LOUDON, Tenn. (AP) - A judge in Loudon, Tenn., has found two people guilty of misdemeanor child neglect for relying on faith healing instead of doctors before the death of a 15-year-old girl who had a basketball-sized tumor on her shoulder.
Jacqueline Crank, mother of Jessica Crank, and Ariel Sherman were sentenced Tuesday to probation by Criminal Court Judge Eugene Eblen.
According to The Knoxville News Sentinel (http://bit.ly/L04Lkx ), Sherman was the girl's "spiritual father" and encouraged the mother to rely on prayer to heal her daughter's bone cancer. She died in 2002.
Felony charges had been dismissed earlier because doctors said Jessica likely would have died even if her mother had followed a clinic's advice to seek immediate medical care.
Attorneys for the mother and Sherman plan to appeal Tuesday's ruling.
