STRICT VEGETARIANS (VEGANS) GUILTY IN DEATH OF BABY

Jade Sanders and Lamont Thomas May Be Sentenced to Life in Prison

When 6-week-old Crown Shakur was brought into the emergency room of Piedmont Hospital on April 25, 2004, he was so emaciated doctors could count his skeletal bones through his skin. He weighed 4 pounds, 5 ounces. Doctors were unable to revive him and he was pronounced dead. He had been starved to death.

Today, the child’s parents, 25-year-old Jade Sanders and 31-year-old Lamont Thomas of Atlanta each were found guilty of one count of malice murder, 2 counts of felony murder, one count of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of cruelty to children in the first degree. The jury began deliberating late Tuesday and returned its verdict just before 3:00 p.m. this afternoon. Superior Court Judge L. A. McConnell took under advisement impact statements from the defendants and their family members. It’s expected he will impose sentence within two weeks.

Prosecutors Michael Carlson and Chuck Boring of the DA’s Crimes Against Women and Children Unit introduced a number of pediatric medical experts—among them Dr. Amy Lanou, a vegan nutritionist at the University of North Carolina, Asheville. She testified the diet given the baby by the defendants--soy milk and apple juice--is not the way vegans are to feed infants.

This case was investigated by J. K. Brown of the Atlanta Police Department, John Hagar and Dr. Karen Sullivan of the Fulton Medical Examiner’s Office and Fulton DA Investigators Nick Degennaro and Cindy Williamson. District Attorney Paul Howard would also like to thank the ER and Neonatology staffs of Piedmont Hospital for their assistance and testimony in this case.

CONTACT: Lyn Vaughn, 404.730.6860 (office); 770.597.6963 (cell); lyn.vaughn@co.fulton.ga.us