Fwd: [SoFlaVegans] Vegan parents sprung in tot's near starvation

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Vegan parents sprung in tot's near starvation

BY SCOTT SHIFREL

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

July 19, 2006

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/436356p-367523c.html

 

[Letters to the editor:

voicers (AT) edit (DOT) nydailynews.com. ]

 

She's a healthy 6-year-old now, well enough to be on hand when her

vegan parents - convicted of nearly starving her - were freed

yesterday by a Queens judge. Little Ice Swinton's father and mother

were released on orders from the state's highest court, which tossed

their felony conviction for lack of evidence. " Daddy's home, " said

Joseph Swinton, 35, after he and his wife walked out of state Supreme

Court. " It feels great. "

 

But Swinton and his wife, Silva, also 35, could not see Ice or her

brother, Ini, 5, because they lost custody of the children after

their conviction.

 

" I want to go inside, I want to see Mommy, " Ice was heard telling her

grandfather outside the courthouse in Kew Gardens.

 

" Not now. Later, " he told the pretty girl, unable to explain that a

court order still only allows her to see her mother once a week.

 

In 2002, when she was 16 months old, Ice weighed just 10 pounds and

was severely malnourished. The Swintons were arrested and charged

with first-degree assault and child endangerment. They said their

family's vegan diet was not harming the kids.

 

Swinton had served four years and his wife three years when the Court

of Appeals in Albany earlier this month threw out the assault

conviction, leaving only the misdemeanor counts.

 

" They were devoted parents, loving parents, but misguided, " said

Joseph Swinton's trial lawyer, Ronna Gordon-Galchus. " They should not

have been prosecuted in a criminal setting. "

 

" I'm always thinking about both my children, " Silva Swinton said as

she hugged supporters after her release. " I was just trying to be the

best mother I could be .... I've been looking forward to this day for

a long, long time. "

 

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