Judge won’t drop murder charge against Pa. faith-healing parents; victim was 2nd child to die

[Type Username Here]

PHILADELPHIA — A judge upheld murder charges Wednesday against a fundamentalist Christian couple in their infant’s faith-healing death, saying things might be different if their toddler hadn’t died four years ago “under strikingly similar circumstances.”

Their probation in that case required Herbert and Catherine Schaible to seek immediate medical help if another child was sick or injured. But they instead prayed over 8-month-old son Brandon before he died of pneumonia in April, according to their police statements.

Defense lawyer Bobby Hoof argued that Brandon died just three days after he came down with cold and flu symptoms and said there was no evidence of malice, as required for third-degree murder. The judge disagreed.

“They learned in the worst possible way ... exactly what these symptoms could lead to in a child, especially a young child, if not medically cared for,” Common Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner said, referring to the 2009 death of 2-year-old Kent Schaible. “We’ve been here before ... under strikingly similar circumstances.”

About a dozen U.S. children die each year when parents turn to faith healing instead of medicine, typically from highly treatable problems, according to experts. At least one state, Oregon, explicitly banned faith healing as a murder defense after a series of deaths.

The Schaibles are third-generation members and former teachers at the First Century Gospel Church, a small, insular congregation in northeast Philadelphia.

“We believe in divine healing, that Jesus ... died on the cross to break the devil’s power,” Herbert Schaible, 45, told homicide detectives after Brandon died.

Their seven surviving children are now in foster care.

Catherine Schaible, 44, is out on bail, while her husband remains in custody. She seemed fretful in court but calm afterward, even smiling as she left the courtroom with her parents. She declined to comment. Her lawyer said plea negotiations are possible.

Kent also died of pneumonia, albeit after an illness of more than a week.

The Schaibles were convicted of involuntary manslaughter in his death and placed on 10 years of probation, which included an order to get annual checkups and medical care as needed for their children. Brandon was deemed healthy at a newborn checkup. But Hoof acknowledged the boy didn’t see a doctor when he became ill.

“A reasonable parent probably would wait three days to take their child to a doctor,” said Hoof, who represents Herbert Schaible.

Lerner seemed especially troubled that Brandon had increasingly labored breathing but still got no medical care.

He compared the current case to that of a parent who repeatedly gave a child peanut butter despite knowing of a potentially deadly allergy to it.

“How many times do you have to do that again before a child dies, and a jury can infer legal malice?” Lerner asked. “Is it a second time, or is that not enough? Is it a third time?”

The Schaibles’ pastor, Nelson Clark, has said the couple lost their sons because of a “spiritual lack” in their lives. He has also faulted officials for trying to force his members into “the flawed medical system.”

The case returns to court next month, and a trial could be scheduled next year. The Schaibles face 20 to 40 years in prison if convicted of third-degree murder.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...eba5c2-ff81-11e2-8294-0ee5075b840d_story.html


I guess Jesus and God didn't really care too much about those children.

 

[The Real]

Good. They need to face the consequences of their awful parenting.

 

[Type Username Here]

Good. They need to face the consequences of their awful parenting.

I understand we think it's awful parenting, but their book does tell them that God can do anything. Because they truly believe this to be true, they should be sent to an insane asylum instead of prison. That won't happen because it would unravel something that religious people fear: exposing the illegitimacy and absurdness of some of what these religions teach. So they get sent to prison as to not ruffle the feathers.

"Oh, look at how pathetic and idiotic those parents were for thinking that prayer could save their child. Excuse me while I go back to believing God impregnated a woman with himself or that a man can fly on a horse with wings."

 

[tmonster]

update
Faith-Healing Parents Who Let Their Daughter Die Don’t Want Jurors To Know About Their Religious Motive
April 22, 2014 By Terry Firma Leave a Comment
Travis and Wenona Rossiter, an Oregon couple, are among a special type of shytty parents: those who let their kids die of a treatable disease, rather than take them to a doctor.

The Rossiters belong to the Church of the First Born, a fundamentalist outfit that holds that prayer is the way to making sick people better.

Does it work? Like hell it does. Their daughter Syble died of complications from diabetes a little over a year ago. She was 12. Prosecutors say the girl would likely be alive today if it wasn’t for the parents’ wishes to deliver her to the care of Jesus, rather than the care of a trained medical team.


Now the Rossiters, accused of manslaughter, claim that it would be “prejudicial” for the jury to learn of the religious beliefs that killed their daughter.

Defense attorneys for Travis and Wenona Rossiter, an Albany couple accused of manslaughter for the death of their 12-year-old daughter in February 2013, are seeking to exclude evidence of religious beliefs or practices during their trial. …

Mark Heslinga, defense attorney for Wenona Rossiter, said evidence of religious beliefs would be prejudicial.

“My client is requesting he be tried for the actions of that day, not for his religious beliefs,” said Tim Felling, Travis Rossiter’s attorney.

Judge Daniel Murphy may well be sympathetic to that argument. He has already ruled that the jury is to be kept unaware of the death of Wenona Rossiter’s brother, Anthony.

Anthony Hays, 7, died of leukemia in 1994, after his parents failed to provide medical care for him. In 1996, a Linn County jury convicted his father, Loyd Hays of Brownsville, on charges of criminally negligent homicide. He was sentenced to five years’ probation. …

Murphy said the two children died of completely separate causes, so he didn’t see the relevance.

Well, Judge, the relevance would be that in this family, there is a pattern of criminal religious misconduct that is demonstrably claiming children’s lives. The Rossiters have two other children. Are you saying, Judge, that you’re prepared to let those kids get Schaibled?

Wenona Rossiter was a child herself when her parents let her brother die. She obviously bears no culpability in his murder. But if I were a juror, I’d like to know that she learned so little from the event that she blindly — and fatally – repeated it when it came time to take care of her own sick child. Her history, Judge, would tell the jury that there is a high likelihood of Ms. Rossiter letting her other children die if they get dangerously sick. And I’d rather, you know, keep her away from them if that’s the case. Preferably behind bars.

It gets worse.

Murphy also ruled against allowing evidence of prior bad acts regarding a lack of medical care for Syble Rossiter. “It doesn’t prove they acted recklessly in this case,” he said.

Objection, Your Honor. The same one as before. Knowing there’s been a pattern of neglect would help assess both Ms. Rossiter’s guilt in the matter and the probability of her endangering her other children in the future.

If justice is to be served, the jury — along with the public — has a right to know.​

 

[Type Username Here]

Disgusting.

Why would the judge do that?

 

[Bboystyle]

fukking idiotic religious freaks. They fail to realize that God has given man the knowledge to help with their sickness. They really expect God to touch their child and miraculously be cured? fukking morons.

 

[tmonster]

Disgusting.

Why would the judge do that?

Appeal proofing?

 

[ltheghost]

Good. It sucks the tax payers have to incarcerate these religious nutcases....but they shouldn't be allowed to be out here after doing this shyt.

 

[mbewane]

"Faith healing"

 

[BlvdBrawler]

I understand we think it's awful parenting, but their book does tell them that God can do anything. Because they truly believe this to be true, they should be sent to an insane asylum instead of prison. That won't happen because it would unravel something that religious people fear: exposing the illegitimacy and absurdness of some of what these religions teach. So they get sent to prison as to not ruffle the feathers.

"Oh, look at how pathetic and idiotic those parents were for thinking that prayer could save their child. Excuse me while I go back to believing God impregnated a woman with himself or that a man can fly on a horse with wings."

Imo, that's not the issue. The belief that God can do anything is central to pretty much every faith in existence, so them believing that God could heal their child isn't necessarily insane (if you're religious, mind you). What was insane, was leveraging their child's life on the belief that God would cure him, when there was a cheap, simple, and effective solution readily available.

 

[tmonster]

Imo, that's not the issue. The belief that God can do anything is central to pretty much every faith in existence, so them believing that God could heal their child isn't necessarily insane (if you're religious, mind you). What was insane, was leveraging their child's life on the belief that God would cure him, when there was a cheap, simple, and effective solution readily available.

so anything that is central to my faith is not crazy?

 

[BlvdBrawler]

so anything that is central to my faith is not crazy?

No. What I said was that the belief that God can accomplish anything is not crazy if you're religious. Not sure how you got ANYTHING GOES!!! out of that, but then... this is the coli so....

 

[tmonster]

delete

 

[tmonster]

No. What I said was that the belief that God can accomplish anything is not crazy if you're religious. Not sure how you got ANYTHING GOES!!! out of that, but then... this is the coli so....

I can also ask it like this and then you will see exactly how I got that
why is "the belief that God can accomplish anything...if you're religious" not crazy?

 

[Sensitive Blake Griffin]

fukking idiotic religious freaks. They fail to realize that God has given man the knowledge to help with their sickness. They really expect God to touch their child and miraculously be cured? fukking morons.

no he didn't. Man had to discover the "knowledge" on their own, after hundreds of thousands of years of trial and error and millions and millions of deaths. The Black Plague is cleared up with simple anti-biotics and it devastated an entire continent that was extremely religious at the time.