
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