The State - News from Jan. 20, 1986

A mother’s use of prayer as “remedial” care for her dying 4-year-old daughter, instead of medical treatment, cannot prevent her from being prosecuted for manslaughter, a three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeal ruled unanimously in Sacramento. The trial of Laurie Walker, 32, a Christian Scientist, has been delayed while she sought to establish that prayer is a legally acceptable substitute for medical care. Shauntay Walker died March 9, 1984, of bacterial meningitis.