California IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Mother Guilty in Death of Girl

A woman whose child died of meningitis while a Christian Science practitioner was treating the girl with prayer has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Laurie Walker, whose 4-year-old daughter, Shauntay, died in 1984, was placed on probation and sentenced to up to 600 hours of community service by Superior Court Judge George Nicholson. Nicholson’s decision also contains protections for Walker’s older daughter, Tamu, who is a minor but has been given the right to decide how she wishes to be treated medically up to her 18th birthday. According to court records, Shauntay became ill Feb. 21, 1984, and her mother, following a basic premise of Christian Science that disease can be healed through prayer alone, shunned medical treatment and sought the services of an accredited church practitioner. The practitioner prayed for the child, documents say, but the child died March 9, 1984.