Pat Robertson In Hospital

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson underwent 10 hours of surgery to repair a heart disorder and is back in Virginia recovering, a spokesman said Monday.

"He's really doing well, recovering very quickly," spokesman Chris Roslan said of the 79-year-old founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network. "He's doing great."

Pat Robertson founded the Christian Broadcasting Network, which broadcasts in more than 225 countries.
Robertson, who has scaled back his official activities in recent years, was treated Aug. 19 at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital for atrial fibrillation. He was released last Thursday, Roslan said.

Robertson underwent convergent procedure, which involves cauterizing the continually beating heart muscle with heat generated by a radio frequency. The procedure is less invasive than traditional heart surgery and uses four small openings to hasten recovering time. During the surgery, doctors also discovered an abnormally enlarged left appendage on Robertson's heart. They believe the appendage, which was removed, was the cause of Robertson's atrial fibrillation.

Robertson founded the Christian Broadcasting Network, which airs programs in nearly 100 languages in more than 225 countries. Its flagship program, the "700 Club" talk show, reaches 1 million American households daily. See Chick's HEART TROUBLE.

Rape Victim Gets Last Word

A Southern California rapist was apprehended at the hospital ER where he went for treatment after one of his potential victims bit the tongue right out of his mouth.

Ronald Douglas McGowan is now facing a preliminary hearing for 12 felony counts against four women, including rape, forcible rape, assault with a deadly weapon, and assault causing serious bodily harm. Taking that bite out of crime has probably saved several more women trauma at the hands of this man.

He has undergone some serious bodily harm of his own, since doctors were unable to reattach his tongue. See Chick's CAUGHT.

China Attempts To Bully Taiwan Over Dalai Lama Visit

The Dalai Lama has arrived in Taiwan to comfort the island's storm victims in a trip that has drawn China's ire. The Tibetan spiritual leader smiled as he greeted Buddhist followers and supporters at the Taoyuan International Airport on Sunday night. Before his departure, he told reporters in India that he had a moral responsibility to visit the victims of the recent typhoon and did not think his trip would cause tension between China and Taiwan.

China has vilified the Dalai Lama for what it says are his attempts to fight for independence in Tibet. Beijing has said it "resolutely opposes" the Taiwan visit. China invaded Tibet in the 1950s and wants to take over Taiwan as well, but Taiwan has a powerful military, and such an invasion would come at a high cost to the Communist mainland. However, communists propaganda has succeeded in convincing some dupes to support a take over of their country, believing it could be peaceful and they would benefit under a communist redistribution of the wealth. Approximately 50 supporters of unification with China hurled insults at the Dalai Lama as he arrived at a suburban Taipei train station Sunday. The communist demonstrators, waving Chinese flags and banners supporting unification with China, shouted "Go home Dalai Lama, don't come here" as he boarded a train bound for the south. See Chick's KINGS OF THE EAST.

Traditional Catholic Group Protests Kennedy Funeral

Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, released this statement concerning Senator Kennedy. "We must, as a matter of precept, pray for the salvation of heretical Catholics like Senator Edward Kennedy, but we do not have to praise him, let alone extol him with the full honors of a public Catholic funeral and all the adulation that attends such an event."

He adds that while Senator Kennedy called himself Catholic, like Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Joe Biden, they are actually wolves in sheep's clothing.

"They do not hold to the teaching of the church. They, in fact, take every opportunity seemingly to contradict the teaching of our church," Euteneuer says. "So in the case of Senator Edward Kennedy, he was not only against his church's teaching on the issue of abortion, but the same with embryonic stem cell research, the same with gay marriage andThomas Euteneuer (Human Life International) various other issues which set him in diametric opposition to his church's very well-defined and clearly articulated teaching."

Euteneuer says he is speaking out now to remind everyone that Catholics cannot honor a person with a full and public Catholic funeral when, like Senator Kennedy, he really was not. See Chick's WHO MURDERED CLARICE?

Kennedy Offers Spin To Pope

While Senator Ted Kennedy was dying from brain cancer, he wrote a letter to Pope Benedict XVI -- a letter that attempted to redefine his liberal activism in the Senate as activism for the Vatican. The correspondence claimed that his Catholic faith was his motivation for all his voting, promoting immigration, welfare, and socialized medicine. Not surprisingly, the letter made no mention of Kennedy's divorce, his well known drinking and womanizing, or his public and political support for abortion. He also failed to mention any American allegiance or his oath to defending the U.S. Constitution. The Pope had an aid write a response, which basically wished the Senator well and made no comment on Kennedy's liberal voting record. See Chick's SUPERSTAR.

Pastor Murdered, Motive Uncertain

Authorities warned pastors in a town where a preacher was brutally killed inside her own church that they should take precautions at their buildings, even as police refused to say exactly what happened.

District Attorney Bret Burns, who described the killing as "horrific," held a closed-door session with about two dozen pastors, along with members of law enforcement. Several pastors who were there said authorities did not discuss any facts of the case.

The body of 61-year-old Carol Daniels was found Sunday in the Christ Holy Sanctified Church in Anadarko. A preliminary autopsy found she died of "multiple sharp force injuries," but law enforcement declined to elaborate and have been tight-lipped about details of the crime or a possible motive. Burns did not rule out the possibility that the killer specifically targeted a pastor or a church.

Ben Sullivan, executive director of the Christian Center of Anadarko, which runs a soup kitchen and food pantry, said he's not fearful of another attack but plans to tighten security at his facility a few blocks away from where the killing happened. He said the center will probably close before dark and volunteers will work in pairs.

Daniels, who lived in Oklahoma City, made the 60-mile drive to Anadarko every week, even though the small, weather-beaten church had no regular congregation. See Chick's GOOD OL' BOYS.

Rapist Gets Religion & Get's Caught

Joyous, miraculous news that a little girl kidnapped nearly two decades ago was found alive gave way Thursday to the horrifying details of how police say she has lived all those years: kept by a convicted rapist in his backyard as a sex slave and forced to bear two of his children.

Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was 11 in 1991 when she was snatched from her school bus stop, was locked away from the outside world behind a series of fences, sheds and tents in the back of a suburban home.

Jaycee Lee Dugard was 11 years old when was snatched from a bus stop near her home in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., in 1991. Nearly two decades later, a woman walked into a Northern California police station and said she was Jaycee. Authorities said she was accompanied by her kidnapper and the two children she bore him.

Her abductor, investigators said, raped her for years and fathered two children with her, the first when Jaycee was about 14. Those children, both girls now 11 and 15, also were kept hidden away in the backyard compound.

"None of the children have ever been to school, they've never been to a doctor," El Dorado County Undersheriff Fred Kollar said. "They were kept in complete isolation in this compound."

Dugard, now 29, appeared at a parole office Wednesday with her children and the couple accused of kidnapping her. She was reunited Thursday with her mother, but the family was also learning that their smiling, blue-eyed, blonde ponytailed little girl had spent most of her life in captivity.

Convicted sex offender Phillip Garrido, 58, was being held for investigation of various kidnapping and sex charges. His wife, Nancy Garrido, 54, was also arrested, and authorities said she was with Garrido during the kidnapping in South Lake Tahoe.

The case broke after Garrido was spotted Tuesday with two children as he tried to enter the University of California, Berkeley, campus to hand out religious literature. The officers said he was acting suspiciously toward the children. They questioned him and did a background check, determining he was a parolee, and informed his parole officer.

Garrido was ordered to appear for a parole meeting and arrived Wednesday with Dugard, who identified herself as "Allissa," his wife and two children. During questioning, corrections officials said he admitted kidnapping Dugard. Investigators said he did not yet have an attorney. Authorities said they do not know if Garrido also abused his daughters, but they are investigating.

Dugard's stepfather, who witnessed her abduction and was a longtime suspect in the case, said he was overwhelmed by the news after doing everything he could to help find her. "It broke my marriage up. I've gone through hell, I mean I'm a suspect up until yesterday," a tearful Carl Probyn, 60, told The Associated Press at his home in Orange, Calif.

People who knew Garrido said he became increasingly fanatic about his religious beliefs in recent years, sometimes breaking out into song and claiming that God spoke to him through a box. "In the last couple years he started getting into this strange religious stuff. We kind of felt sorry for him," said Tim Allen, president of East County Glass and Window Inc. in Pittsburgh.

In April 2008, Garrido registered a corporation called Gods Desire at his home address, according the California Secretary of State. During recent visits to the showroom, Garrido would talk about quitting the printing business to preach full time and gave the impression he was setting up a church, Allen said.

Garrido gave a rambling, sometimes incoherent phone interview to KCRA-TV from the El Dorado County jail Thursday in which he said he had not admitted to a kidnapping and that he had turned his life around and became religious since the birth of his first daughter 15 years ago.

Garrido was convicted of kidnapping a 25-year-old woman whom he snatched from a South Lake Tahoe parking lot, handcuffed, tied down and held in a mini-warehouse in Reno, according to a November 1976 story in the Reno Gazette-Journal. A detective at the time said he found the woman with Garrido in a warehouse that had rugs on the floor and walls, pornographic magazines, a movie projector, a spotlight, wine and hot water.

Her stepfather said he saw someone reach out and grab her before the car sped away.
"As soon as I saw the door fly open, the driver's door, I jumped on my mountain bike and I tried to get to the top of the hill but I had no energy," Probyn recalled. "I rode back down and yelled at my neighbor, 911!"

Probyn said his wife, from whom he is separated, was devastated by the kidnapping. He said for 10 years after the crime, she would take a week off work at Christmas and on the anniversary of the abduction and spend the time crying at home. Probyn eventually lost hope that he would ever see his stepdaughter alive. In the interview he gave before details about her captivity emerged, he said he was struggling to understand why Dugard didn't come forward earlier. "I don't know if she was brainwashed, I don't know if she was walking around on the street, I don't know if she was locked up under key for 18 years, I have no idea."

See Chick's LISA.

Senator Ted Kennedy Dies

Senator Ted Kennedy dies from brain cancer after decades as one of the most liberal Senators in the Senate. He inherited the seat from his brother who was assassinated in mid 1960s, and kept the seat, even after career threatening scandals, like leaving the scene of an accident after drinking and driving his secretary off a bridge to her death after a party. Kennedy sponsored numerous bills and was a constant voice against American troops fighting overseas. In fact, after the Soviet Union fell and secret files of the KGB were leaked out, one revealed a secret letter written by Kennedy proposing ideas how best to stop then President Ronald Reagan from deploying nuclear missiles in Europe to deter a Soviet attack on NATO. The program went ahead despite liberal opposition, and is credited with helping bring an end to the communist dictatorship in Russia. Kennedy also called for the withdraw of troops in Iraq, years before the Iraq government said it was ready for them to leave. Kennedy's endorsement of Obama came a critical time during his campaign, and is seen as one of the deciding moments that led to Hillary Clinton's defeat. Immediately after his death was announced, Democrats scrambled to devise ways to exploit it to pass controversial health care bills. Senator Byrd, also a Democrat, has announced plans to rename the bill after Kennedy, making if more difficult for moderate Democrats to vote against it. Last week, Kennedy aids released a letter urging his home state to change the rules so they could replace him by appointment from the Democratic governor, instead of a popular vote. They had changed the law in 2004 to prevent a then Republican Governor from appointing a replacement for Senator John Kerry. Kennedy was a proud Catholic, despite a divorce and being pro-abortion. Regardless of his controversial politics and tainted personal life, he was regarded as friendly and made numerous friends on both sides of the Senate. See Chick's THE SUPERSTAR.

Mass Murderer Freed

The U.S. State Department has expressed its "deep disappointment" with the decision by the Scottish government to free the only terrorist convicted in the hijacking of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The Dec 21, 1988 flight ended with the bombing of the plane, resulting in the loss of the entire flight and murder of 259 passengers and crew.

Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, 57, a former Libyan intelligence agent, served only eight years of a 27-year minimum life term in prison for the murders of 259 passengers and crew members, including 189 Americans, and 11 people from the Lockerbie who were killed on the ground.

Al-Megrahi was set free on "compassionate" grounds in response to a prisoner transfer application submitted by the government of Libya due to the terrorist's terminal prostate cancer. He will be flown home to Libya to die a free man while the survivors of his victims stand by in disbelief. For those who still don't believe in capitol punishment, executing a mass murdered of hundreds of people would certainly seem a just punishment. See Chick's FLIGHT 144.

Obama Undermines DOMA Law

The Obama Justice Department today filed court papers claiming the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act discriminates against homosexuals. In the meantime, the DOJ lawyers are seeking to dismiss a suit brought by a homosexual California couple challenging DOMA.

Gary Bauer Gary Bauer, president of American Values, says President Obama is committed to repealing DOMA -- but does not want to take the political flak that would come along with it.

"What the White House wants is for a court to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act so that the White House and the president don't have to take the political damage for undermining a law that protects normal marriage," he explains.

Bauer argues Obama is contradicting a campaign pledge. "President Obama ran promising he would be open and transparent, and no longer practice the usual politics of Washington, DC," he notes. "Millions of people voted for him because they thought he would be more honest and more open in the way he governed."

According to Bauer, that is not happening. "What we're seeing here is something more reminiscent of the way they do politics in the wards of Chicago -- saying one thing and then doing something else behind the scenes," he states.

If the Defense of Marriage Act is overturned by White House maneuvering or a federal court, every state would be forced to recognize same-sex "marriages" that are now legal in states like Massachusetts.

Justice Department lawyers are seeking to dismiss a suit brought by a same-sex California couple challenging the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. The administration's response to the case has angered homosexual activists who see it as backtracking on campaign promises made by Barack Obama.

In the court papers, the administration urges the repeal of the law but says in the meantime, government lawyers will continue to defend it as a law on the books.

The government's previous filing in the case angered homosexual rights activists who supported Obama's candidacy in part because of his pledge to move forward on repealing the law and the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that prevents homosexuals from serving openly in the military.

"The administration believes the Defense of Marriage Act is discriminatory and should be repealed," said Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler, because it prevents equal rights and benefits.

The Justice Department, she added, is obligated "to defend federal statutes when they are challenged in court. The Justice Department cannot pick and choose which federal laws it will defend based on any one administration's policy preferences."

The law, often called DOMA, denies federal recognition of same-sex "marriage" and gives states the right to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Obama has pledged to work to repeal the law.

Monday's court filing was in response to a lawsuit by Arthur Smelt and Christopher Hammer, who are challenging the federal law, which prevents couples in states that recognize same-sex unions from securing Social Security spousal benefits, filing joint taxes, and benefiting from other federal rights connected to marriage.

Justice lawyers have argued that the act is constitutional and contend that awarding federal marriage benefits to homosexuals would infringe on the rights of taxpayers in the 30 states that specifically prohibit same-sex marriages.

Earlier this week, Bill Clinton told a gathering of Democratic Activists on CSPAN that he never really supported DOMA when he signed it into law, but did so to fool the general public into thinking the issue was settled, and thereby prevent momentum by Republicans to pass a Constitutional Amendment outlawing gay marriage throughout the nation. By postponing the Amendment, judicial activists and Democratically controlled legislatures have since been able to legalize gay marriage in numerous states without the pubic ever having a chance to vote on it. See Chick's SIN CITY.

Nuns Worry about Vatican Oversight

A group representing Roman Catholic sisters in the United States is raising concerns about why the Vatican is investigating them and who is funding the inquiry.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious says in a statement Monday that they want more specifics about the review from Vatican leaders.

The investigation was shrouded in mystery when it was announced earlier this year.
It's shaping up to be a tough look at whether the roughly 59,000 U.S. Catholic sisters have strayed too from church teachings. In the last few decades, they have become more like social activists than Catholics nuns, promoting womens issues and other liberal causes that often conflict with official church doctrine.

The Vatican recently released a working paper for the inquiry that said it is meant as a constructive review of the quality of life and work of the women's communities.

Edwards Ends 18 Months of Denials

John Edwards is expected to publicly admit he is the father of the daughter of his former mistress, Rielle Hunter, sources told North Carolina's WRAL News on Thursday. The report followed a story in the National Enquirer that a DNA test proves Edwards' paternity of 18-month-old Frances.

The National Enquirer, which broke the original story about the extramarital affair between Edwards and Hunter, cited "multiple sources" in reporting that Edward took a secret DNA test for paternity. The former senator and presidential candidate has previously denied that he is the baby's father; his wife Elizabeth has said she doesn't know the girl's paternity.

The Enquirer quotes a close friend of Hunter's: "Rielle had no choice but to demand John take a DNA test. She was worried about getting long-term financial support for her daughter. So she hired an attorney, and John consented to undergo a secret swab test to establish paternity."

"There was no surprise," said the friend, according to the Enquirer. "The results of the DNA test proved John was Frances' daddy."

Edwards, who was one of three Democratic Presidential hopefuls, denied he was the father for 18 months. Instead, he had a campaign worker claim he was the father. When Edwards was caught visiting his mistress after midnight in a hotel, he hid out in the hotel bathroom while reporters waited outside. Even so, the mainstream media didn't carry the story until after the Enquirer all but proved its allegations against the outspoken liberal.

Last week, Hunter was seen entering a courthouse in North Carolina and leaving nine hours later. She apparently testified before a federal grand jury, which is investigating whether Edwards broke campaign finance laws by allegedly paying off Hunter and aide Andrew Young, who claimed paternity of the child in 2007. Young reportedly testified last month to the same grand jury.

After receiving the DNA test results, the Enquirer reports that lawyers for Hunter and Edwards are negotiating child support payments for the girl. Edwards earned his millions by suing others as a personal injury lawyer. Now it is he who is being forced to pay up by other lawyers representing his daughter and his mistress.

Edwards is expected to make the public admission about being the father before the end of the investigation, according to WRAL News. When Hunter brought the baby with her to the courthouse, she appeared to deliberately force her baby to turn its face toward the waiting TV cameras. It seemed as if she were trying to publicly demonstrate her daughter's physical resemblance to Edwards for the media. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned! See Chick's BABY TALK.

Girl Afraid of Islamic Parents

A 17-year-old girl who ran away from her Ohio home to Florida says she fears her parents will harm her for converting from Islam to Christianity, but her parents dismiss her claim and say she was brainwashed.
Her parents also question how the girl ended up in the home of a Florida family she met through an online prayer group. Authorities are trying to determine whether the girl, Rifqa Bary, should stay in state custody or be returned to her family in Ohio.

"We love her, we want her back, she is free to practice her religion, whatever she believes in, that's OK," her father, Mohamed Bary, told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Rifqa Bary, 17, is at the center of a dispute that stretches from Ohio to Florida. She ran away from her Ohio home in July, fearing her parents would harm her for converting to Christianity. She was raised in the Islam faith. Her parent say they love their daughter and would never hurt her.

"What these people are trying to do is not right — I don't think any religion will teach to separate the kids from their parents," he said. Columbus police also question the girl's claim of being in danger. Mohamed Bary "comes across to me as a loving, caring, worried father about the whereabouts and the health of his daughter," said Sgt. Jerry Cupp, chief of the Columbus police missing persons bureau.

Police investigating the girl's July 19 disappearance used phone and computer records to track her to the Rev. Blake Lorenz, pastor of Orlando, Fla.-based Global Revolution Church, who called authorities Aug. 6 to say she was staying with them.
With Lorenz holding his arm tightly around her, Rifqa told WFTV in Florida on Monday that she would be killed if she came home.

"They love God more than me; they have to do this," she said. "I'm fighting for my life. You guys don't understand."
Lorenz did not return a phone call to the AP seeking comment.

An Orlando judge on Monday ordered the girl into the custody of Florida's Department of Children and Families until another hearing next week. The family is originally from Sri Lanka and emigrated in 2000 to seek medical help for Rifqa, who had lost sight in her right eye when she fell and struck a toy airplane on a couch at home.

Rifqa, a high school junior in well-off suburban New Albany, had been questioning her faith for several months, her father said. She attended church with friends from school and later attended services at another church, Xenos Christian Fellowship, a megachurch that emphasizes small groups meeting at home.

After Rifqa proselytized with a Bible at school, Mohamed Bary said, the family asked her to stop because it wasn't an appropriate activity in school. They also told her she had an obligation to study her original faith first, before choosing another. But Mohamed Bary says they never threatened to kill or harm the girl. "She is still my daughter," said Bary, 47, a jeweler.

The family says Rifqa was baptized a Christian without their knowledge this year in Columbus. Around the same time, the girl met Lorenz through an online Facebook prayer group. Rifqa's 18-year-old brother, Rilvan, said the family has its own worries about her well-being. "We don't think the safest person is the pastor she met two weeks ago on Facebook," Rilvan Bary said.
Rifqa ran away without explanation or a note. She told WFTV that she hitchhiked to the Columbus bus station, then took a bus to Orlando. Her parents dispute that and say she must have had help, because hitchhiking from her suburban home would be nearly impossible and she didn't have enough money for the trip.

Give on to Caesar Everything...

Today is Cost of Government Day, the day when the average American is finished earning enough income to pay his income taxes and all the hidden taxes (property taxes, sales tax, licenses, etc.). This year is nearly a month longer than last year (over 220 days) but the number will dramatically increase if the government run health insurance is also added to the bill. The news also announced today that the national debt is now at a historic all time high. See Chick's THE MAD MACHINE.

President Barack Obama awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to two prominent homosexuals today, at a White House ceremony.

Harvey Milk, one of the country’s most active gay officials, and Billy Jean King, a lesbian who’s won dozens of tennis championships, are among the 16 award recipients. Milk was made famous in a recent Hollywood movie. The real Harvey Milk was much more controversial, however, having been a big supporter of The People's Temple and mass suicide leader, Rev. Jim Jones. Milk was killed himself by a fellow commissioner who he conspired with the mayor to refuse his promised seat back. The mayor was also killed and the assassin, Dan White, was sent to jail, but later committed suicide. See Chick's SIN CITY.

"Dead" Baby Found Alive

A newborn boy declared dead by doctors in Paraguay was found to be alive hours later after he was taken home for his funeral.
Doctors at a state hospital in Asuncion, Paraguay, told Jose Alvarenga on Friday that his premature baby had been pronounced dead shortly after birth, the Telegraph reported.

The hospital delivered the baby's body in a temporary coffin to Alvarenga's home a few hours later. Mourning relatives were shocked when they heard the baby cry, The Associated Press reported.

"I opened [the coffin] to look at his remains and found that the baby was breathing," Alvarenga said. "I began to cry."
The baby is now listed in stable condition. Officials are investigating to determine whether there was any negligence involved. The AP said that doctors also had initially told Alvarenga that the baby was a girl.

"This is a very unusual case," said Ernesto Weber, head of pediatric intensive care at the hospital, according to told the Agence France-Presse. Aida Notario, a doctor at the hospital's birthing center, said the baby's pulse was so low it was undetectable. See Chick's WHO KILLED CLARICE?

VERY Weird (Will He/She Wear Boxers or Briefs?)

Rob Newbiggin, a 44-year-old British boxer, says he's being driven out of the town he loves after admitting he will undergo a sex-change operation.

According to the Southport Visiter report, Newbiggin will soon begin a new life as a woman known as Mercedes following the operation, but when the news broke in a daily tabloid newspaper, he lost all his friends. "I have lost every friend I have ever had in the world in this town," he said.

Newbiggin, who has sparred in the ring with former welterweight champion Ricky Hatton, claims that the tabloid made him out to be "some kind of freak."

"My friends don't want to know me. I've got people winding their windows down shouting abuse at me while I go for my run -- that's why we are having to relocate. I have to think about my kids," Newbiggin told the Visiter.

Despite the harsh reaction from the town of Southport, his wife Emma is standing by him through the sex change. "Emma has been my rock," Newbiggin said. "She understands what I'm going through and we are going to stay together."

Newbiggin doesn't feel it matters whether he's a mother or a father, just as long as he's a good parent to his three children. "And I think I'll be a better parent as a woman. I haven't provided enough financial stability in my male life for my children."

He's currently slated to fight Michael Gomez on August 14 in his last male fight, but his plan is to apply for a female license from the Boxing Board of Control so that he can continue his 20-year boxing career.

See Chick's WOUNDED CHILDREN.

Parents Convicted For Botched Faith Healing

A Wisconsin man accused of killing his 11-year-old daughter by praying instead of seeking medical care was found guilty Saturday of second-degree reckless homicide. Dale Neumann, 47, was convicted in the March 23, 2008, death of his daughter, Madeline, from undiagnosed diabetes. Prosecutors contended he should have rushed the girl to a hospital because she couldn't walk, talk, eat or speak. Instead, Madeline died on the floor of the family's rural Weston home as people surrounded her and prayed. Someone called 911 when she stopped breathing.

Neumann's 41-year-old wife, Leilani, was convicted on the same charge in the spring and is scheduled for sentencing Oct. 6. Both face up to 25 years in prison. Their case is believed to be the first in Wisconsin involving faith healing in which someone died and another person was charged with a homicide. The jury deliberated about 15 hours over two days before convicting Neumann.

Neumann, who once studied to be a Pentecostal minister, testified Thursday that he believed God would heal his daughter and he never expected her to die. God promises in the Bible to heal, he said.

"If I go to the doctor, I am putting the doctor before God," Neumann testified. "I am not believing what he said he would do."
Marathon County Assistant District Attorney LaMont Jacobson told jurors Friday that Neumann was "overwhelmed by pride" in his interpretation of the Bible and selfishly let Madeline die as a test of faith.

Neumann knew he should have taken his daughter to a doctor and minimized her illness when speaking with investigators, Jacobson said, calling Neumann no different than a drunken driver who remarks he only had a couple of beers.
The father said Thursday he thought Madeline had the flu or a fever, and several relatives and family friends testified they also did not realize how sick she was.

Doctors testified that Madeline would have had a good chance of survival if she received medical care, including insulin and fluids, before she stopped breathing. They said the 911 call came too late.

Defense attorney Jay Kronenwetter said Neumann sincerely believed praying would heal his daughter and he did nothing criminally wrong. "Dale Neumann was doing what he thought would work for his daughter," Kronenwetter said. "He was administering faith healing. He thought it was working." Of course, the praying didn't work, Kronenwetter said: "He was terribly wrong and no one feels that more than Dale Neumann." See Chick's THE CRISIS.