A woman who made no effort to feed her four starving children, telling them God would provide for them as they grew weaker and hungrier by the day, was found guilty of child endangerment charges today in a Sussex County courtroom.

Jurors took just 30 minutes to reach a verdict in the case against Estelle Walker, 50, whose children were so malnourished they could hardly speak when police found them in a Lake Hopatcong cabin in 2006. The children — ages 8, 9, 11 and 13 at the time — have since recovered.

In finding Walker guilty, the jury of eight women and four men rejected the unusual defense claim that the New York City woman was not responsible for her actions because of her strict religious beliefs and what her lawyer called an extreme reliance on God.

The lawyer, Ronald Nicola, argued his client was delusional and did not willingly deny her children food.

"She did not act to cause harm to her children," Nicola told jurors in closing arguments yesterday. "She was acting to her stringent religious beliefs that God would provide. She lost weight when they lost weight ... She and the children prayed together."

Walker's beliefs have been a recurring theme throughout the trial, which began Dec. 1. At one point, when Nicola complained to Superior Court Judge N. Peter Conforti his client was refusing to participate in her defense, Walker passively told the judge, "God will defend me."

In a separate discussion, she told Conforti she had been directed by prayer to reject a plea bargain that would have allowed her to go free with time served, or the one year she spent in jail before making bail. She now faces up to 10 years in prison for each of the four counts of second-degree endangerment.

Walker betrayed no emotion, her face blank, as the verdict was announced in the Newton courtroom. She was quickly handcuffed and taken to the Sussex County jail.

It was in 2005 when Walker, her four youngest children and an 18-year-old daughter were placed in the cabin by the Manhattan-based Times Square Church, to which she belonged. At the time, she claimed she needed to escape an alcoholic husband. But when Walker refused to leave in May 2006, the church began eviction proceedings and cut off financial support that ranged from $700 to $1,000 per month.

During the trial, three of the children testified their mother did not look for work or provide for them. At one point, they said, they went 11 days without food. By July of that year, when a neighbor called police, an 8-year-old daughter was down to 34 pounds — the same weight she had been two years earlier.

In his closing arguments, Assistant Prosecutor Francis Koch portrayed Walker as a cunning, evil woman who used her religion as an excuse to get a rent-free lakehouse at the expense of her children’s health. Walker, he said, could have asked for help from friends and family members.

"Instead," Koch said, "she did nothing."

Staff writers Mark Mueller and Jim Lockwood contributed to this report.

Previous coverage:

• N.J. mother accused of starving children does not have mental illness, psychiatrist says

• Prosecutors say former N.J. woman used religious beliefs as excuse to starve children

• Competency hearing to begin for mother accused of starving 4 children