An American vegan couple were sentenced to life in jail today for the murder of their malnourished six-week-old son, who weighed just 3 1/2 lbs when he died.

Jade Sanders, 27, and Lamont Thomas, 31, fed the boy, who was named Crown Shakur, a diet largely consisting of soy milk and apple juice, the Atlanta court heard.

The baby boy was born in a bathtub in the couple’s home and never taken to see a doctor. He was dead when his parents took him to a hospital across the street from their flat on April 25, 2004. He was so emaciated that doctors could count his bones through his skin.

The couple maintained during the trial that they did the best they could for the boy while adhering to their vegan lifestyle, a strict form of vegetarianism which does not allow the consumption or use of any products linked to animals.

But prosecutors convinced the jury that the couple intentionally neglected and underfed the child and then tried to use the lifestyle as a shield for their actions.

“The vegan diet is fine,” Chuck Boring, a prosecutor, told the jury. “These parents lied about what they fed him. He just was not fed enough.”

He added: “They’re not vegans. They’re baby-killers. Think about how long they had to listen to his screams and hollers.”

Thomas, the father, hung his head and almost collapsed when he and his wife were found guilty on May 2.

Ms Sanders told police that she fed the baby organic apple juice and soy milk, supplemented by breast milk. But the soy milk containers found in their flat clearly stated that soy milk is not to be used as a substitute for baby formula.

Their lawyer, Brandon Lewis, said he believes they unintentionally starved their child because the apple juice worked as a diuretic and blocked the absorbtion of nutrients from the soy milk. He said they never took their son to a doctor because they feared hospitals were infested with germs. He vowed to appeal.

The couple were found guilty of malice murder, felony murder, involuntary manslaughter and cruelty to children.

Only two other similar cases have reached court in the US. A New York jury also convicted a vegan couple on murder charges in the death of their child.

But a Florida jury was more lenient, acquitting vegan parents of murder and instead convicting them on reduced charges of involuntary manslaughter, an unintentional death. In that case, the couple had successfully raised two children as vegans, but their third child died.

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