Vegan Parents on Trial

[Spaceman]

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/queens/nyc-vegan0310,0,4361047.story?coll=nyc-topheadlines-left

Jury selection is due to start on Tuesday in the trial of a Queens couple accused of starving their first child nearly to death by feeding her a strict vegan diet.

My child is on a strict vegan diet too. I wonder when the child welfare people are going to come knocking.

Frankly, in my opinion, this is bad journalism. So these parents were vegan. There are bad parents all around. We should have a vegan newspaper with headlines that say "Meateater kills his wife."

"Meateater cited for driving drunk."

"Meateater jailed for prostitution."

"Meateaters declare war on Iraq."

and so on ...

[herbi]

While we're at it, can we add "white male heterosexual" where applicable?

edit: that's not commentary on Spaceman or any other alleged white male heterosexuals! :p I just get tired of reading about sensationalized cases where anyone who's NOT a straight white guy is singled out!

[Spaceman]

You are just driving home my point so no offense taken Herbi!

:)

[misanthropy]

And of course this article will be all over USENET and other message groups and used by omnis to attack vegans (as usual)... ugh.

[iamtheqbu]

Ok, am I missing something or is cod liver oil vegan all of the sudden!? Geesh, I wonder if the parents weren't vegan after all, or if the writer added that to make them sound even more yucky (cod liver oil == yucky!). Cod liver oil pops up a lot in articles like that one, kinda makes you think...

[EmetShamash]

Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!! I am inclined to say that this is just another typical article from the media giants around the world that are just plain crazy rich white guys (probably straigt but more notably crazy) giving us not news but news "entertainment" which sounds more like sugar coating their mind numbing "proggraming". First of all this IS quite a strange vegan diet to include friggin cod liver oil! Now what about the baby do we really even know for sure that this underweight baby has some other reason for being so? Some jerk neighbor could have just phoned in talking all kinds of trash not really knowing what was going on and has gotten these poor parents in all kinds of trouble. I wouldn't be suprised if the baby's wight is really fine and it is the national average that is a bad example of parenting. Unfortunately though I think it probably is just the parents poor knoledge of nutrition for babies and maybe the parents were alot worse than the article suggests you never know.
:furious:

I am not wearing any socks or underwear under my shorts.
:thinking:

[Spaceman]

Here's a follow up story from yahoo:

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030317/nym101_1.html

I wonder if any other news outlets will have a story like this ... probably not.

[misanthropy]

Originally posted by iamtheqbu
Ok, am I missing something or is cod liver oil vegan all of the sudden!?I totally missed that in the article! I just sort of skimmed it. Kind of reminds me of when Kimmie from Survivor Australia was "vegetarian" yet ate fish and bugs! :mad:

[Spaceman]

New York Daily News
Copyright 2003 Daily News, L.P.

Wednesday, March 19, 2003

TOT STARVE WITNESS IS ARRESTED
SCOTT SHIFREL DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

A friend of the vegan couple on trial for nearly starving their
young daughter was arrested yesterday for refusing to testify
against them in their first-degree assault trial.

Lester Henry warned the couple that something was "terribly
wrong" with the girl, a Queens prosecutor said.

"He saw that something wasn't right with the child," Assistant
District Attorney Eric Rosenbaum said. "He told Mr. [Joseph] Swinton
that the child needed milk."

Swinton and his wife, Silva, both 31, are charged with feeding
their daughter - named Ice Swinton - an odd diet of vegetables and
fruits that nearly killed her.

The ambulance workers who brought the girl to the hospital when
she was 16 months old testified yesterday that Ice also had dirty,
matted hair and long, dirty fingernails.

"The first thing that I noticed were her nails," emergency
medical technician Gary Stark told a jury. "They looked like claws."

But both Stark and his partner told the jury that the child
otherwise seemed fine and had suffered no apparent abuse.

"I didn't see any bruising on the face or any bleeding or
contusions," said EMT Robert Carbano, who added that the child also
seemed alert.

Told to butt out

Henry, a frequent visitor to the Swintons' Queens Village home,
refused to testify for the prosecution. He was arrested and ordered
held on $10,000 bail as a material witness.

Joseph Swinton told Henry that the child was none of his
business, Rosenbaum related yesterday during a hearing to determine
if Henry was a material witness and should be held.

State Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter - who at one point
yelled at Henry for talking to himself - ordered Henry held until he
testifies.

At the end of yesterday's hearing, Henry told the judge, through
his court-appointed attorney Michael Horn, that he would testify in
front of a jury today.

Horn also said Henry didn't want to testify because he had
nothing that he could contribute to the case.

Today's testimony could be key to the prosecution's case because,
besides Henry, doctors at two hospitals who treated the baby are
expected to testify.

Silva Swinton remains free on $20,000 bail, while Joseph Swinton
remains in jail with bail set for the same amount.

[Beanqueen]

they're not vegan, bonkers yes, vegan no!

[Spaceman]

Anyone know of this vegan expert and if she is a vegan? While what these parents did was inexcusable, I would hate to have a vegan expert not actually be vegan.

VEGAN TOT'S DIET A DISASTER': EXPERT
By ERIC LENKOWITZ

The homemade concoction of fruits, vegetables and nuts a Queens
couple exclusively fed their infant baby - who was found on the brink
of death from starvation and malnutrition - was a recipe for disaster,
a vegan expert testified yesterday at their trial.

"I would hate to imagine the potential effects on a child being
fed that way," Amy Joy Lanou said of the diet Joseph and Silva Swinton
gave their newborn daughter, Ice. "I could expect the results to be
disastrous."

The prosecution contends the baby's internal injuries are due to
an inappropriate vegan diet the Swintons gave their daughter.

Earlier in the day, the defense asked pediatrician Debra Jensen
to read from a letter she sent to a lawyer for the Administration for
Children's Services, which documents a psychiatrist's finding that the
Swintons were "not able to grasp the severity of . . . their
daughter's medical condition."

[Spaceman]

Vegan expert revealed in Newsday to answer my previous question:

Vegan Expert: They Did It Wrong
By Herbert Lowe. STAFF WRITER

The vegan parents who did not feed their malnourished infant breast
milk or baby formula should have known better, a nutrition expert who
is also a vegan testified yesterday.

For months, national vegan advocates have insisted the Swintons, both
32, of Queens Village, have confused the public about their unusual
dietary choices and whether they were right for Ice.

Amy Joy Lanou, nutrition director for the Physicians Committee for
Responsible Medicine in Washington, told a jury that any vegan book
would have said to feed Ice breast milk or formula until she was a year
old.

"Breast milk is the best source of nutrients for newborns, whether
they be vegan or not," Lanou told the panel of nine women and three
men.

Repeating a common refrain from national advocates, Lanou also told
the jury that vegans do not eat cod liver oil because it is an animal
product.

[Rosemary]

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/crime/nyc-veg0329,0,5270371.story?coll=nyc-manheadlines-crime
Mom Silvia Swinton testifies that knowing what she knows now, she would have fed Ice more fat, calories, protein. Says she didn't realize that Ice was in danger or too small for her age--said she was a "healthy eater" (since she was dying of starvation, I'm sure she did have a strong appetite). Says she doesn't trust doctors because they didn't help her overcome her own severe health problems in the past. She had weighed over 300lb and lost the weight on a vegan diet.

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/crime/nyc-nyveg283195411mar28,0,4202395.story?coll=nyc-manheadlines-crime
Dad Joseph Swinton has an IQ of only 78 ("borderline") and not clear if he understood his daughter's condition. Swinton's lawyers will claim that Ice weighed only 10 lb at 15 months because she was a premie.

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/71891.htm
Doctor testifies that baby Ice's problems were not caused by flaky diet but by prematurity and being sedated for an exam.

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/queens/nyc-vegan0326,0,5344094.story?coll=nyc-manheadlines-queens
Doctor also says that Swinton's did an amazing job considering that Ice weighed on 3 lb at birth and that a layperson would not have known she had serious health problems.

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/71774.htm
Another doctor says Ice was close to death. Mom told EMT that Ice was very small because she was a vegetarian.

[VeganMegan]

:furious:


Why is it that the only things in “mainstream” media about vegans or veganism are always negative? Why?

I’m not trying to downplay this situation because it’s awful that these kids weren’t properly taken care of regardless of diet.

Why is it that you don’t hear about every malnourished or overly stuffed fat meat-eating kids? Both are serious issues I see every time I go out of my house. Oh wait, I think I might be able to answer that one. You don’t hear about that because there isn’t enough time in the day for the news to talk about every malnourished, mistreated meat-eating child. They would need a 24/7 news program just for that alone! Or how about a new blip every time someone dies of a heart attack from eating meat? The majority of heart attacks are caused by diet. Or why don’t they say something every time someone dies or is ill from eating meat? They would also need a 24/7 news program for that too.

Oh but let there be one bad or misguided vegan parent, unhealthy or ill vegan out there and the news is all over that like flies on crap!! Grrr!!





http://www.binaryrhyme.com/ubbicons/banghead.gif

[Rosemary]

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/33536.htm

'WILLFUL NEGLECT'

By ERIC LENKOWITZ
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

JUDGMENT DAY:
http://www.nypost.com/photos/web04050317.jpg
Silva Swinton (left), husband Joseph and lawyer Ronna Gordon-Galchus listen the judge's instructions in Queens Supreme Court.
- NYP: M. Norcia
http://www.nypost.com/photos/web04050317a.jpg
ICE SWINTON
Harmful diet.

April 5, 2003 -- A Queens vegan couple were convicted yesterday of nearly starving their infant child to death — depriving her of breast or soy milk and feeding her a concoction of fruits, nuts and fish oil while ignoring her deteriorating condition.
An emotionally drained and exhausted jury spent 19 hours over three days poring over evidence — asking for read-backs from testimony three times — before finding Silva and Joseph Swinton, both 32, guilty of assault, reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child.

They face up to 25 years in prison when they are sentenced May 19.

"The most vulnerable victims will be protected under the law," Assistant DA Eric Rosenbaum said following the guilty verdict.

"It was willful neglect that went beyond mere negligence, mere recklessness. It was depraved [indifference]. And that's what the jury found."

Joseph Swinton's lawyer disagreed.

"The parents were anything but indifferent in what they did with the child," said Ronna Gordon-Galchus. She vowed to appeal.

"There are a lot of issues in the case that I believe will have merit on appeal," she said.

As a stoic Silva Swinton was handcuffed and being led from the courtroom with Joseph, she turned to her crying supporters in the courtroom and gave a message for her children.

"Tell Ice and Ini that I love them," she said.

Some jurors were visibly shedding tears in the courtroom, and several others cried once they retreated to the jury room.

"It was a very emotional case," Rosenbaum said. Outside the courthouse, Joseph Swinton's sister said she was enraged at the verdict and what she called "lies" presented by the prosecution.

The children "will be back with their parents," April Swinton told The Post. "It might not be at this moment, but they will be back with their parents."

The baby girl, Ice, was discovered severely malnourished on Nov. 16, 2001, by investigators and EMS workers following up a tip. Five months later, the couple was arrested.

Authorities charged the Swintons were well aware of Ice's dire condition but refused to get her medical attention. Medical and vegan experts called by the prosecution repeatedly said the child was lucky to be alive, and portrayed a horrific picture of the famished and dying baby removed from her parents. They said she had a distended belly, bumps on her ribs, and was half the weight of a normal child.

A medical expert for the defense countered by testifying that the baby's problems came after she was removed from the Swintons' home. The doctor said the sedatives she was given by doctors before her MRI caused her breathing problems. He said the rickets were a delayed development from premature birth.

[Rosemary]

I am writing to various media outlets who have run this story identifying myself as a vegan mother who opposes the Swintons' neglect and malnourishment of their daughter.

[Rosemary]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/05/nyregion/05VEGA.html?ex=1050123600&en=439bec4c4892fb23&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

Couple Guilty of Assault in Vegan Case
By GREG RETSINAS


Queens couple who fed their baby daughter a strict vegetarian diet, including homemade infant formula, were convicted yesterday of nearly starving her to death.

A jury in State Supreme Court found the couple, Joseph and Silva Swinton, guilty of first-degree assault and two lesser charges. They were immediately taken into custody. Each faces 5 to 25 years in prison.

The case, described in some headlines as the Vegan Baby Trial, attracted widespread attention beyond the couple's Queens Village neighborhood. Prosecutors said that as exotic and sensational as it sometimes seemed, the facts were plain enough: a diet with no dairy products or infant formula is not adequate for a newborn child, and the parents should have known better.

"This community spoke through the jury and indicated that the weakest will be protected," said Eric Rosenbaum, the prosecutor. "The law protects children."

The results of the Swintons' care, prosecutors and medical experts said, were disastrous. By the time the authorities intervened when the child was 15 months old, she was toothless, had rickets, broken bones and internal injuries. She was severely malnourished and weighed 10 pounds — less than half the normal weight for a young toddler.

The girl, IIce (pronounced ICE), will be 3 in July and has been living in foster care since the authorities took her from her parents in November 2001. Prosecutors said yesterday that IIce was "now on the growth scale," and was physically progressing, but doctors suspect that she has neurological damage.

Lawyers for the Swintons said they would appeal the verdict, noting that the first-degree assault charge included a finding that an offender had depraved intentions. Part of the Swintons' defense had been that they were not knowledgeable enough about child nutrition and did not realize that they were endangering their child until hospital workers told them that IIce was sick.

"I don't see justice here," said Christopher Shella, a lawyer for Mrs. Swinton. "That they made the wrong choice doesn't make it depraved, given how much they cared about their child."

Mrs. Swinton, who is 32, gave birth to IIce at her home three months prematurely. They never received prenatal or postnatal care. In an interview yesterday as she waited for the verdict, Mrs. Swinton said she had been a wayward, 300-pound young adult when she decided to adopt the vegan diet. She and her husband of seven years, who is also 32, have been on it for several years.

Mrs. Swinton said she chose not to breast-feed IIce. After trying to feed her different kinds of commercial baby formula for several months, the couple decided to put her on a natural foods diet. Examining the label on commercial baby formula cans, Mrs. Swinton said she tried to replicate the chemical composition with natural ingredients, including ground nuts and puréed fruits and vegetables.

"We were brand-new parents trying to do everything we could for her," Mrs. Swinton said yesterday. She was rueful, noting that she had "never even got a speeding ticket" and now faced prison.

Amy Lanou, the nutrition director for the Washington-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, testified during the three-week trial that both vegan and vegetarian diets would allow breast milk, and barring that, soy-based baby formula.

Mr. Rosenbaum, the prosecutor, said the care given to IIce was akin to what a child might offer to a "pet gerbil." He said that no matter what the parents' intentions, their failure to seek any type of medical care as IIce's condition worsened merited the criminal charges. In addition to assault, the parents were convicted of first-degree reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child. They will be sentenced on May 16.

Members of several black advocacy groups attended most of the trial and after the verdict, some said that from the start, the mostly white jury was against the Swintons, who are black. The jurors, who deliberated for two days, had been sequestered since Wednesday morning, prompting Judge Richard L. Buchter to remind them as they were dismissed that "there's a war going on, and it's people like you serving in this system that is what America is all about."

The verdict shocked the Swintons' relatives and friends, many of whom sat through day after day of often highly complex medical testimony regarding the ability of the human body to process certain chemicals. Some relatives, though, had testified for the prosecution, confirming that the Swintons were IIce's sole caregivers and had complete responsibility for her feedings.

Mr. Swinton's lawyer, Ronna Gordon-Galchus, said she believed that the nine women and three men on the jury were emotionally swayed by the disturbing testimony of the child's medical condition and that the Swintons' intentions should have played a larger role in the verdict.

"Everything they did for their child, they believed was in her best interest," Ms. Gordon-Galchus said.

The parents were arrested six months after the baby was removed from their home. Mrs. Swinton was able to post bail, but Mr. Swinton has been in Rikers Island since his arrest. She gave birth to a second child, a boy, named InI (pronounced I-en-I), last July. She said she hid him from the authorities for 15 days and was now limited to regular visits with him. He is also in foster care.

As she was led from the courtroom after being taken into custody, Mrs. Swinton called out to her mother, "Tell IIce and InI that I love them."

[Ariann]

I find it pretty incredible that nobody thought it odd for a baby to be born at home three months premature. I'm also confused about the time scale here. The parents claim they tried a variety of (commercial) formulas for several months, but that they weren't adequate. In what way didn't the formula work? And if the baby was on formula for several months and still had medical problems, one can't say that the medical problems were due to a lack of formula as an infant. The child probably had serious medical problems from day one, which had nothing to do with the child's diet (but possible with the mother's). So, anyway, where in the hell were child services?

[Rosemary]

Hi Ariann,

Although some of IIce's problems were no doubt due to her prematurity, the parents screwed up in a number of ways.

They had a homebirth even though there were obvious problems (extreme prematurity) which any midwife or doctor would have referred to a hospital. (I think homebirth is great, but only if various conditions are met to ensure health of mother and baby).

The mother chose not to breastfeed (according to one of the articles). This is a common choice, but not wise. These days it is considered especially important for preemies to be breastfed.

When the baby was having problems with formula, they did not seek help. Some babies do react badly to all formulas--I met an unfortunate woman at a La Leche League meeting, a mother of 3 babies (and pregnant with number 4). Her first three babies had been allergic to all formulas on the market, and she was unable to produce enough milk herself because she had had breast surgery, so she was looking for mothers to donate milk to her. We need (more) human milk banks!

They invented their own formula, with no evidence that it would be adequate.

They ignored the extremely obvious signs that IIce was malnourished. At 15 months, she weighed 10 lbs. That is the size of some *newborns*. (Doctors testified that it was very rare for a child of IIce's age to weigh less than 19 lb, almost *twice* what IIce weighed). When family and neighbours expressed concern about IIce, the parents got angry. Even during the trial, the mother claimed that IIce was "thriving", stating that she had a good appetite (not too surprising that someone dying of starvation would have a good appetite!).

They refused to seek advice anywhere, evidently. Any doctor or alternative practitioner, any book about baby care, any vegan or vegetarian organization, any public health nurse, anyone who had any experience with infants at all, would have said that (1) they were not feeding the baby an adequate diet (every source I've read said that babies need human milk or iron-fortified formula) and (2) IIce was extremely underweight and needed medical care to find out what was going on and help her gain. When IIce finally did end up in hospital, it was against the parents' wishes.

As a parent, I know that all parents make mistakes, and that even with the best of care some health problems are unavoidable. But IIce's parents didn't just make a few innocent mistakes--if they ever bathed IIce or changed her diaper, and as far as I know they did, they would have seen that she was extremely tiny. Maybe they were so close to the situation that they couldn't see how bad it was, but others had expressed concerns and the parents brushed their concerns aside.

Because of their adamant refusal to seek help despite IIce's obvious problems, I think the charge of neglect is totally appropriate.

A worker from child services did visit the family, but she was inexperienced and didn't realize how small IIce was, since she saw her fully clothed. (Here in Toronto there was a case of a young mother whose baby, much younger than IIce, died of starvation. She lied to workers about having taken the baby to doctor's checkups, and kept him clothed in loose clothing so that the workers wouldn't realize how thin he was. I guess it is easy to fake out stressed out and overworked Children's Aid workers).

What gets me is how some black advocacy groups are saying that the jury was too hard on the Swintons because they are black. !!! They should be advocating for black babies, like IIce and InI, to receive adequate care, not advocating for black parents to come close to killing their babies through stupidity.

[Ariann]

Oh, Rosemary, I totally agree they did many things wrong and were definitely guilty of some kind of serious depravity, I just think there are other people who need to bear responsibility as well. I didn't mean to suggest they were remotely competent parents. (And I agree, it has nothing to do with black/white issues). An article I read, I think in the New York Times, seemed to indicate they also tried commercial formulas, although the first article I read about the case said they made their own. [I just noticed it was in the article you printed above, which was in the New York Times yesterday. They specifically mentioned commercial formulas.]

I live in New Jersey, and there have been two serious cases here recently (both resulting in death) where the Department of Family and Youth Services completely loused up. There's no way to know how many children are in terrible health, abused, or near death that we don't even hear about. If a social worker is so inexperienced as to not notice when a child is this severely malnourished and underweight, s/he should not be going on cases alone. And if the parents were over-dressing Iice to make her look heavier, it seems to me that's a sign of their indifference or malice towards their daughter's health.

[Rosemary]

An interesting article, very sympathetic to the Swintons, claiming that they were charged with neglecting IIce only after they threatened to sue the hospital for malpractice.

http://www.challenge-group.com/news/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=24123&sID=4

Malpractice or malnutrition?
By: Nayaba Arinde
Challenge Group
Originally posted 3/17/2003

Vegan parents fight for children

''How do you hold up in a situation like this? Only with the truth. The Creator has given me my strength. I miss my children very much. Ice and Ini – Dad and Mama love you very much. Freedom. We will be together soon.''
Silva Swinton is a slip of a thing, her youthful looks belies her thirty–plus years on the planet.
But she is a woman tormented, her children taken by the foster care service, and today she and her ‘husband’ Joseph Swinton, go on trial and are facing a possible 25-year sentence, should the verdict go against them.
An anonymous phone call led to Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) visiting the Swintons and their 15-month-old baby in November 2001, and questions about the vegan diet that the family adhered to.
Seven months later, the Queens Village couple were charged with reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child, and even later -– first-degree assault.
Speaking for the family Viola Pressley, maintains that the charges came only after the couple began asking questions about the treatment of their daughter, Ice, while in the care of Long Island Jewish Hospital under the supervision of the ACS, and then their announcing that they may file a malpractice suit.
Prosecutors charged that being fed on cod liver oil, nuts and juice, the baby was suffering from malnutrition.
The family denies the accusation.
Pressley also said it is unclear where the assault charge comes from. Swinton denies that her child had any broken bones as reported by the mainstream press.
According to the family: an anonymous call was made – ''a personal vendetta'' – allegedly by one of Joseph Swinton’s relatives -, claiming that the strict vegans were starving their infant.
''One senseless phone call, four innocent people’s lives forever changed.'' Pressley said Joseph Swinton’s aunt is appearing for the prosecution.
Joseph Swinton has been in jail for almost a year. Silva Swinton, also 32 years old, made bail after two and a half months at Rikers. The parents believe that they are separated from their children – Ice and eight-month old Ini (I and I), only because they queried the treatment used by the hospital.
When their daughter was removed from their home and taken to the hospital for a check-up, the Swintons said they questioned the repeated use of a sedative, which led to Ice needing oxygen, after the ACS mandated that the child undergo an MRI.
''Under the advice of council I have been told not to make any statements about the case,'' Swinton told the Daily Challenge, just before today’s scheduled trial was due to begin.
But, sitting in an office at Rev. Herbert Daughtry’s House of the Lord Church in Cobble Hill, Pressley relayed the story.
''We believe that after the parents said they were going to file a malpractice lawsuit against the hospital and the ACS, all of a sudden there were charges brought against them.''
After the anonymous phone call, on November 16, 2001 the ACS visited Ice at her Queens home. Four days later, while in the care of the hospital, Ice went into respiratory failure during a MRI exam. ''The child was overly sedated with Chlorahydrate. Due to negligence on the part of the hospital personnel, Ice was placed on oxygen for approximately five months.''
On March 5, 2002, the baby was discharged from the hospital and placed into foster care. The next month, the parents were arrested. Charged with ''endangering the welfare of a minor,'' they were placed on $20,000 bond respectively.
Pressley said that Swinton’s original bail requirement (ten percent) was $2,000, but when the family raised the cash, DA Richard Brown’s office refused to accept it, and subsequently raised the bond to $8,000. That submitted, the family could not come up with the bail for Joseph Swinton.
The Challenge did not get any response from the Queens DA’s office.
''$8,000 on a $20,000 bail?'' Pressley asked incredulously.
Several months pregnant, Silva Swinton spent two and a half months at Riker’s Island. ''She was put into protective custody, because the inmates had heard the story on the news and that is all they knew. We raised the bail money, we did not want to give birth in Riker’s.''
Released from jail in June last year, a month later Silva gave birth to her son Ini.
But, said Pressley ''because there was a pending case regarding the first child, the ACS say they have the right to take the rest of your children until this case is over with.''
Swinton showed the Challenge pictures of her daughter taken just before the MRI. While definitely small, her mother insisted that she was alert and bright and regular.
She was a premature baby, Swinton informed the Challenge. She did not breast feed, but she did feed her baby a homemade soy formula.
''When they walked in the home the ACS said everything seemed to be fine,'' Pressley stated. ''The Swintons were sitting down with their daughter eating dinner. But, they said that they have to follow through when a phone call is received, so they took her to the hospital. The triage nurse said that Ice was fine.''
The Challenge asked how did the toddler go from fine to needing oxygen while in the hospital’s care?
''Following ‘procedure,’ they said they wanted to do an MRI,'' Pressley replied. ''But, with the medicine they gave her to sedate her, she did not go under initially, so they ended giving her a second dosage. The parents were against that. They wanted them to wait, until the next day, or at least a while, because they were not comfortable with their 15 month old baby being sedated twice within less than 30 minutes. When they gave the baby the second dosage she stopped breathing, and she had to be put on oxygen. One of the side effects of Chlorahydrate is respiratory failure. She suffered respiratory failure. ''They put her on oxygen, which they said would be for two hours, but ended up being for five months.''
While at the hospital the child was taken into ACS jurisdiction. ''They took the rights from the parents, but they were still able to see their child, and they were told that they would get the baby back after they took parenting class. They were not under any suspicion as far as they knew. But, when they were in the hospital waiting to take Ice home, they were told that they could not take her home, and were told to leave.''
Silva Swinton said she ''stayed with Ice 24/7.''
Asked why the Swintons thought that their child was kept from them, Pressley said that as time went on, they had been pointing things out like ''constantly taking blood, the X-rays, putting needles in her. They were looking to see if there was something wrong with her, but there wasn’t. They were trying to say that there was something wrong with her head. When the Swintons verbalized in April, that they were going to bring a malpractice lawsuit, suddenly the tables were turned and they were arrested and charged with child endangerment. Then first degree assault. But, nobody knows where that charge came from, it is cruel and unwarranted given the nature of the case. That charge carries a sentence of up to 25 years. Nothing warranted any of the action.
''The parents believe that this is all because they said that they would file a malpractice lawsuit because of the MRI; when Ice stopped breathing; and the oxygen. Within a week or two they were placed under arrest.''
''This case is about going against someone and how they should raise their child; what they should feed their child,'' Pressley said. ''We live in a society where everyone is basically mandated by what and how we should eat, by what they consider the law. This family is vegetarian, so they didn’t have any meat. They were raising their daughter in a vegetarian lifestyle. She was an infant, she had her formula, her vitamins, her juices and her water. When the ACS came to the house, they were eating, sweet potatoes and vegetables, and the baby was having her little dinner. But, in the paper, they were saying that they were only feeding their daughter nuts and oils, etc., which is not the truth.''''
Away from both her newborn from birth and her toddler, who is now almost three, Pressley said that, ''It’s hard for Silva. She’s very strong. She really sees that this picture is bigger than herself. She doesn’t understand why her children were taken away from her. She’s trying to do her best to hang in there, but her main focus is to get herself free to get her children back because they need her, and she needs them.''
Silva is able to visit with her children twice a week, but, Joseph ''has not physically seen his son, he’s seen a picture.''
As for support, Pressley said, ''When this first happened there was support coming from all over the country, from California to Atlanta. We had a lot of support from the vegan community. But, several court-appointed lawyers have produced no help or relief for the Swintons. The attorney that they had seemed to have chased off all of the support, so now we are starting from scratch, and the community is reaching out again.''
The family is hoping for continued support, Pressley told the Challenge. ''We are hoping for everyone’s support, prayers, love and determination to really help this family, and to stand on what you believe, that what you are doing for your child is the best thing, and no one should come in and have to take your child because of what their belief is.''
The media can make or break a case, Pressley noted. ''The guys from the Central Park case, the media made such a monster out of them that everybody believed that they were guilty, even though they voiced their own innocence. Now, here we are in the year 2003, and were finding out that these guys spent years in prison and they were not guilty. So, we have another case here of a family who is not guilty of the charges that are seen in the paper. But, if we don’t get a voice out there to tell the truth, people tend to believe what they read. ''There’s a difference between fact and truth. We need to harp on the truth, because facts can be easily distorted.''
Help us to save Silva and Joseph Swinton from false imprisonment and to have their children returned to them in good health. Today, so many cases are in the news regarding the mistreatment of children placed in the foster care system.
Help this family not to become a statistic.
The trial begins tomorrow morning at the Queens State Supreme Court, in the courtroom of Judge Buchter; K10, 125-01 Queens Blvd., Kew Gardens., Queens.
For more information call (718) 735 4244.

[Spaceman]

This case just gets more and more strange by the minute. The more time goes on, the more things start to make sense.

Now that they have been convicted, do you know if there is a plan to appeal?

[Rosemary]

is it looks like the reporter talked only to the Swintons and friends, and not to the other side.

The pro-Swinton article does not discuss IIce's extremely small weight. At 15 months, this was *not* due to being premature. (A friend of mine had a son born 3 months premature, I think he was only *2* lbs which is lower than IIce's birth weight, but he grew rapidly under the hospital's and parents' loving care and grew as much as a full-term baby.

If the authorities decided to charge the Swintons only after they threatened malpractice, maybe it was because they were hoping to work with the Swintons and help them to learn to care properly for their kids, which would be better for the kids than having the parents spend 5-25 years in jail, but realized after the Swintons threatened them that the Swintons were impossible to work with, and unwilling to admit that the care they provided IIce was woefully inadequate.

[penfold]

hello :)

can someone please enlighten me as to what a mother would expect in terms of home visits and so on from health workers etc in the states. here in sweden someone calls on several occassions and weighs and measures new arrivals, comparing there progress against a chart of what's normal. even this system must have holes in, but it sounds like the kind of thing that could have caught Ice in time.

gee I love paying taxes :smitten:

[Ariann]

Penfold, I can't say with any confidence, but from what I've read recently, social workers do not get involved unless there is a complaint against the parents, and then they are expected to keep in touch with the family on a regular basis, including visiting the home. I don't know if there's any system about measuring the child's health, it probably depends on the case.

[penfold]

thanks Ariann :)

[Rosemary]

Hi Penfold,
The Swintons were deliberately avoiding all medical care, to the point of having her born at home even though she was 3 months premature. I expect even in a country where there was a system for home visits by health workers, IIce might have slipped through the cracks because her very existence might not be known to the system.

[Rosemary]

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/queens/nyc-vegan0514,0,5409629.story?coll=nyc-manheadlines-queens


Vegan Advocates Call For Leniency

By Ron Howell
Staff Writer

May 13, 2003, 10:59 PM EDT


Black advocates of vegetarianism are calling for leniency in the case of a couple convicted of nearly starving their daughter to death with a strict vegan diet.

Some activists accuse the Queens district attorney of being insensitive to alternative lifestyles in the African-American community.

"There is a prejudice against people who practice alternative lifestyles as it relates to food and medicine," said the Rev. Herbert Daughtry, a Brooklyn activist minister, who said he has been a vegan for 20 years, not eating meat, fish or dairy products.

In a telephone interview Tuesday, he said he has been preaching about Joseph and Silva Swinton, the convicted couple, in Sunday sermons at his House of the Lord Pentecostal Church in Brooklyn.

Asked about the criticism by Daughtry and others, a spokesman for District Attorney Richard Brown said, "The charges were legally sufficient and proven at a fair trial beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury of their peers." The DA, he added, "believes that justice has been done."

Up in Harlem Tuesday, outside the popular Uptown Juice Bar, another longtime activist, Delois Blakely, was handing out fliers asking people to support the Swintons by showing up at their sentencing scheduled for Monday.

"Was the Swinton family the sacrificial lamb for the District Attorney's denouncement of the vegetarian community?" the flier demanded.

Blakely, known for her work with the homeless, said she has had thousands of fliers printed with color pictures of the Swintons smiling and holding their children.

On April 4, a jury convicted the Swintons of endangering the life of their baby girl by keeping her on a diet low in protein and calcium and not seeking pediatric care when the baby was severely weak and underweight. Evidence showed the baby, named Ice, was toothless, had rickets and was too weak to move her limbs or even cry.

Authorities took Ice from the Swintons' Queens Village home in November 2001. Now almost 3 years old, the little girl is in foster care with the Swintons' 8-month-old son.

The Swintons, who are incarcerated, face sentences of 5 to 25 years.

Daughtry said Tuesday that he would like the judge to allow the House of the Lord Pentecostal Church to be involved in counseling the Swintons and helping them get back together with their children.

"I think that these are parents who were engaged in an attempt to provide what they thought was best for their baby," Daughtry said. "My concern is that justice prevail and mercy be shown."

Some black children's rights advocates, like Sharonne Salaam of the Harlem-based People United for Children, say authorities too often take black children from their parents instead of offering them supervised counseling.

"They should have taken this family and offered them preventive services, instead of totally destroying them," Salaam said.

[Rosemary]

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1861&dept_id=152368&newsid=8095099&PAG=461&rfi=9

Vegan Couple Sentenced—Emotionally Charged Hearing In Kew Gardens Court




by Daniel Hendrick, Asst. Managing Editor May 22, 2003




The Queens Village couple found guilty last month of nearly starving their baby and failing to seek medical attention for her will serve only minimum sentences.
Following a dramatic hearing in Kew Gardens State Supreme Court on Tuesday, Judge Richard Buchter sentenced Silva Swinton, 32, to six years in prison, while her husband, Joseph Swinton, 32, will serve five years.
A jury convicted the couple last month of assault, reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of their daughter, Ice, who is now three. The convictions carried mandatory sentences of between 5 and 25 years under state law.
Addressing a tense courtroom packed with family members, reporters and activists, Buchter said the Swintons were “guilty of willful blindness” by not seeking medical care for their daughter, who was severely malnourished and frail when authorities removed her 18 months ago.
Nonetheless, Buchter added, the couple does not present a danger to society and made some efforts to care for Ice. A medical determination of Joseph Swinton’s borderline intelligence granted him additional leniency.
“While these defendants are criminally irresponsible and were reckless and callous with regard to their child’s safety, and their conduct was certainly bizarre, reprehensible and extremely narcissistic, I believe they were not consciously malevolent,” Buchter said. “Oddly enough, they may have deluded themselves into believing that they were doing something positive.”
The judge handed down the sentences after an hour-long hearing punctuated by passionate appeals from family members and several angry outbursts from Silva Swinton.
At one point, Etta Rohmbat, Silva’s mother, began to wail uncontrollably from her second-row gallery pew. “Have mercy, have mercy!” she cried, as a stunned courtroom watched and the Swintons were hastily escorted into a holding area.
Family members and court officers removed Rohmbat from the hearing after she collapsed, though her plaintive screams could be heard from the hallway for several moments.
Prosecutor Eric Rosenbaum restated his argument that the couple brought Ice “to the brink of death” by feeding her a diet that lacked sufficient calcium and protein and then ignoring signs that she was in danger.
After an anonymous tip, Ice was removed from the couple’s home on November 16, 2001, and rushed to Long Island Jewish Hospital in New Hyde Park.
According to trial testimony, pediatricians there concluded that Ice had virtually no fat or muscle, no teeth and bones so severely demineralized that they were riddled with fractures.
Although she was 15 months old, Ice weighed only 10 pounds—less than half the average for her age, making her appear more like a two- to three-month-old infant. Serious developmental problems remain and the extent of permanent damage is unclear, prosecutors said.
During the trial, the Swintons acknowledged that they fed Ice a diet of ground nuts, fruit juices, teas, oils and beans. In place of a breast milk or a commercial baby formula, they gave her a homemade soy-based drink. They also did not seek pre- or post-natal care for Ice until the city Administration for Children’s Services removed her.
“The diet that they followed is not on trial,” Rosenbaum asserted. “It’s what they did to the child.”
The Swintons’ lawyers, Ronna Gordon-Galchus and Christopher Shella, argued on Tuesday that their clients did not realize the severity of Ice’s condition.
Contrary to the jury’s conclusion that the couple showed “depraved indifference” toward the baby, the Swintons went to great expense to buy her nice clothes, cloth diapers and toys, their lawyers said.
“Joseph Swinton does not have an evil or mean bone in his body,” Gordon-Galchus added. “Now he is facing a minimum of five years, but the punishment does not fit the crime.”
Sobbing yet steadfast, Silva Swinton charged that prosecutors fabricated crucial details of the case and that Ice’s condition was not as life-threatening as portrayed.
Admitting that she initially hid her newborn son, Ini, from authorities last winter, Swinton asserted that she had since followed the rules. Ini, now 10 months old, and his sister are in foster care. “This separation is punishment enough,” Swinton said.
Outside the courtroom, family members said the couple would fight the charges on appeal. “We will continue to fight,” said April Swinton, Joseph Swinton’s sister. “We will prove that this was an unfair trial.”
Andrea Smalling, Silva Swinton’s cousin, added that the pair “are not monsters. They are true loving parents.”

[Rosemary]

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=8421174&BRD=1079&PAG=461&dept_id=506450&rfi=6

Queens Village vegan dad slashed by Rikers inmate

By Alex Ginsberg 06/19/2003

A Queens Village man in jail for starving his baby daughter on a bizarre vegetarian diet of ground nuts, seeds, herbal teas and fruit juices was slashed by another inmate at Rikers Island on May 29, the city Department of Corrections said.

Joseph Swinton, 32, required 51 stitches on the right side of his face and 16 on the back of his neck following the attack, said Tom Antenen, a spokesman for the department.

The incident took place in the North Infirmary Command - known as the "Celebrity Wing" because high-profile inmates are often housed there under closer monitoring. Antenen said John Gotti and Robert Chambers were among the inmates who had spent time there.

Another inmate was suspected in the assault, and a Bronx grand jury was considering charges against him, Antenen said.

Joseph Swinton was convicted in April along with his wife, Silva, of feeding their daughter a diet so lacking in nutrition that the child weighed only 10 pounds at the age of 16 months.

Doctors from Schneider Children's Hospital, where the child was taken after an anonymous call summoned officials from the Administration for Children's Services to the couple's Queens Village home, testified during the trial that she had severely demineralized bones and suffered from rickets.

State Supreme Court Judge Richard Buchter in Kew Gardens sentenced Silva Swinton to six years in prison but gave her husband the minimum of five year, owing to Joseph Swinton's borderline retarded IQ.

The Rev. Herbert Daughtry, a Brooklyn priest who has acted as spiritual adviser to the couple over the past several months, said the attack was an indication that the sentence was inappropriate.

"They shouldn't have been there in a prison setting," Daughtry said. "The punishment was too harsh."

Daughtry said the attack might have been motivated by the "value system in prison," where inmates who have hurt children can be singled out for severe mistreatment.

The minister added that he was in touch with the couple through a relative, Viola Presley, who had indicated that they were doing their best to stay positive in prison.

The couple and their friends and supporters were also raising money and searching for an attorney to handle their appeal.

Reach reporter Alex Ginsberg by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 157.

©Times-Ledger 2003

I don't agree with the way the Swinton's endangered their daughter's life, but its terrible that Joseph Swinton was attacked like this.

[Rosemary]

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/crime/nyc-nyside263509807oct26,0,2440999.story?coll=nyc-topheadlines-left

She's Now a Chatty, 'Happy Kid'

By Ron Howell
STAFF WRITER

October 26, 2003


She was the Vegan Child, the baby who nearly starved on a radical vegetarian diet.

Now IICE Swinton, pronounced "Ice," is a full-cheeked, bouncy 3-year-old, chatting happily with anyone who will listen, her foster parent says.

"She's a light, happy kid," said Mary Halliday of Brooklyn, the child's maternal aunt, with whom IICE is living while her parents are in prison on assault convictions.

"Sometimes I come home from work and I'm not smiling and she'll say, 'Is everything OK?'"

Silva Swinton calls and talks to IICE from time to time, Halliday said. Halliday also cares for IICE's brother, INI, pronounced "eye-n-eye," who is 1.

The Association to Benefit Children, a private foster care agency selected by city social service workers, approved Halliday as the children's caretaker.

Because of a pending Queens Family Court matter, IICE and INI are not permitted to be taken to prison to visit their parents, said MacLean Guthrie, a spokeswoman for the city Administration for Children's Services.

Silva Swinton is angry about that. In an interview, she said some of her fellow inmates who smoked crack during their pregnancies or committed violent crimes are allowed to have visits from their children.

Her attorney, Steven Forbes, said he is trying to get Queens Family Court Judge Edwina Richardson-Thomas to lift the bar on visitations. The ban was imposed after a request by the children's law guardian, an attorney from The Legal Aid Society.

Legal Aid spokeswoman Patricia Bath said social workers would speak to the children and the parents before determining whether it is in the best interests of the children to allow visits.

A spokeswoman for the judge said she would not comment.

The Association to Benefit Children, the Manhattan-based foster agency that placed IICE and her brother with Halliday, would not comment on the case.

Meanwhile, Silva Swinton is getting her wish on one point: Halliday said she is keeping the children on a vegetarian diet.
Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.

[Rosemary]

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/crime/nyc-vegan1026,0,3805663.story?coll=nyc-topheadlines-left

Double Dose of Pain
Vegan Mother Details Her Suffering

By Ron Howell
Staff Writer

October 25, 2003, 8:53 PM EDT


Silva Swinton says she's been attacked in jail by other inmates, confined to her cell in a punitive "lockdown," and lost much of her shoulder-length hair from anti-lice treatments.

But nothing hurts as much as not seeing her two children, she says.

"Oh, I miss them so much," she told Newsday in a recent interview in the city jail on Rikers Island.

In April, a Queens jury convicted Swinton, 33, and her husband, Joseph, 32, of felony assault. Prosecutors said the parents had kept their baby daughter on a radical vegetarian diet and never consulted a doctor, even as the girl became severely underweight and dangerously weak.

Joseph Swinton was sentenced to 5 years' imprisonment and is at Bare Hill Correctional Facility near the Canadian border. Silva Swinton was slapped with a heavier 6-year sentence because she is college-educated and, according to the judge, more culpable.

Silva Swinton, in the interview, said she regrets not taking her daughter IICE, pronounced "Ice," to a doctor. Otherwise, she held fast to her unconventional views and insisted she was only trying to raise IICE according to those beliefs.

"I'd really like ... people to see that I did everything in my power to make sure that she was healthy," she said. "My whole entire day was spent researching and making food" for IICE.

"I'd really like ... people to see that I am a mother who really loves her daughter."

A group of about 10 people that calls itself The Swintons' Support Group has been meeting at the House of the Lord Pentecostal Church in Brooklyn, trying to draw attention to the Swintons' plight.

The Rev. Herbert Daughtry, pastor of the church, said the Swintons are gentle people who may not survive their sentences. The parents are viewed in prison as child molesters, the lowest rung on the jailhouse ladder, said Daughtry, who has been a vegan, or strict vegetarian, for two decades.

"Any length of time in prison, but especially 6 years, is going to be difficult, damaging and dangerous," he said.

Five months ago, when Joseph Swinton was at Rikers Island, he was slashed in the face and neck by another inmate, requiring 67 stitches.

In Silva Swinton's interview at Rikers Island, where she is being held pending a Queens Family Court proceeding related to IICE's case set for Oct. 31, she said she carries pictures of her children to show inmates that the youngsters are alive and well, and that she loves them.

The assistant district attorney who prosecuted the Swintons, Eric Rosenbaum, told Newsday the couple "committed a criminal act" and deserved to be convicted. He said they showed "depraved indifference" to the life of their child as they ignored signs of her deterioration.

When the child was taken from the Swintons by authorities in November 2001, after someone made an anonymous call, IICE was 15 months old and weighed only 10 pounds, evidence showed. She was so weak she was unable to cry and had rickets.

IICE was placed in foster care as her parents faced criminal charges.

Silva Swinton conceded in the interview that she made a major error by not consulting a physician about IICE's development. She attributed the reluctance to a long-standing suspicion of doctors, who she said failed to cure her of a series of childhood ailments.

She described spending hours a day preparing meals for IICE, soaking and blending soybeans, walnuts, pine nuts, fruits and herbs.

In July 2002, while facing criminal charges regarding IICE's care, Silva Swinton had a baby boy named INI, pronounced "eye-n-eye." She told Newsday she tried to correct her previous mistakes by breast-feeding INI and taking him to a physician. "And they still took him from me" shortly after his birth, she said.

Swinton said she still considers herself a vegan; in prison she eats large quantities of starch in addition to fruits and vegetables and has gained 35 pounds. Vegans do not eat meat, fish or dairy products.

She spoke passionately of a violent encounter with other inmates at Rikers Island on June 24.

While walking along a corridor, she said, she heard several inmates shouting " 'Baby-starving — — — ! You killed your children. You don't deserve to live. ... ' "

She said several women jumped her and "overpowered" her. She awoke dazed, with a front tooth broken, one of her eyes "all messed up" and bruises on her upper body, she said.

City prison officials say records show only that Swinton fainted that day after reporting she had not eaten.

The day after the incident, Swinton was transferred back to her assigned prison, the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County, where she received medical attention. Dentists repaired her tooth, she said.

Swinton talked also about an incident on June 30 at Bedford Hills. She said correction officers came to her dormitory and told her she was being transferred to a solitary cell for her own protection. (A state prison spokesman did not give a reason for the attempted transfer.)

Swinton said she did not want to be in that area because it houses hardened prisoners. She pleaded with the officers not to take her there, she said, and began resisting them.

"Before I knew it, they tackled me to the floor. It took four of them to handcuff me because I was resisting ... I resisted by holding my arms ... They fought me and banged my head on the ground, and I just stopped fighting," she said.

Swinton was charged with violent conduct, creating a disturbance and refusing a direct order, among other infractions, said Linda Foglia, a state prison spokeswoman. She was given a 60-day punishment of solitary confinement and was denied phone, mail and other privileges, Foglia said.

Swinton told Newsday her time in solitary strengthened her character.

"I got to sit and think," she said. "I did a lot of crying. I did a lot of, 'Why me? Why me?' But then I got to feel there was something bigger here. There must be something bigger here."

She now feels the suffering of others more deeply, she said. Two weeks ago, she had a loving meeting with her parents, who live in Queens and from whom she had been alienated.

Though she and her husband don't now have an attorney to pursue an appeal, she hopes that one day their convictions will be overturned, and she will be able to return to her children.

"Nobody could love them like I do," she said.

[bird]

Expert testifies that rare disease, not vegan diet, led to baby's death

By Emanuella Grinberg

MIAMI — Infant Woyah Andressohn may have subsisted on wheatgrass, coconut milk and almond juice, and weighed less than 7 pounds until her death at 6 months old, but lawyers for the vegan parents accused of her death deny that the infant succumbed to malnutrition.

Miami prosecutors allege that Joseph and Lamoy Andressohn acted recklessly by restricting their family to a diet of raw fruits and vegetables, in spite of signs that baby Woyah was not growing.

But lawyers for the Andressohns say they felt they were doing the right thing for their children, and that the baby died from unrelated infections caused by congenital defects.

While both sides agree that Woyah died on May 15, 2003, as a result of a weakened immune system exacerbated by malnutrition, they diverge on how her system was broken down.

Although the state believes the girl's death was preventable, medical experts for the defense claim it was natural and unavoidable.

State witness and Broward County medical examiner Reinhard Motte testified Tuesday that Woyah's insufficient caloric intake weakened her to the extent of auto-cannibalism, in which the body feeds on muscles and vital organs for energy.

Conversely, the defense's medical expert, citing evidence of infection and fungus revealed by an autopsy, argued that Woyah suffered from a severe case of acid-reflux disease that led to her death.

"What we have is a natural disease that killed someone," former Palm Beach County medical examiner John Marraccini testified in the aggravated manslaughter trial Thursday.

He also claimed that prosecutors might have drawn similar conclusions if they had looked past Woyah's distended belly and protruding ribcage and examined further.

"This baby looks so terrible that one might conclude that the distended belly and thin fat are one and the same," Marraccini testified. "But if the belly was distended by something else, it creates the wrong impression, and wrong impressions are what this case is all about."

Marraccini suggested Woyah's protruding belly could have been caused by her father's attempts to resuscitate her as she gasped her last breaths. But more likely, he testified, was the possibility that emergency-room doctors put a tube in her esophagus which caused it to inflate with air.

Marraccini said his findings were bolstered by the opinion of another defense expert who testified Wednesday that the infant suffered from a congenital disease that weakens the immune system.

"When you look at [her], you see a cute baby, but from my point of view, I see a prominent forehead, a depressed nasal ridge and a chin that is very small; all of which are features of DiGeorge syndrome," geneticist Paul Benke told jurors.

Benke conceded that the rare disease occurs in about 3 in 1,000 children and suggested that may have been why the medical examiner conducting Woyah's autopsy missed it.

"You see what you look for, and you look for what you know," Benke testified.

The defense is expected to rest its case Friday.

http://www.courttv.com/trials/andressohn/110305_ctv.html

[bird]

Vegan couple cleared in baby's death but guilty of child neglect

By Emanuella Grinberg

MIAMI — A vegan couple who kept their five children on a strict raw-foods diet was cleared of aggravated manslaughter Monday for the death of their 6-month-old baby, but convicted of four counts of child neglect.

A Miami jury rendered their verdict after less than 90 minutes of deliberation in the trial of Joseph and Lamoy Andressohn, who were accused of feeding their children an inadequate diet of raw fruits and vegetables in spite of signs that they appeared malnourished and underweight.

The four counts of neglect relate to the Andressohns' oldest surviving children, ages 4 to 9, who on average weighed less than 97 percent of other children their ages, according to prosecution testimony, when 6-month-old baby Woyah died on May 15, 2003.

The infant weighed less than 7 pounds and was 22 inches long when she died, less than half the average for children her age, according to prosecution medical experts.

During his closing argument Monday, Assistant State Attorney Herbert Walker told the panel of three men and three women that baby Woyah and her siblings became "sacrificial lambs" for their parents' zealous beliefs.

"This person did not grow and did not thrive, and it was these two people who didn't feed her," Walker said, pointing at the defendants with one hand and holding in the other a now-familiar picture of the emaciated infant with protruding ribs and arms "the size of my thumb," in the words of a prosecution witness.

With the split verdict, the panel seemed to accept in part the defense theory that baby Woyah died from an infection caused by a congenital defect which weakened her immune system.

Defense attorney Ellis Rubin pointed out that the other four children were raised on the same diet, and that Lamoy Andressohn stopped breast-feeding Woyah's 18-month-old sister, Rayah, at three months, just as she had Woyah, replacing the milk with a formula of wheat grass, almond and coconut juice.

Rubin also argued that the Andressohns were scapegoats of Florida's beleaguered Child Protective Services, whose case workers had visited the family's Homestead home less than a week before Woyah's death and which had come under fire in an unrelated issue after discovering that a foster child had been missing for eight months.

The child, Rilyah Wilson, was never found.

"This case didn't start with the death of Woyah Andressohn," Rubin said in his closing. "It started when complaints about Mrs. Andressohn's lifestyle and how she was handling her children were made to the Florida Department of Children and Families."

After the verdict, Lamoy Andressohn, 30, said she looked forward to being reunited with her surviving children, including a new baby girl, Joyah, who was born after the couple's arrest in June 2003.

Joyah Andressohn lives with an unidentified foster family, although she was spotted outside the courtroom Monday being breast-fed by Lamoy Andressohn.

Joseph Andressohn, 36, echoed his wife's sentiments.

"I do consider it a victory, although our daughter is still not with us," he said, referring to Woyah.

The pair still face up to 20 years in prison on the four counts of child neglect when they are sentenced Dec. 15, but could receive as little as probation. A hearing to determine if they will remain free on bond was scheduled for Thursday.

Since the Andressohns lost custody in August 2003 pending the outcome of their trial, the other four children have lived with Joseph Andressohn's sister, Mary Andressohn.

The federal agent with the Department of Homeland Security testified at trial that the children had each gained at least 10 pounds since moving in with her and acknowledged that Mary Andressohn would gain full custody of them if the parents were convicted of manslaughter.

The Andressohns caught their first glimpse of their two oldest sons since 2003, when the boys testified via video that their parents often locked the refrigerator and taught them that cooked foods were "evil."

It is unclear how the verdict will affect the couple's current custody arrangement, since the decision ultimately lies with the dependency court, but defense attorney Ellis Rubin said he was confident that there would be a "family reunion" within the year.

"They're not a danger to anybody. They were only doing what they thought was right for the lifestyle of the children," Rubin said.

"The only basis [the Department of Children and Family Services] had to proceed further was with the conviction on manslaughter," added co-counsel Robert Barrar, who worked the case pro-bono with Rubin. "Now they have nowhere to go."

Prosecutor Walker admitted he was surprised by the verdict but said he accepted the jury's decision.

"It was a devastating feeling hearing the words 'not guilty' on first count. Then the feeling of devastation was followed by confusion when I heard 'guilty' on the second," Walker told Courttv.com, adding he felt there was more evidence to prove manslaughter than neglect.

Even as Judge Stanford Blake denied a motion to drop the neglect charges Friday afternoon, he told the attorneys in open court that were it not for evidence of growth charts showing that the Andressohn children were smaller than 97 percent of other children their age, he would have considered dismissing them.

"Baby Woyah's death was something I didn't take lightly, given the circumstances of her death," Walker said. "She was a defenseless child, so the state attempted to speak on her behalf."

http://www.courttv.com/trials/andressohn/110705_ctv.html

[JasperKat]

Here's the verdict: http://www.courttv.com/trials/andressohn/110705_ctv.html

I've been listening to the trial and the arguement isn't so much that they fed their baby a raw foods diet, but that they failed to get her medical attention when she was clearly not thriving. The baby weighed less when she died than she did when she was born.

So sad. I'm sure that the parents thought that they were doing a good thing by raising their children on this diet, but when your child weighs less than 7 pounds at 6 months, you need to get her to a doctor and find out what you're doing wrong. I would imagine that a raw food diet could be adequete for a baby, if it were monitered and adjusted properly.

-JK