Meningitis-death jury asked to decide if Stephans strayed from being 'reasonable and prudent' parents

The lawyer for a couple charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life to their toddler son before he died has told an Alberta jury it has to decide whether the prosecution has proven all elements of its case.

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"David and Collet Stephan are depending on you," defence lawyer Shawn Buckley said Friday in his final argument in a Lethbridge courtroom, as the Stephans sat very closely together and listened intently.

Buckley reminded the jury the prosecution has to "prove every element of the offence" and the Stephans are "presumed to be innocent."

David Stephan, 32, and Collet Stephan, 35, were charged after their nearly 19-month-old son Ezekiel died after contracting bacterial meningitis in March 2012.

The couple at first believed that Ezekiel, who had been sick for weeks, had croup and the flu. They had treated him with smoothies containing ingredients such as hot peppers, garlic, onions and horseradish. They didn't seek medical attention until he stopped breathing, when they called 911.

Ezekiel was taken to a hospital in Cardston, then later transferred to Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary with little brain activity and was taken off life-support a couple of days later.

Buckley said the jury has to decide whether the Stephans' actions were a "marked departure of what a reasonable and prudent parent would do" and whether it was "objectively foreseeable that failing to seek medical attention would endanger Ezekiel's life."

"Did they seek medical attention and did they seek it soon enough?" he asked.

"There's the issue if seeking medical attention could, not would, have made a difference in Ezekiel's survival."

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A pathologist testified the toddler died of bacterial meningitis and a lung infection.

Buckley said not one witness called by either the prosecution or the defence who had seen Ezekiel prior to the 911 call thought he was in need of medical attention, because there was a lack of symptoms.

In fact, a friend of the Stephans, who is a registered nurse, testified she told the mother that he might have viral meningitis and advised the boy be taken to a doctor. That testimony was disputed by Collet Stephan.

Defence lawyer cites 'paramedic misadventure' theory

Buckley also pointed to the testimony of Alberta's former chief medical officer, who disputed the cause of death.

Dr. Anny Sauvageau said she believed the toddler died of viral meningitis and that he might have lived had the ambulance to Cardston been better equipped to treat a child his age with breathing difficulties.

"Ezekiel did not have an airway for a full eight minutes and 11 seconds," said Buckley.

Buckley said Sauvageau described Ezekiel's death in part as a result of the "paramedic misadventure."

Court documents already entered in the trial say just days before Ezekiel was rushed to hospital his family was giving him fluids through an eyedropper because he wouldn't eat or drink.

The jury has also heard that Collet Stephan researched treatments for viral meningitis online and the next day picked up an echinacea mixture from a naturopath in Lethbridge. Court was told Ezekiel was too stiff to sit in his car seat and had to lie on a mattress as they drove to the naturopath's office the day before he stopped breathing.

In his closing arguments, Buckley told the jury the couple didn't know the severity of their son's illness in the weeks leading up to his death but the second they thought there was a problem, they engaged the medical system.

Buckley said if the couple should be perceived as "strange nutbars" who would never see a medical practitioner, he asked the jury to consider then, why they wouldn't bring the child to someone they're more comfortable with like a naturopath or homeopath.

He told the jury the Stephans were "obviously very attentive parents."

The prosecution is to deliver its final argument on Saturday and the case is expected to go to the jury early next week.

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