Alberta parents guilty in toddler's meningitis death probably won't serve time, legal expert says

A Calgary lawyer says it's unlikely that the Alberta couple found guilty of failing to provide the necessaries of life to their toddler who died of meningitis will serve time behind bars.

"I would be very shocked if there would actually be a period of incarceration," criminal defence attorney AdrianoIovinelli told the Calgary Eyeopener on Thursday.

The two-day sentencing hearing for David and Collet Stephan began Thursday in a Lethbridge, Alta. courtroom.

They were convicted in April by a jury after theyoptedto treat their 19-month-old son Ezekiel with natural remedies as his health worsened.

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The Stephans have three other children: Ezra, 8, Ephraim, 3, and Enoch, 1.

"The sentencing judge has to think 'What do we do with the remaining children in the household?'" said Iovinelli."Do we victimize the other children by incarcerating both parents?"

He said thejudge has a "huge arsenal of sentencing options" such as housearrest by way of a conditional sentence andcommunity-based supervision.

The maximum sentence for failing to provide the necessaries of life is five years in prison.

Rallywon't sway judge

The Stephans now live in British Columbia but have remained free since their conviction.

Since then, David Stephan has been speaking out on social media even asking the public to come out and rally in support for him and his wife outside the courthouse on Friday.

"We're in a bit of a predicament here but this isn't just our battle; this is everyone's battle,"David said in a video interview with the producers of the controversial anti-vaccination film,Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe.

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"Ultimately it comes down to whether we have the right to vaccinate or not vaccinate without being held criminally liable, or whether or not we have to rush our children to the doctor every time they get even just the sniffles,"said David.

Iovinelli"cannot see"the majority of the public "sympathizing with that cause."

And even if an army of anti-vaccinators did show up at the sentencing hearing, he said it will have zero impact on Justice Rodney Jerke's final sentencing.

"The judge will have to take intoaccount the personal circumstances of the offenders before the court, the gravity of the offense," said Iovinelli.

"The family is really trying to rally support not for their dead child, but rather, the right to parent in natural medicine. And that's a different issue here."