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Alberta Appeal Court says sentence of parents in toddler’s death had no error in law

A forensic pathologist testified the boy was malnourished and died from a staph infection
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FILE – Jennifer and Jeromie Clark leave a sentencing hearing after the couple were found guilty of criminal negligence causing the death of their 14-month-old son in 2013, outside the courts centre in Calgary, Friday, Feb. 8, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Alberta’s top court has rejected an appeal by a husband and wife who felt their sentences in the death of their 14-month-old son were too harsh.

Jennifer and Jeromie Clark were sentenced in June 2019 to 32 months in prison after a jury found them guilty of criminal negligence causing death and failure to provide the necessaries of life.

The trial heard that their son, John, didn’t see a doctor until the day before the boy died in November 2013.

A forensic pathologist testified the boy was malnourished and died from a staph infection.

Lawyers for the Clarks argued the sentence should have been lower because of a number of mitigating factors that the judge failed to give credit for, but the Appeal Court disagreed.

Both Clarks have already been released on parole.

The Canadian Press