Mar 8, 8:54 PM EST
Ore. faith healers get 16 months for son's death
By ABBY HAIGHT
Associated Press Writer
OREGON CITY, Ore. (AP) -- The judge who sentenced an Oregon couple to prison Monday for the death of their son says members of their church must quit relying on faith healing when their children's lives are at stake.
"The fact is, too many children have died unnecessarily - a graveyard full," Judge Steven Maurer said. "This has to stop."
Maurer spoke in a quiet, unemotional voice as he led up to his conclusion: Jeffrey and Marci Beagley each should serve 16 months in prison. Members of the Followers of Christ church who packed the courtroom sobbed.
The Beagleys were earlier convicted of criminally negligent homicide in the June 2008 death of their 16-year-old son, Neil, of complications from a congenital urinary tract blockage. The condition normally is easily treated.
Members of their church avoid most medical care and instead rely on rituals such as anointing sick people with oil and laying hands on them.
In ordering prison terms, Maurer reflected changes made in Oregon law a decade ago stipulating that freedom of religious practices is not an excuse to shun medical treatment for a dangerously ill child. The changes were a result of the deaths of children in Followers of Christ families.
The church's small cemetery near the end of the Oregon Trail includes row after row of headstones marking the graves of children.
TBO.com - News From AP
Ore. faith healers get 16 months for son's death
By ABBY HAIGHT
Associated Press Writer
OREGON CITY, Ore. (AP) -- The judge who sentenced an Oregon couple to prison Monday for the death of their son says members of their church must quit relying on faith healing when their children's lives are at stake.
"The fact is, too many children have died unnecessarily - a graveyard full," Judge Steven Maurer said. "This has to stop."
Maurer spoke in a quiet, unemotional voice as he led up to his conclusion: Jeffrey and Marci Beagley each should serve 16 months in prison. Members of the Followers of Christ church who packed the courtroom sobbed.
The Beagleys were earlier convicted of criminally negligent homicide in the June 2008 death of their 16-year-old son, Neil, of complications from a congenital urinary tract blockage. The condition normally is easily treated.
Members of their church avoid most medical care and instead rely on rituals such as anointing sick people with oil and laying hands on them.
In ordering prison terms, Maurer reflected changes made in Oregon law a decade ago stipulating that freedom of religious practices is not an excuse to shun medical treatment for a dangerously ill child. The changes were a result of the deaths of children in Followers of Christ families.
The church's small cemetery near the end of the Oregon Trail includes row after row of headstones marking the graves of children.
TBO.com - News From AP
