AARON GRADY - 9 yo - Tulsa - OK

Susan Grady was arrested Friday morning and booked into the Tulsa County Jail. She posted bond later that same day.

TULSA -- A mother who relied on prayer to heal her son is now charged with child neglect after his death. An
affidavit shows mother Susan M. Grady was a member of the "Church of
the First Born" and believes in faith based healing through prayer. It
says, her son, 9 year old Aaron Grady got sick on June 2nd of 2009, but
she believed he was getting better. She says her son was not talking or
responding on June 5th of 2009 and she knew he was really sick. It
shows she continued to pray and have others pray for her son. Aaron died
that day. The cause, later determined as complications from diabetes."We
didn't know what was happening until after the fact...what we did at
the time is treat it as a homicide and we did a proper investigation,"
says Major Mark Irwin with the Broken Arrow Police Department. In the
months and days before his death family members and teachers at school
noted symptoms, including frequent urination, behavior problems, even
hallucinations. The affidavit shows she did take him to a doctor in
April of 2009. The affidavit shows Aaron's father tried to get Susan to
take Aaron to a doctor but she said she'd quote "leave this in the hands
of the lord" and later admitting to investigators she quote "felt like
God would heal him".Officers say a warrant has been issued for
Susan M. Grady's arrest. But, they say she may have moved away and may
not be aware the warrant has been issued. Oklahoma law allows
parents to rely on prayer to heal their children up to the point that
the child's life is in danger or may face permanent physical damage.

A woman charged with child neglect in the death of her 9-year-old son turned herself in to authorities Friday morning and was released on bail, according to jail records.

Susan Grady, 42, was charged Tuesday in connection with the June 2009 death of Aaron Gregory Grady from complications related to diabetes. Grady told detectives that she did not seek medical attention for her son because she “was trying to live by faith and felt like God would heal him,” according to a police affidavit filed Tuesday.

Grady surrendered to Tulsa County sheriff’s deputies and was booked into the Tulsa Jail around 10:45 a.m. She posted $10,000 bond and was released by noon, according to jail records.

Grady lived in Broken Arrow when the death occurred. She told a Broken Arrow Police Department detective that she is a member of the Church of the First Born and “believes in faith-based healing through prayer,” according to the affidavit.

Jail records show that Grady now has a Tulsa address.

The leader of the Tulsa church said Wednesday that he doesn’t preach about denying medical attention, but he said God’s word proves that faith is all that is needed.

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20101231_11_0_Awoman473327&rss_lnk=1

In essence, this child was murdered by neglect of the accused. That's how I am reading this and that's why we have moved this topic to Murdered.

I totally agree Tom. It's my opinion that adults have a right to their
beliefs which I feel should be a private matter between an individual
and their god. It is breaching the rights of the child to impose those
beliefs on them. If this woman didn't want to take herself to a doctor
if she was ill that's her choice but she had no right to make that
choice for her child. We don't own our children, they are individuals.

Woman bound over for trial on neglect charge in son's death

Published: 7/6/2011  2:34 PM

A Tulsa County judge who previously found a legal flaw with the applicable statute has now ordered a woman to face trial on a child neglect charge related to the death of her 9-year-old son.

The bind-over order Wednesday for Susan M. Grady, 42, was an expected procedural step after prosecutors prevailed in appealing a ruling at a preliminary hearing by Special Judge Deborrah Ludi Leitch, who in May declined to require a trial on the neglect allegation.

In a June ruling, District Judge Kurt Glassco overturned Ludi Leitch’s decision and directed her to order Grady to face trial on the neglect charge -- or, in the alternative, to bind her over on a charge of second-degree manslaughter.

On Wednesday, Ludi Leitch ordered Grady to face trial in District Judge William Kellough’s court on both alternatives.

Prior to the appeal, Ludi Leitch indicated that she would require a trial on the second-degree manslaughter charge, which the judge said was not affected by a “gap in the statute” that she found with the neglect charge.

Prosecutors charged Grady on Dec. 28 with neglecting her son, Aaron Grady, between June 2 and June 5, 2009, by not seeking medical treatment for him. Aaron died June 5, 2009, at the family’s Broken Arrow home from complications of diabetes, a medical examiner ruled.

A member of the Church of the First Born, Grady said she believed her son would be healed through faith and prayer, according to a Broken Arrow police detective.

In her ruling that was subsequently overturned, Ludi Leitch determined that as of June 2009, the applicable state statute involved in the neglect charge was void for vagueness, as the term “child neglect” was undefined.

The only source of a definition had been repealed by the Legislature the preceding month, and a replacement for the repealed definition was not enacted until 2010, the special judge decided.

In resolving the appeal, Glassco said, “There is no ambiguity in the statute that would cause it to be void for vagueness.”

If the challenged ruling had stayed intact through the appeal process, the neglect charge -- which allows the possibility of a life prison term -- was destined for dismissal. Second-degree manslaughter allows a maximum prison term of four years. Grady is free on bond.

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=14&articleid=20110706_14_0_ATulsa312077&allcom=1#comments