Faith or Crime?

[Tyler Durden]

or is it a way of weeding out the dipshits from the gene pool?

Originally Posted by Fox News

As Madeline Neumann lay dying on the floor of her parents' Wisconsin home, her father began to pray for God to heal his 11-year-old — she died, and a jury now must decide if his choice was a crime.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,535861,00.html

[Nyteshade]

Doesn't homicide require intent? If so, I don't see the charge sticking.

[FarangBa]

I think they could get 'em with Child Endangerment at least.. Jeez, I hate when I hear about these wackos.

Too bad you can't require licensing and psych evals before people have kids.

[C-fer]

It's like that old joke story.

There was once a big flood and a man was sitting in his home, his neighbor came by asked him if he needed help getting out and he said "No thank you sir, god will save me."
The rains continued and the water levels rose, until he was on top of his roof. A young couple came by in a boat and wanted the man to come with them. He gave the same response, "No thank you, god will save me."
The rain continued, and the water was reaching to top of the roof when a helicopter came by and tried to rescue the man.
He waved them off and yelled "Don't worry about me, God will save me!"
The flood continued, and the man was eventually swept away in the waters and drowned.

He came to heaven and a little disappointed asked god. "God, why didn't you save me?"
To which God replied, "I sent your neighbor, a couple in a boat and a damn helicopter, what else did you want me to do?"

Diabetes is diagnosable and treatable, this asshole should, at the very least, be in a psych ward.

[PETA]

Originally Posted by Nyteshade

Doesn't homicide require intent? If so, I don't see the charge sticking.

if we're parsing language...

"homicide" at law means death caused by the act of another human - that is not to be confused with murder or manslaughter.

"murder" at common law is the intentional and unlawful killing of a human with malice aforethought.

If this is the same case that we discussed a few moons ago this couple thought daughter had flu and then things went south fast and she died. From what I recall the parents relied exclusively on prayer and ignored the symptoms as they escalated. If a DA is charging a homicide crime it is probably manslaughter. (I'd have to look up the code section in WI to be certain and I ain't gonna do that) Murder does require intent. Statutory language not withstanding murder is, iirc, a specific intent crime - meaning one needed to specifically intend the results that did in fact occur. However, with crimes like this we can analogize to negligence and depraved heart or reckless indifference. If a jury finds that the parents reliance on prayer amounted to negligence or reckless indifference then that could produce a guilty verdict for manslaughter. I do not think they could return a jury verdict of guilty on a charge of murder. (lots of states have introduced all kinds of statutory qualifiers to their criminal codes so the fact that the victim was thier child may kick in some elevating charge but that's pure speculation)

[Nyteshade]

Originally Posted by PETA

if we're parsing language...

"homicide" at law means death caused by the act of another human - that is not to be confused with murder or manslaughter.

"murder" at common law is the intentional and unlawful killing of a human with malice aforethought.

If this is the same case that we discussed a few moons ago this couple thought daughter had flu and then things went south fast and she died. From what I recall the parents relied exclusively on prayer and ignored the symptoms as they escalated. If a DA is charging a homicide crime it is probably manslaughter. (I'd have to look up the code section in WI to be certain and I ain't gonna do that) Murder does require intent. Statutory language not withstanding murder is, iirc, a specific intent crime - meaning one needed to specifically intend the results that did in fact occur. However, with crimes like this we can analogize to negligence and depraved heart or reckless indifference. If a jury finds that the parents reliance on prayer amounted to negligence or reckless indifference then that could produce a guilty verdict for manslaughter. I do not think they could return a jury verdict of guilty on a charge of murder. (lots of states have introduced all kinds of statutory qualifiers to their criminal codes so the fact that the victim was thier child may kick in some elevating charge but that's pure speculation)

Gotcha. I just assumed that homicide=murder. I can see a manslaughter charge going through.

[PETA]

Originally Posted by Nyteshade

Gotcha. I just assumed that homicide=murder. I can see a manslaughter charge going through.

Like I said, it's parsing, but in the context of the thread it made sense to distinguish.

[SeedfulMusic]

Originally Posted by FarangBa

Too bad you can't require licensing and psych evals before people have kids.

Thats just what we need huh? The government determining who can breed, and who can't. Great idea!

[PETA]

Originally Posted by SeedfulMusic

Thats just what we need huh? The government determining who can breed, and who can't. Great idea!

But we kinda sorta do; just after the fact. The state takes children away from parents all the time. When they don't do so (and something bad happens) we get up in arms demanding answers as to why the state took no action. When the state does take children away (before that bad thing happens) we quite often scream that the state is interfering with a fundamental right. It's great stuff huh?

[Ash]

yes, neglect is a crime regardless of how unintelligent you are