Couple in the dock over child's death
Source: Agencies |
June 14, 2013, Friday
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A PHILADELPHIA couple who believe in faith healing over medicine has been ordered to stand trial on murder charges in the second pneumonia death of one of their children in a four-year span.
Herbert and Catherine Schaible remained held without bail on third-degree murder charges after their preliminary hearing on Wednesday. Their two-year-old son Kent died in 2009, followed by 8-month-old Brandon in April. Prosecutors contend both boys were sick for nearly two weeks.
The Schaibles are both third-generation members and former teachers at their small fundamentalist Christian church, the First Century Gospel Church in northeast Philadelphia. They have seven surviving children.
"We believe in divine healing, that Jesus shed blood for our healing and that he died on the cross to break the devil's power," Herbert Schaible, 44, said in a police statement read in court on Wednesday. Medicine, he said, "is against our religious beliefs."
"It means that we pray and ask to be healed the way that Jesus did when he was on Earth," his wife added in her statement.
A jury had convicted them of involuntary manslaughter in Kent's death, and they were put on 10 years of probation that included orders to seek medical care if any other child got sick. After Brandon's death, an irate judge found they had violated parole and sent them to prison.
However, defense lawyer Bobby Hoof, fighting the murder charge on Wednesday, said Brandon's autopsy states that he had symptoms for just three days. "It's not unreasonable for parents to wait three days to seek medical care," Hoof argued.
Prosecutors have described the boys' symptoms as "eerily similar," and said they included labored breathing and a refusal to eat. Catherine Schaible's lawyer, though, said her client tried to feed Brandon during his illness, and applied baby powder to keep him comfortable.
Herbert and Catherine Schaible remained held without bail on third-degree murder charges after their preliminary hearing on Wednesday. Their two-year-old son Kent died in 2009, followed by 8-month-old Brandon in April. Prosecutors contend both boys were sick for nearly two weeks.
The Schaibles are both third-generation members and former teachers at their small fundamentalist Christian church, the First Century Gospel Church in northeast Philadelphia. They have seven surviving children.
"We believe in divine healing, that Jesus shed blood for our healing and that he died on the cross to break the devil's power," Herbert Schaible, 44, said in a police statement read in court on Wednesday. Medicine, he said, "is against our religious beliefs."
"It means that we pray and ask to be healed the way that Jesus did when he was on Earth," his wife added in her statement.
A jury had convicted them of involuntary manslaughter in Kent's death, and they were put on 10 years of probation that included orders to seek medical care if any other child got sick. After Brandon's death, an irate judge found they had violated parole and sent them to prison.
However, defense lawyer Bobby Hoof, fighting the murder charge on Wednesday, said Brandon's autopsy states that he had symptoms for just three days. "It's not unreasonable for parents to wait three days to seek medical care," Hoof argued.
Prosecutors have described the boys' symptoms as "eerily similar," and said they included labored breathing and a refusal to eat. Catherine Schaible's lawyer, though, said her client tried to feed Brandon during his illness, and applied baby powder to keep him comfortable.
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