Jury finds Calgary parents guilty in 2013 death of toddler son

A Calgary jury has found Jenniferand Jeromie Clark guiltyofcriminal negligence causing death and failure to provide the necessaries of lifeforthe 2013 death of their 14-month-old son, John.

Jurors deliberated for several hours Thursday before returning with a verdict just after 8 p.m. MT.

The couple will be released on their own recognizance until sentencing. They will return to court on Dec. 14 when asentencing date will be set for February 2019.

• Jury starts deliberations in trial for Calgary parents charged in baby's death

The pair clasped hands as they stood in the prisoner's boxThursday evening.

"John would have been in Grade 1 and would have just celebrated his sixth birthday in September," Crown prosecutor Shane Parker told reporters after the verdict.

"There is a young boy who the community lost."

Boy was malnourished

The trial heard John died the day after he was brought to hospital, where he had a seizure and twice went into cardiac arrest.

Jurors were shown pictures of John after he died. He had blackened toes and a red rash in a swirling pattern that covered almost three-quarters of his body. It was initially believed the rash was eczema, but Crown witnesses said it was likely to have been due to a nutritional deficiency.

Emergency and intensive care doctors testified the boy had an abnormally low heart rate and temperature, a sign he could be in the final stages of an overwhelming infection.

The forensic pathologist's report said John was malnourished and died from a staph infection less than 24 hours after being admitted to hospital.

Doctors 'the heroes in this file'

The Clarks's lawyers argued doctors at the Alberta Children's Hospital were to blame because they raised the boy's sodium and fluid levels too aggressively. They also argued he was neither malnourished nor septic.

Parker said it is a tragedy that doctors at the Alberta Children's Hospital were blamed for his death.

"They're the heroes in this file and to portray them as the villains really was quite unfair for their efforts to try and save that 14-month-old baby," Parker said.

Jeromie Clark's lawyer, David Chow, and Jennifer Clark's lawyer, John Phillips, declined to comment Thursday.

Man accused in similar case attends trial

David Stephan, who with his wife Colletisto be tried a second time next spring in the 2012 death of their son, sat in the gallery with a notebook during the Clarks' trial.

He posted several Facebook videos from outside the courthouse decrying what he sees as the unfair treatment of the Clarks.

The Stephans were found guilty in 2016 of failing to provide the necessaries of life to 19-month-old Ezekiel, who died from meningitis, but the Supreme Court of Canada overturned their conviction and ordered a new trial.

Their first trial in Lethbridge, Alta., heard evidence that they treated the boy with garlic, onion and horseradish rather than take him to a doctor. The Stephans eventually called 911 but the toddler died in hospital.

The high court said the judge did not properly instruct jurors on what would be a marked departure from reasonable behaviour "in a way that the jury could understand and apply."

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