Faith Healing Couple Guilty of Murder
Their 16-year-old son died after they prayed instead of taking him to doctor.
Feb. 2, 2010— -- An Oregon husband and wife who relied on faith rather than medicine to treat their dying child were convicted today of criminally negligent homicide.
Jeffrey and Marci Beagley of Oregon City said they thought their 16-year-old son, Neil, merely had the flu when they prayed and laid hands on him during the summer of 2008. Neil actually suffered from a urinary tract blockage, and, on June 17 of that year, he died of kidney failure -- without seeing a doctor.
The jury's vote to convict was not unanimous, with two of the 12 voting against it, but Oregon allows non-unanimous verdicts in some cases.
The Beagleys could be sentenced to up to 10 years for criminally negligent homicide, but because they don't have prior criminal histories, state sentencing guidelines call for only 16 to 18 months in prison.
The judge has the discretion to give them longer sentences, however, depending on whether he decides there are aggravating circumstances. He could also reduce the sentence, even give them probation, if he feels there are mitigating circumstances.
The Beagleys were released pending sentencing, which is scheduled for Feb. 18. Until that time, they are still bound by the bail they already posted.
Authorities had accused the Beagleys of carelessly failing to realize that their child was sick enough to die. The two parents were tried for criminally negligent homicide, and their case went to the jury Friday, with prosecutors asking jurors to send them a blunt message.
"You tell the Beagleys this is not acceptable behavior," Clackamas County prosecutor Gregory Horner said in closing arguments. "It's not unfortunate events, it's criminal."
But the Beagleys had no reason to think that Neil was near death, said Wayne Mackeson, the lawyer for Jeffrey Beagley, and, far from rejecting doctors, they merely "believed in the healing powers of god."
"Neil was the crown prince of the family," Mackeson told ABC News. "If going to prison meant his (Jeffrey's) son could come back, he'd do it in a heartbeat."
The case is the latest to test the line between the freedom to believe in prayer's healing powers and the duty of parents to seek medical care when their children's lives are on the line.
Last year, Dale and Leilani Newmann of Wisconsin were convicted of second-degree reckless homicide in the death of their daughter, Kara, an 11-year-old who succumbed to diabetes after her parents prayed rather than call a doctor for her. The Newmanns have appealed their convictions.
