Couple Enter Plea to Child Neglect Charges
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A Tulare couple have pleaded no contest to felony child neglect charges in the death of their 10-year-old daughter from respiratory problems. Prosecutors said the parents’ religious beliefs kept them from getting the treatment that could have saved the child.
Wesley and LaRonda Hamm had been facing involuntary manslaughter and felony child abuse charges. They entered their pleas in a Tulare courtroom Thursday, a little more than a year after the March 13, 2003, death of their daughter.
The autopsy report showed that Jessica Hamm suffered four days of flu-like symptoms before dying of respiratory problems.
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