OREGON CITY, Ore. (RNS) Another couple will face charges of second-degree manslaughter in the death of their newborn son, the third such fatality in two years involving the Followers of Christ church, which shuns modern medicine.
Dale R. Hickman and Shannon M. Hickman, both 25, are scheduled to be formally charged on Aug. 30 after their arrest on July 30. Both are currently free on bail.
The couple’s infant son was born six weeks premature in September 2009, weighing 3 pounds, 5 ounces. He lived nine hours. No one with medical training attended the birth, and no one called a doctor or ambulance.
An autopsy determined the infant died of staph pneumonia and complications from a premature birth, including underdeveloped lungs. The medical examiner noted the presence of a bacterial infection, which could have caused the amniotic sac to rupture.
Dale Hickman’s attorney has asked the public to withhold judgment.
“Mr. and Mrs. Hickman are presumed innocent,” defense attorney Mark Cogan said. “The government has the burden of proving the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. We have not seen the evidence yet.”
Prosecutors have declined to comment on the case.
Another set of parents from the same church, Timothy and Rebecca Wyland, have pleaded not guilty to charges of first degree criminal mistreatment for failing to provide medical care to their 7-month-old daughter, Alayna, who had a large untreated mass over her left eye.
Members of the Followers of Christ church rely on faith-healing rituals rather than secular medicine. Church members have testified that they would not go to a doctor or hospital, preferring to put their faith solely in God’s power to heal.
The Hickman and Wyland indictments underscore a pledge by law enforcement officials to aggressively prosecute church members who fail to provide necessary medical care to their children, as required under Oregon law.
After a series of similar incidents in the 1990s, the state medical examiner’s office reported that more than 20 children of church members had died in recent decades from preventable or curable illnesses. None of those deaths resulted in prosecution.
In 1999, state lawmakers eliminated religious protections in cases of second-degree manslaughter and first- and second-degree criminal mistreatment.
Last year, church members Raylene and Carl Brent Worthington were acquitted on most charges in the death of their 15-month-old daughter, Ava, who died of untreated bacterial bronchial pneumonia and an infection. Brent Worthington was found guilty of criminal mistreatment and was sentenced to 60 days in jail.
In February, Raylene Worthington’s parents, Jeff and Marci Beagley, were sentenced to 16 months in prison for the death of their 16-year-old son, Neil, who died of complications from an undiagnosed congenital urinary blockage.
