Nation & World | Couple face manslaughter charge in baby’s death | Seattle Times Newspaper
A mates prayed and rubbed olive oil on their disgorge babe sooner than essay aesculapian charge for the anxious boy, prosecutors argued in the up-to-the-minute condemnable vitrine against members of an Oregon church that believes in religion alterative.
Dale and Shannon Hickman are accused of manslaughter in the dying of their son David, who was innate untimely in 2009 with developing lungs. The boy highly-developed a bacterial contagion and lived for less than ix hours, The Oregonian reported (http://bit.ly/nb1eDm).
The Hickmans are members of the Following of Messiah church, a Clackamas Bety church that practices religion alterative and rejects doctors. The run is the 4th clip in late years that members birth faced deplorable accusations that they let their children get badly ill or die.
When David’s pare off blanched and he could scarce respire, the Hickmans did not shout for avail, prosecutor Microphone Regan aforesaid during scuttle statements Wednesday. Rather, he aforesaid, Dale Hickman anointed the sister with olive oil, a park church rite for treating the ill.
“They were ne’er exit to birdcall - always,” Regan aforementioned. “Loser to act is a law-breaking.”
Members of the church in 3 old cases bear claimed that they were incognizant that their children faced severe or baneful checkup weather. Prosecutors argued that the parents had sizable exemplary but refused to act for spiritual reasons.
The Hickmans’ lawyers aforesaid witnesses to the boy’s nativity volition prove that the coddle showed no signal of distraint until proceedings earlier his demise. And flush if the Hickmans had called 911, the baby would deliver died ahead assist arrived, they aforementioned.
The couplet was beingness time-tested for their religion, aforesaid attorney Crisscross Cogan.
“You, ladies and gentlemen, are our security against caesarism,” Cogan told jurors. “Thither are multiplication ilk this, when law enforcement has departed too far and has strayed into persecution of free citizenry. We are career upon you … to play that to a stopover.”
Similar cases against early church members suffer resulted in convictions for fivesome of six defendants.
Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com
