Religious Couple Given Probation in Child’s Death
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SARASOTA, Fla. — A couple convicted of killing a diabetic daughter by withholding medical aid on religious grounds were placed on probation Friday and ordered to get a doctor for their other children.
William and Christine Hermanson were convicted in April of third-degree murder and felony child abuse in the 1986 death of their daughter Amy, 7, from untreated juvenile diabetes.
Circuit Judge Stephen Dakan gave them four-year suspended sentences and placed them on 15 years probation with the stipulation that they take their other two children, sons ages 1 and 11, to physicians for regular checkups and have them treated medically when necessary.
The couple could have been sentenced to up to seven years in prison.
Hermanson, a 42-year-old former banker and his 38-year-old wife, a music school operator, said they will appeal the conviction and sentence.
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