Jurors in the Weston prayer death trial got a crash course in medical science during the first day of testimony Monday. A forensic pathologist and Marathon County's medical examiner both testified that 11-year-old Madeline Kara Neumann had a chronic case of diabetes that got worse just before her death. The pathologist also said the disease could have been treated up to the moment that the girl's heart gave out.
The defense used its line of questioning to suggest that Leilani Neumann couldn't have done anything because Kara didn't show any symptoms until the end.
But a prosecution witness contradicted that idea. Susan Neumann quoted Leilani as saying she felt the "spirit of death" the day before Kara died and was thankful to touch her daughter when she came home from work.
