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Mother convicted of starving children

[additional-authors]
January 25, 2010

I just got out of my criminal law class where we were talking about a case similar to what follows, though it involved a son failing to obtain medical aid for his invalid mother and no mentions of leaving that for God to provide. From RNS:

A woman who made no effort to feed her four starving children, telling them God would provide for them as they grew weaker and hungrier, was found guilty of child endangerment charges on Friday.

Jurors took just 30 minutes to reach a verdict in the case against Estelle Walker, 50, whose children were so malnourished they could hardly speak when police found them in a lakeside cabin arranged by her church in 2006.

The children—ages 8, 9, 11 and 13 at the time—have since recovered.

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Walker’s beliefs have been a recurring theme throughout the month-long trial. At one point, when Nicola complained to Judge N. Peter Conforti that his client was refusing to participate in her defense, Walker passively told the judge, “God will defend me.”

Read the rest here.

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