Man Found Guilty In Faith Healing Case
Leilani, Dale, and Madeline Neumann
Dale Neumann, a 47 year old Wisconsin man, has been found guilty of second degree homicide in the case of killing his eleven year old daughter by praying instead of getting her medical attention. Neumann's daughter, Madeline, died of diabetes on the floor of Neumann's home while people surrounded her and prayed for her. A person called 911 after she stopped breathing, but prosecutors say that Neumann should have gotten his daughter to the hospital much sooner because she could not walk, talk, or eat.
Neumann's wife, Leilani Neumann, was convicted earlier in the spring of the same charge. Both face up to twenty five years in prison. The case is thought to be the first case of faith healing where a person has died and a person was charged with homicide in Wisconsin. Neumann has declared that his faith healing beliefs did not allow him to take his daughter to the hospital, even though she was not feeling well. Neumann has also claimed that he believed that God would heal Madeline, and that he did not think she would die.
"If I go to the doctor, I am putting the doctor before God", Neumann said. "I am not believing what he said he would do."
District Attorney LaMont Jacobson told the jurors that Neumann was incredibly proud of his knowledge of the Bible and let his daughter die as a test of faith. Jacobson compared Neumann to a drunk driver who claimed he only had a couple of beers.
Friends and family of the Neumann’s have said that they did not realize how sick Madeline really was, and Neumann himself has said that he thought his daughter only had the flu.
"He was terribly wrong and no one feels that more than Dale Neumann", Defense attorney Jay Kronenwetter said, also insisting Neumann really believed that praying would heal his daughter and he did nothing criminally wrong.
