A RELIGIOUS zealot – from a family of fanatical Christians who describe themselves as “Bible-believing, God-believing, Holy Ghost-filled people” – was convicted yesterday of killing her 11-year-old daughter.
A Wisconsin jury found Leilani Neumann, 41, guilty of killing Madeline Kara Neumann by praying for her to heal instead of rushing her to the doctor.
According to this report, Madeline 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.
Prosecutors insisted that a reasonable parent would have known something was gravely wrong with Madeline, and that her mother recklessly killed her by ignoring obvious signs of how gravely ill she was.
During closing arguments, Marathon County District Attorney Jill Falstad described Neumann as a religious zealot who let her daughter, known by the nickname Kara, die as a test of faith.
Said Falstead:
Religious extremism can be dangerous. In this case, it was fatal. Basic medical care would have saved Kara’s life – fluids and insulin. There was plenty of time to save her life.

Madeline Kara Neumann
Defense lawyer Gene Linehan said:
Obviously, there will be an appeal.
He added that Neumann was a devout Christian who prays about everything and took good care of her four children.
Religious extremism is a Muslim terrorist. They are saying these parents were so far off the scale that they murdered their child. The woman did everything she could to help her. That is the injustice in this case.
Neumann’s stepfather, Brian Gordon of San Diego, said he was disappointed by the verdict and the jury was mistaken. He said his stepdaughter did nothing wrong in trusting in God to heal her daughter.
We should have that right in this country. We definitely are not terrorists. We are Bible-believing, God-believing, Holy Ghost-filled people who want to do right and be right.
Madeline’s father, Dale Neumann, faces the same charge of unlawful killing and is scheduled to stand trial in July.
Leilani, convicted of second degree reckless homicide, will be sentenced at a later date. She faces up to 25 years in prison.

The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
May 23rd, 2009 at 10:03 am
Well, she died because the parents lacked in faith.
It was of course a test from God when the daughter stopped breathing and the parents failed the test when they stopped praying and called 911 choosing to trust the world instead of God. If they had kept praying she would have started breathing and been a wonderful witness for Gods love. Instead they listened to the devil and now they get punished for it.
That's how a Christian will argue. Sick sick people…
May 23rd, 2009 at 10:37 am
Just think of the mental abuse she suffered before she died. I hope the Neumann's other three chidren are taken away from these loonies. People such as these shouldn't be allowed to breed.
May 23rd, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Faith…as a joke, it's a killer.
May 23rd, 2009 at 1:56 pm
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story.....&pag...
speaking of religious nutters and them depriving their children of medical care, this one is still running…
May 23rd, 2009 at 3:04 pm
I remember reading this when the story first broke. The mother told the arresting officers that they had no grounds to take her in, because the girl "could still be resurrected."
May 23rd, 2009 at 4:18 pm
What is the betting that the godphuqt Republicanazi Supreme Court will rule that murder is legal when it is done in the name of a religion? Keep in mind that ALL incurable godworshippers are insane, not just childkillers.
May 23rd, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Just listen to the deafening silence of the death cultists who call themselves "right to life." Apparently only pre-human tadpoles with zero brainwave activity indicative of human thought have a right to life. An eleven-year-old self-aware sentient being does not.
What this planet really needs is a worldwide pandemic of bubonic plague, a disease 100 percent curable by penicillin, and 100 percent fatal to fanatics who equate medical treatment with "atheist superstition."
May 23rd, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Swine Flu mate
May 23rd, 2009 at 11:10 pm
"he woman did everything she could to help her. "
Hmm, is lying no longer a sin? Taking the child to hospital and getting real treatment is noticeably absent from the crazy loon's To-Do list.
Still, you gotta have faith….
May 23rd, 2009 at 11:16 pm
"The woman did everything she could to help her"…..except call an ambulance!!!
May 24th, 2009 at 3:49 am
And now we wait for the 'religious moderates' to say, "We can't judge their beliefs."
May 24th, 2009 at 8:31 am
"Being persecuted" thiosulfate!
May 24th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
> If they had kept praying she would have started breathing
Of course. But only after a three-day interval.
May 25th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Seems to me that Christian theology prohibits human sacrifice. Besides having murdered her kid, the woman has committed a grave sin as far as her own mythology is concerned.
May 26th, 2009 at 1:04 am
Sadly this sort of thing goes-on around the globe.
Here in New Zealand, for example.
Read more at:
http://canterburyatheists.blog.....09/02/ne...
Ta.
Paul
May 26th, 2009 at 7:22 am
'The woman did everything she could to help her. '
Thus spake the lawyer in the case. Sums up the sheer lunacy of modern society. People who are deluded to the point of homicidal madness get expert liars to help them.
May 26th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
That's why I always beleived jesus to be a builder turns up f**ks off only to reappear 3 days later.
May 27th, 2009 at 3:29 am
I would just like to say, from a Christian perspective, this woman is sadly out of her mind and someone should have caught it a long time ago. This is not remotely what Christ would have any person suffer through. From a pastor's wife I am sorry that they did not catch her before this child was ever harmed.
May 27th, 2009 at 8:45 am
I would just like to say, from a Christian perspective, this woman is sadly out of her mind
From a pastor's wife ……….
classic!
May 31st, 2009 at 11:43 am
Stories like this are the tip of the iceberg, such religious people would welcome a nuclear apocalypse because they think it would herald the return of Christ, and it's scary just how close such religious people are to having real political power in a country that has the biggest nuclear arsenal
June 1st, 2009 at 12:52 pm
this women is out of her mind do you know that. shes her daughter how can she do this shes just so stupid