Indiana Jury Convicts Couple Accused of Letting Newborn Die

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBMBPHNN8E.html

FRANKLIN, Ind. (AP) - A couple who rejected medical intervention for their ailing newborn daughter, choosing prayer as the only treatment, were convicted of reckless homicide Thursday.

A Johnson Superior Court jury convicted Dewayne and Maleta Schmidt in the August 2003 death of Rhiana Rose Schmidt, who grew ill after she was born at home.

The couple belong to a church that advocates prayer and faith healing over medical intervention. Instead of seeking a doctor's help, prosecutors said, the parents called church elders to their home to pray for the child, who died less than two days later.

An autopsy found that the infant died of puerperal sepsis, an infection acquired at birth and typically treated by antibiotics.

[Erika]

1. Bush voters

How sad.

[Sub Atomic]

2. Good on that jury.

:thumbsup:

[NNN0LHI]

3. Parents say prayers helped baby

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050512/NEWS01/505120452/1006/NEWS01

FRANKLIN, Ind. -- Prosecutors on Wednesday tried to pin down Dewayne and Maleta Schmidt on where they draw the line between science and their faith in God.

During cross-examination, Johnson County Deputy Prosecutors Matt Solomon and Daylon Welliver asked the couple about medical devices or treatments -- such as braces or eyeglasses -- that they have used for themselves. snip

The couple said they relied on God to save Rhianna and shunned medical help in favor of calling elders from the General Assembly and Church of the First Born to pray for their gravely ill daughter. They said the prayers were effective. snip

Another question focused on the use of a home pregnancy test.

"Was it faith or a tool of science?" Solomon asked. Maleta Schmidt finally answered that it was probably science.

more

[harpo]

12. "GOD" wanted it to die

[KamaAina]

13. Church of the First Born? Unreal.

I cannot believe I just read that. Ah, the irony!

[geckosfeet]

4. ??? WTF

You know, 100 years ago, they may have had an excuse for not being able to get to appropriate medical attention. But that does not appear to the issue here. The "church elders" got there fast enough. Unfortunately for the infant their spiritual belief clouded their judgment. I'm sorry but I see this as arrogant and prideful fundamentalist mentality taken to a tragic extreme.

[LiberalFighter]

14. Shouldn't church elders also be convicted?

[The Magistrate]

18. In My View, Sir, Yes

They are doubly damnable, for having first worked to instil and maintain the lethal view in the parents, and secondly for having the incredible, demonic pride to imagine themselves conduits of miraculous healing, as if that were a thing they could themselves turn on and off like a kitchen faucet. That is something a human ought to be hanged for.

[harpo]

5. will they be able to vote since they were convicted?

[PennyLane]

22. No.......

......so there is a slight glimmer in an otherwise gruesome story.:evilfrown:

[Roland99]

6. GOOD! This has been in the news a lot down here

Fvcking morans.

[NNN0LHI]

7. This church seems to be in the news a lot

http://www.apologeticsindex.org/g03.html

Here is their web site:

http://fdipmm.libertynet.org/

[Lars39]

8. I'm greedy, I want the 'elders' to serve time, too.

:grr:

[harpo]

9. accomplice

[Lars39]

10. Yep, they are.

Just sickening.

[VegasWolf]

11. What! You mean that putting a black book on the child's forehead

did not work? Scandalous!

[stanwyck]

15. Kudos to that jury

Over the years, I've read of stories like these where religious beliefs have resulted in the deaths of babies and no charges were filed. One couple spanked their newborn (right....as if a newborn could understand a spanking) so hard, he died. They were tried and acquitted. Because they didn't intend to kill the baby, only discipline the baby. In another horrible tragedy, a man refused to get medical treatment for his pregnant wife since their church prohibited medical care. Instead, he called his parents who prayed with him while his wife suffered terribly before dying in their home. In a hospital, she and her baby would have survived.
This isn't about faith. It's about blind stupidity and the need to inflict your will on other people. Even innocent children.
Sickening story. But gratifying jury decision.

[harpo]

16. If it happened in Topeka they would have walked away clean

[Sadie5]

17. Indiana is full of storefront churches

A new one seems to pop up every day. The Franklin area is full of them. Thank God the Jury saw through this and they will get what they deserve.

[Betty]

19. Where were all the asshole Terry Shaivo protesters

when these people were witholding medical treatment from their daughter? I guess it's OK to withold treatment when you're a true believer... Such is the culture of life.

[AtLiberty]

20. The culture of life!

[Erika]

21. Bush just gave them a 1mil grant for their faith based programs

Not really that I know of, but maybe.