A judge praised a young mother for great strides in her treatment after she starved her 1-year-old son to death while part of the 1 Mind Ministries religious cult. Three cult members have been sentenced for the death of a toddler starved for not saying “Amen” after meals. A woman who starved her 1-year-old son to death at the behest of a the leader of a religious group has been given a suspended sentence and probation. Closing arguments are expected today in the Baltimore trial of three members of an alleged cult — the now defunct 1 Mind Ministries — who are accused of starving a toddler to death because he didn’t pray properly. The mother of a dead child testified Wednesday that she agreed to starve her toddler son, who refused to say “amen,” to rid him of a demonic spirit that was potentially placed there when her own mother offered the boy up to the devil. The leader of a religious cult was “outraged” when a 1-year-old boy did not say “Amen” before a meal and ordered her followers to deprive him of food and water until he died, a Baltimore prosecutor told jurors Monday. Queen Antoinette – aka Toni Sloan or Toni Ellsberry – sat at a defense table Tuesday and grimaced every time she heard a statement she didn’t like, particularly those containing the words “cult” or “commune.” Two women who were part of the now defunct One Mind Ministries cult won’t have the benefit of lawyers when they go on trial on charges they starved a 1-year-old boy to death. The focus will be the leader of the small group One Mind Ministries, which police call a cult. 
A former member of a religious cult backed out of a plea deal Friday and will face trial on charges that he and others starved a toddler to death because the boy refused to say “Amen” after meals.