Child dies while mother prays

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30890934/

updated 6:13 p.m. ET, Fri., May 22, 2009

WAUSAU, Wis. - A mother accused of praying instead of seeking medical help for her dying 11-year-old daughter was found guilty Friday of second-degree reckless homicide.

A Marathon County jury deliberated for about four hours before convicting Leilani Neumann, 41, of rural Weston, of second-degree reckless homicide. The crime is punishable by up to 25 years in prison. No sentencing date was set and Neumann remained free on bond.
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Her daughter, Madeline Neumann, died of untreated diabetes March 23, 2008, surrounded by people praying for her. When she suddenly stopped breathing, her parents' business and Bible study partners finally called 911.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30811786/

updated 4:07 p.m. ET, Mon., May 18, 2009

WAUSAU, Wis. - A mother accused of homicide for only praying while her 11-year-old daughter died of untreated diabetes knew the girl was gravely ill at least a day before, a sister-in-law testified Monday.
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Susan Neumann said Leilani Neumann told her that she came home from work at the family's coffee shop March 22 and "felt the spirit of death" when she reached for the knob to open the door to the house.

"She was afraid," the sister-in-law said. "She ran upstairs to Kara (Madeline's nickname) and felt her and was relieved to feel warmth in her arm. Then she said they started praying and praying and praying and didn't stop praying until supper time."
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Ariel Neff, 18, of Ripon, Calif., testified that she made three calls from California to police in Marathon County trying to get someone to check on Madeline the day she died. Neff had married Leilani Neumann's brother two days earlier and knew the mother believed in "faith and not in doctors."

Neff, who is separated from her husband, said she had learned from her new family that Madeline was likely in a coma and that someone was trying to give the girl fluids with a syringe, which she believed could drown the girl.

Neff's three calls to police came roughly 40 minutes before someone in the Neumann home called 911 to report that Madeline was no longer breathing.

Neff cried when asked why she didn't give up trying to get the girl help.

"I knew that if nothing was done, that little girl was going to die," Neff said. "I knew that she hadn't gotten food for a couple of days. I could not let the little girl just sit there and die."
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Everest Metro Policeman Scott Marten was the first officer at the Neumann home March 23. He found the girl on a mattress and chaos throughout the household as the father pushed on her chest trying to get her to breathe.

Madeline looked malnourished, the officer told the jury. "She was skinny and just appeared to be frail."

The Neumann family followed the ambulance to the hospital and at one point went into a trauma room where the girl was taken, Marten testified.

"They were walking in circles around her bed and they seemed to be praying for quite some time," he said.