State Supreme Court upholds Loudon County mom Jacqueline Crank’s child neglect conviction

 

NASHVILLE (WATE) – The Tennessee Supreme Court has upheld the child neglect conviction of a Loudon County mother after she failed get medical treatment for her daughter because of her religious beliefs.

Jacqueline Crank and her minister Ariel Sherman were first charged with neglect in 2002 when Crank’s 15-year-old daughter died from cancer.

Both were convicted after a long legal battle. Sherman died in 2013.

An appeal sought to answer the legal question of when a parent can choose prayer over medicine. Crank claimed the spiritual treatment law was too vague and that she didn’t know she could be held criminally responsible for her actions.

The court chose to uphold her conviction.