Father Guilty in Prayer Death Case

(AP)  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, 2003, 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."

[keauxjak]

I think its about time we start also prosecuting the institutions that brainwash this crap into people's heads. We prosecute accomplices for assisting in crimes even if they are ignorant of the law. Time to do the same for the religious institutions who push this crap onto weak and uneducated people.

[ladypirate2]

You are forgetting that the constitution gives us freedom of religion! That includes preaching and spreading the gospel. If they start prosecuting the religious institutions for spreading the gospel they would have to change the constitution. Changing the constitution to do away with freedom of religion is something the supreme court and congress and the president are not about to do because it would be political suicide and they know it! The majority of the American citizens won't allow it! There would be such an uproar it would be heard all over the world! And another thing if they were to do away with our freedom of religion the United States would then be no different than communist China and North Korea. We would be a communist country, too! The citizens are not going to stand for that!

[YCantWeAllGetAlong]

The fault lies in the BS of his statement. He is not putting the doctor before God. Taking the role of a believer, I would say that God GAVE the doctor the tools and the ability to learn to be a doctor and a healer. Since God is not present on earth, a doctor, dentist or other health practitioner becomes the healer. Just like a congregation listens to a priest, minister or Rabbi (etc), God is not present, so we week Him out in other ways. His logic is flawed and I hope he is tortured the rest of his life for being such an idiot. That poor little girl surrounding by all those stupid freaks.

[ram19491]

If this man truely knew the bible he'd know the our Holy Father gives us everlasting life after we pass from this earth. Not while we lay there dying on the floor.

[formrusmcsgt]

Agreed. (Feeling a bit better today, sarge, or still grumpy?)
by slownewsday_5 August 2, 2009 11:42 AM EDT

??????

[caliguy55]

The people participating in the murder of this child are all guilty of that crime and should be sentenced to death - the same sentence they gave to the child. When are these religious nuts going to wake up and smell the coffee. I know that ignorance plays a large role in their beliefs, but with all the avenues open for self-education today there's just no excuse for this type of behavior. This is just one more indicator that religion is the problem, not the solution. By the way, while Jesus Christ was born a Jew, I don't recall any mention in the Bible of Him practicing any particular religion in his adult life. Instead, He continuously criticized religious practitioners for their hypocrisy and selfishness. And, He warned the people of the wolves in sheep's clothing of which there are many today.

[formrusmcsgt]

When are these religious nuts going to wake up and smell the coffee?
by caliguy55 August 2, 2009 1:08 PM EDT

Adults who subscribe to fairy tales, by definition, refuse to smell the coffee.....

[debinok1]

I believe that God does heal, I also believe that God gave men the knowledge to become Doctors. Had I been in his shoes I would have taken my child to a Doctor, I would have prayed that Gods will be done and that God would give the Doctor the knowledge to heal my child. One day we will all stand before the ulitmate judge and answer for our lives. Until then each person has the free will to choose to believe or not. I will not bash, degrade or judge someone who chooses not to believe and all I ask in return is the to be allowed to make my own choice without being bashed, degraded or judged.

[displeased]

Nobody should be bashed for what they believe in unless their beliefs affects others. Where I get annoyed is when people make decisions, that affect other lives, based on what they believe will happen in the afterlife. Something we have no capabilities of knowing. I wish people would be more considerate and treat people with regard to the consequences they receive throughout life, what we know as real, and not dwell on the afterlife.

[formrusmcsgt]

What chaps my ass about dogma drones is their insistance in trying to force their perspective on any and all through legislation and doorbell ringing.

I have a "No Dogma Peddlers" sign hanging over my front door and they STILL knock.

I make sure they wish they had paid heed to the sign when I answer the door.....

I never see the same dogma drone twice.

[Anon0001]

God gave mankind wisdom before He gave the Bible (or the prophet). Unfortunately, Dale Neumann lacked the former.

[Anon0001]

However, I will allow doubt that he truly did not anticipate that his daughter would die. After all, diabetes is seriously known as a silent killer; and being ignorance of the symptoms can prove lethal.

[jackp32]

I cannot imagine a group of people standing around a little girl sprawled on the floor dying and no one had the common sense or the guts to take action to save her. Without getting into serious name calling, which is easy to do in this case, they are, to put it mildly, idiots. This is why we have child endangerment laws to protect our children from irresponsible adults, religious freedom be damned.

[formrusmcsgt]

If this man's was doing "God's" will, as some claim, why then didn't God get him off?

God seems like a real schmuck having others do his bidding and then hang them out to dry, eh?

And again, if it was "God's" will, what kind of sick puppy must he be to want to see children die of treatable conditions?

Dogma drones are intellectual children.

[doctor_know]

God obviously wants this prick in jail.

[yeeoflittlefaith]

One thousand years from now, researchers will look back on this tragic example of human superstition with the same incredulity and horror that we reserve for the more barbaric acts of the middle ages. Man will truly not be free until the last stone of the last church falls killing the last priest.

[kcits]

Human kind will not be free until He comes again, there will always be believers.

[formrusmcsgt]

What did P.T. Barnum say?