Vegan couple sentenced to life over baby's death
 

Vegan couple sentenced to life over baby's death
Malnourished baby was fed soy milk and apple juice, weighed 3 1/2 pounds

The Associated Press
Updated: 1:55 p.m. CT May 9, 2007

ATLANTA - A vegan couple were 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 mandatory 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 were 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.

But prosecutors said the couple intentionally neglected their child and refused to take him to the doctor even as the baby’s body wasted away.

“No matter how many times they want to say, ‘We’re vegans, we’re vegetarians,’ that’s not the issue in this case,” said prosecutor Chuck Boring. “The child died because he was not fed. Period.”


Although the life sentences were automatic, Sanders and Thomas begged for leniency before sentencing. Sanders urged the judge to look past his “perception” of the couple.

“I loved my son — and I did not starve him,” she said.

When the judge told the defendants they could ask for a new trial, Thomas hung his head low.

“I’m dying every day in there,” he said, “and that could take three years.”

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18574603/

It sucks to be stupid. Being a vegetarian isn't stupid, but starving a baby is.

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Why would you force veganism on your baby???

i swear, people should have to earn a license before they're allowed to have kids! :richb

Ya know I have yet to hear of a Dr advising couples that feeding your child vegan style up until 2 years is a good idea. Babies need so much when they are wee little.

It was stupid of them

but considering they were ignorant, they didn't beat the baby or abuse it, they were first time parents, I don't think they should've gotten life in jail

losing ur baby in that way is punishment enough.

I disagree only because if you are going to bring a baby into this world, you damn well better know that they need at least three things food, shelter and love. If you don't provide even one of those it should be prison time. Although I don't know how you could prove the love bit. expecting a baby to survive on soy milk and apple juice isn't stupid it's homicide.

My only disagreement is with the life in prison sentence, get some prison time , sure , but their entire life, i dont agree.

thats insanity.

while the parents probably could have done more to nourish their child, it's impossible to chastise them for raising their child vegan. i can blame them for not giving the child fortified juices such as orange juice with calcium, protein and calcium fortified soy milk, things like that. they could have easily nourished their child better.

i honestly can't blame them for trying to live a certain lifestyle and raise their child in that way. that was not the crime. their failure to correctly excecute that lifestyle is the crime, and it sure as hell isn't worth life in prison.

I did not see anything about whether or not the baby was nursed. I am hoping that the mom could not nurse because of some issue with supply (for which seeing a specialist can help) rather than choosing not to because her milk is an animal product. :yikes Pediatricians will tell parents that babies should get no fluids other than expressed milk, or formula, if that is the alternative, for the first year. Fruit juice has minimal nutritional value. The Staff doctors, and my coworker nurses fight daily to give ill and premature babies the best chance for life. I can't even express how angry hearing stories like this make me. It is beyond me why people think the way they do. I do not agree, though, that life in prison is the answer.

I was just going to post the same story. Those IDIOTS!

10-15 years I'd go for, but not life. They obviously didn't have any malicious intent to kill. But the story shows how clearly stupid and ignorant these people are, and I don't want these kind of people roaming the streets lol. Send them to prison where they can do nothing but read books and learn some basics before they are let back into the world.

These are the same kind of people as those in Tennessee a few years ago who tried to push a broken down car with another car by the bumper in the middle of an interstate at 20 mph, causing an 18-wheeler to swerve into another car and kill a whole family. Or the woman who fed her daughter ant poison to kill the ants that the child had eaten. These people's stupidity is very dangerous.

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what are we going to do with all those parents who are doing the opposite to their children? exposing them to sugars and fats on a daily basis? as a result we have way too many toddlers at risk for obesity and juvenille diabetes. it is not the same stark neglect as committed by these moronic parents but it is still irresponsible parenting.

Like I said, make potential parents earn a license! :D

That is neglect though. If you have a child who is morbidly obese and does not have a medical condition associated to it, then the parents should be held accountable for neglect. There is no excuse for it and I am not talking about chunky kids or even fat kids, I am talking about off the charts obese.

Lifestyle aside, if your baby is 3 1/2 pounds and you don't do anything about it your guilty of neglect and deserve a lifetime in prison. Babies are completely reliant on their parents, it is your responsibility to take care of them.

not to mention, you'd have to be somewhat braindead. the article said they didn't know the baby was in trouble until minutes before he died??? 3 1/2 pounds and you don't know something is wrong???

:richb

Lock 'em up for good before they end up winning a Darwin award.