OREGON CITY, Ore. — An Oregon couple was found guilty Tuesday of criminally negligent homicide for praying over their ill son instead of seeking medical help.
The jury returned the verdict on the second day of deliberations in the trial of Jeff and Marci Beagley, both members of the Followers of Christ
The couple, who remain free on bail, are scheduled for sentencing on Feb. 18. Because neither has a prior conviction, state sentencing guidelines call for 16 to 18 months in prison.
Prosecutors said the Beagleys had a duty as parents to provide medical care for their 16-year-old son, Neil, who died in 2008 of complications from a urinary tract blockage. The defense argued the teenager had symptoms more like a cold or the flu.
The couple and other church members at the hearing declined to comment. Wayne Mackeson, Jeff Beagley’s attorney, said they would consider an appeal.
The Followers of Christ shuns conventional medicine in favor of faith healing. The church has been in Oregon City since early in the 20th century. Its members, by their own description and that of others, keep to themselves.
State authorities have found that an unusual number of children whose families belonged to the Followers of Christ had died at an early age, leading to a 1999 state law that limits faith healing as a defense in such deaths. The trial of the Beagleys was the second major test of the new law.
Greg Horner, the chief deputy district attorney, also prosecuted the faith healing trial last year of the Beagleys’ daughter, Raylene Worthington, and her husband, Carl Brent Worthington.
The Worthingtons were acquitted of manslaughter in the March 2008 death of their 15-month-old daughter, Ava, from pneumonia and a blood infection, but Brent Worthington was convicted of misdemeanor criminal mistreatment.
Horner argued that the Beagleys should have been alert to the potential for relatively mild symptoms to mask serious and even fatal disease after the death of their granddaughter.
Defense lawyers argued the Beagleys were acting reasonably and did not believe Neil was in danger of dying.
Attorney Wayne Mackeson told the jury that all of Neil Beagley’s symptoms were “nonspecific,” meaning they could have been a sign of any number of diseases, including a common cold or the flu.
District Attorney John Foote said his office would have no comment until after sentencing.
“The jury’s verdicts of guilty are extremely important for this community,” he said. “However, the cases are still not complete.”
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