Vegans Sentenced in Baby's Death
By GREG BLUESTEIN, Associated Press Writer
Wed May 9, 10:10 AM
ATLANTA - A vegan couple was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for the death of their malnourished 6-week-old baby boy, who was fed a diet largely consisting of soy milk and apple juice.

Superior Court Judge L.A. McConnell imposed the sentences on Jade Sanders, 27, and Lamont Thomas, 31. Their son, Crown Shakur, weighed just 3 1/2 pounds when he died of starvation on April 25, 2004.

The couple was found guilty May 2 of malice murder, felony murder, involuntary manslaughter and cruelty to children. A jury deliberated about seven hours before returning the guilty verdicts.

Defense lawyers said the first-time parents did the best they could while adhering to the lifestyle of vegans, who typically use no animal products. They said Sanders and Thomas did not realize the baby, who was born at home, was in danger until minutes before he died.

excuse me, what about all the babies die from sids ( booster Vaccines)

ugh

anyways, soy milk is not mother's milk anyways, soy milk is so bad, but better than cow udder milk

anyways, they must be poor, and can't afford a lawyer, maybe even african american , by their names, because WHO SAID VEGANS WERE DANGEROUS FOR CHILDREN and who said they are responsible for murder???

what about kids dying all the time from ecoli?





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2007 08:45PM by coconutcream.

My two cents remains the same as when I posted about this earlier. The parents should have done some research. I know a vegan couple here who thinks that human milk is bad because they feel that since the human race is not in survival mode then humans should teach their children from infancy not to rely upon other animals life forces for survival. Before anyone goes balistic or makes accusations I'm simply stating what this couple have shared with me concerning their beliefs.

I wonder if this couple in ATL had a similar belief system or didn't realize that breast feeding is ok, or if the mother just simply couldn't produce her own milk. Regardless, there are many vegan friendly alternatives.

I feel the convictions were more severe because the parents lifestyle was brought into play. I agree that the parents were guilty of neglect that resulted in the death of their child, however, I think it was due to lack of information. I don't think they were intentionally neglectful. The malice murder, felonly murder and cruelty convictions make it appear that the parents intended to be harmful to their children. I think this is just plain wrong. The life sentence was a mandatory sentence according to GA guidelines for their convictions. I think at the MOST it should have been involuntary manslaughter and possibly some type of felony neglect. I don't see how the life of one person qualifies for three separate death charges. To me that's the same as being tried more than once for the same crime.

[rawfoodtrip.blogspot.com]
[jugglingforjoy.com]

what makes me feel horrible is further down the letter it states from the prosecution they tried to use veganism as a shield

they birthed their kid into a bathtub and no doctor had seen it untill dead?
they didnt want to see a doctor because of the germs?
seems pretty negligent to me

how sad how sad



[www.network54.com]

Murder verdict for vegan parents

By BETH WARREN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/03/07

A vegan couple committed murder when they didn't make sure their newborn received proper nutrition, a Fulton jury decided Wednesday.

The courtroom was so quiet after the judge read the verdict — the first of its kind in Georgia — that the clank of the handcuffs being fastened around the parents' wrists echoed through the room.


(ENLARGE)
Jade Sanders



(ENLARGE)
Lamont Thomas

The father, Lamont Thomas, 31, then called out "We're going to jail for no reason" as his girlfriend, Jade Sanders, 27, stared ahead, visibly stunned.

Thomas told visiting Senior Superior Court Judge L.A. McConnell that he and Sanders were proud of their first child, naming him Crown. "We didn't starve our son for weeks and weeks," the dad said before deputies led him out of the courtroom.

The verdicts mean the couple will receive automatic life sentences. The judge might tack on more prison time at a sentencing hearing next week.

After hearing the verdicts, Sanders' and Thomas' mothers sat silently, wiping at tears. They remembered a grandson who smiled and laughed and didn't cry any more than any other child, said Thomas' attorney, Brandon Lewis.

Lewis turned to the defendants' moms and vowed to appeal: "I want you to remember, it's far from being over."

The infant was born in the bathtub of a Buckhead apartment but never taken to a doctor while alive. He was dead when his parents took him to Piedmont Hospital, across the street from their apartment, April 25, 2004. At six weeks old he weighed just 3 1/2 pounds and was so emaciated, doctors could count his bones through his skin.

Fulton prosecutor Chuck Boring said the verdict isn't a condemnation of veganism, a strict form of vegetarianism that doesn't allow the consumption or use of animal products. Instead, jurors believed prosecutors' assertions that the couple intentionally neglected and underfed the child and then tried to use the lifestyle as a shield.

In similar cases, a New York jury convicted a vegan couple on murder charges in the death of their child, but a Florida jury was more lenient, acquitting vegan parents of murder and instead convicting them on reduced charges of involuntary manslaughter, an unintentional death. In that case, the couple had successfully raised two children as vegans, but their third child died.

"The vegan diet is fine," Boring said after the verdict in the Georgia case. "These parents lied about what they fed him. He just was not fed enough."

The mother initially told police she fed her baby organic apple juice and soy milk. But the soy milk containers in her apartment clearly state that soy milk is not to be used as a substitute for baby formula, her lawyer admitted. At trial, the mom said she also fed her son breast milk and soy milk formula.

Outside the courtroom, Lewis, the defense attorney, said he believes the parents unintentionally starved their child by feeding him apple juice that may have acted as a diuretic and blocked the absorption of nutrients from the soy milk, soy formula and breast milk. They never took Crown to a doctor because they feared hospitals were infested with germs, he said.

At trial, government witness and vegan expert Amy Lanou told jurors the child's health may have been compromised by his diet, but he should still have been alive if fed enough food.

Lanou, a nutritionist who authored the book "Healthy Eating for Life for Children," on raising children as vegans, said all parents should know that babies need adequate amounts of breast milk or formula.

Prosecutors Boring and Mike Carlson convinced jurors that the neglect was intentional.

Boring said outside the courtroom that he'd always be haunted by the case. "I'll never understand 'Why?' " he said.

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2007 09:26PM by Jgunn.

OMG!!! I was skinny when when both of my children were born. My son weighted almost 9 lbs when he was born, and my daughter weighed almost 8 lbs when she was born. I was a vegetarian, not a vegan, through out my pregnancy.

This baby who died weighed a fricken 3 1/2 lbs at 6 weeks old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


DO YOU KNOW HOW SKIN AND BONES THAT LOOKS!!!????? COME OFF YOUR CLOUD NINE OVER THERE AND WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE! THE BABY WAS SKIN AND BONES 1/2 THE WEIGHT OF MY TINY DAUGHTER THE DAY SHE WAS BORN, AND 1/3 THE WEIGHT OF MY SON WHEN HE WAS BORN. AND THEIR BABY WAS 6 FRICKEN WEEKS OLD!!!!!!!!!!


MURDER, NEGLEGENCE, MURDER. SORRY THE TRUTH OFFENDS YOU BUT HE WOULD NOT HAVE DIED HAD BE BEEN GIVIN COW MILK FROM THE UDDER. HE MAY HAVE HAD ALLERGIES AND MUCUS BUT HIS HEART WOULD STILL BE BEATING AND HE WOULD BE ALIVE.

GOOD LORD. WAKE UP COCONUTCREAM.

further more, it's pretty obvious when your baby is nothing but a skeleton, that the diet was not working.

Ecoli poisoning is accidental.

Death from vaccinations are from parents who did not neglect their kids, but thought they were doing something right. I did not vaccinate my kids, nor myself, but my friends who did vaccinate their kids, truly believed they were doing something good for their kids and their kids were not skeletons dieing in their cribs hidden from the world.

You can go cry to Bryan to kick me off this forum, and so be it if he does. I would not want to be a part of a forum that does not see that this child was neglected and murdered.

They remembered a grandson who smiled and laughed and didn't cry any more than any other child, said Thomas' attorney, Brandon Lewis

i have heard hungry babies cry, i cant beleive this nobody thought this kid was in trouble for nearly 2 months


what i dont understand is all these people who are backing them .. the grandparents , the church friends (i read a post from a supposed friend), even neighbors... nobody saw , heard, something ? nothing?

i dont have kids and maybe i dont have the right to say anything , but i live on a street where we watch whats going on, i go to a church where we know each other

i just dont see how these people went 6.5 weeks and nobody saw anything enough to speak up ?

very sad very sad

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

and unless the parents were living under a rock, how could they not have heard of the other recent babies who died of vegan and raw vegan diets and would have been careful to not give their child the same fate. How could they not know that the babie was suffering and starving to death?

I'm not against vegan diets. I'm against starving your child to death. Obviouisly life force and wishful thinking could not keep this child alive. The child needed more nutrients.

karma: what goes around, comes around

those who sentenced them will be sentenced as well



the above article only shows the weight

it does not show

1) the fact that the girl had a verifiable medical heart abnormality/defect/disease that contributed to her condition
2) the history of these parents are one that indubitably points to
immense care, concern, devotion, spending almost everything they had to
take care of her

Anyone who has studied the history of medical iatrogenesis ( death incurred from medical procedures) knows that if they put the orthodox doctors on the SAME
podium that they put these parents on... a great majority of them would be sentenced for

MURDER

but this is obviously not the case, they just get sued

why? because it is assumed that the doctors

"did their best"

Well, these parents did their VERY best as well
above and beyond this dinky little article that tells NOTHING about their immense efforts to save their girl

STUDY their HISTORY

this sentencing is one of the BIGGEST TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE

i have EVER heard of .

1) the fact that the girl had a verifiable medical heart abnormality/defect/disease that contributed to her condition

thank you LaV i was kinda wondering if there was some underlying cause too

i would really like to think that they did their best and perhaps within their capacities that is their truth, perhaps if they had consulted with an alternative health practitioner or something like that , i could swallow it

i tried finding some other articles about them, but nothing much came up if you have any links that would be cool

i still cant beleive nobody thought to intervene or at least attempt too, or if they did it wasnt written anywhere that i could find

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

la_veronique Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> karma: what goes around, comes around
>
> those who sentenced them will be sentenced as
> well

I would not fear bad karma if I were the one sentencing them. It was a just sentence.


>
> the above article only shows the weight

3 1/2 lbs!! A barely breathing skeleton should have been brought to the hospital weeks ago.


> it does not show
>
> 1) the fact that the girl had a verifiable medical
> heart abnormality/defect/disease that contributed
> to her condition


At 3 1/2 lbs. they should have taken him to the hospital weeks ago. They would not be going to prison, had they sought medical attention for their baby. They could not know he had a medical problem, but they DID know he was starving to death.


> 2) the history of these parents are one that
> indubitably points to
> immense care, concern, devotion, spending almost
> everything they had to
> take care of her

Love is not hiddening him from the world, starving him to death, denying medical attention when obviously needed.

>
> Anyone who has studied the history of medical
> iatrogenesis ( death incurred from medical
> procedures) knows that if they put the orthodox
> doctors on the SAME
> podium that they put these parents on... a great
> majority of them would be sentenced for

There was a hospital ACROSS THE STREET! He could have had A DAMN GOOD CHANCE to live if he was givin medical attention. He had NO chance of living when denied nutrients and medical attention.

Many people have congenital heart defects (my ex boyfriend who surfs & is very healthy otherwise) and live. Stressing the heart further with starvation. Hmmm, had they known the baby had a heart defect, maybe they would have not starved him?! No, that doesn't sound any better.
>
> MURDER

That is irrelevent.

>
> but this is obviously not the case, they just get
> sued

irrelevent

>
> why? because it is assumed that the doctors
>
> "did their best"
>
> Well, these parents did their VERY best as well
> above and beyond this dinky little article that
> tells NOTHING about their immense efforts to save
> their girl

What did they do? Nothing? Nothing was their very best?

>
> STUDY their HISTORY

I did. They starved the baby to a skeleton to death.

>
> this sentencing is one of the BIGGEST TRAVESTY OF
> JUSTICE

I hope it saves other babies & children from the same destiny.


>
> i have EVER heard of .


EVER?! Wow, there are some people on this forum, just as sick as the parents of that baby.

L_Veronica, the baby was a he, not a she, so how could you say you studied the case?



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2007 03:17PM by Rawrrr!.

youd have to be an idiot not to notice when your baby is skin and bones. vegan or not, the parents are stupid..and deserve whatever comes to them as a result of this.

When I read the above article, I was actually thinking of a different couple
(my mistake). I was thinking of :

Lamoy and Joseph Andressohn and their baby girl Woyah who had similar charges against them. I did just find out however that they were cleared of charges of manslaughter.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2007 07:27PM by la_veronique.

okay good..i was wondering lv..haha i was like UMM those parents deserve what they got...no matter what you think if you have a newborn who is almost 2 months old at only 3 1/2 pounds and have never taken him to the dr...what the Heck are you thinking..that is neglect and murder if i ever heard or saw such a thing..that is horrible...you need to take your baby in especially if you gave birth at home..he needs to be cheked out sometime..babies should have doubled their weight by month 2...not lost weight..wow those parents are horrible ...well at least they have plenty of time not to think about their actions
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