An Atlanta vegan couple loses the appeal of their murder convictions in the death of their baby.

The Georgia Supreme Court unanimously ruled against Lamont Thomas and Jade Sanders in the felony murder of six-week-old Crown Shakur in April 2004. The boy weighed just 3.5 pounds when he was pronounced dead at Piedmont Hospital. Medical testimony at trial said he died of pneumonia brought on by extreme malnourishment. Prosecutors said his parents, Thomas and Sanders, were vegans who fed the boy only soy milk and apple juice.

At their 2007 trial, jurors heard testimony that although the couple lived across the street from a hospital, the infant had never received medical attention; in fact, he was born at home, in the bathtub. Shakur was rushed to Piedmont Hospital when he began having trouble breathing.

The family lived at the Darlington Apartments in Buckhead.

"No matter how many times they want to say, 'We're vegans, we're vegetarians', that's not the issue in this case," said Chuck Boring, Fulton County Assistant District Attorney. "The child died because he was not fed. Period."

According to medical testimony, the baby had no subcutaneous fat and the process of cannibalization by his own body had led to his death.

Sanders and Thomas appealed.  Sanders argued the circumstantial evidence was insufficient to support the verdicts against her and prove the required intent. Thomas argued his trial attorney was ineffective for failing to call an expert on cystic fibrosis to support the defense's theory that the baby's pneumonia was due to cystic fibrosis, which has similar symptoms to starvation.

"Reviewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdicts, we conclude that it was sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt that both Appellants were guilty of the crimes for which they were convicted," wrote Presiding Justice George Carley.