All Blog Posts from Crimesider

OREGON CITY, Ore. - Their prayers to save their dying daughter went unanswered. But an Oregon jury has shown mercy on an Oregon couple on trial for using prayer instead of medicine in their failed attempt to save their 15-month-old girl.

Carl Worthington was convicted of criminal mistreatment Thursday, a misdemeanor punishable by no more than a year in jail. His wife, Raylene Worthington, walked free.

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OREGON CITY, Ore. - A few days after her toddler died, Raylene Worthington told detectives that the child had been choking on phlegm.

But on the witness stand Monday, accused of using prayer instead of medicine to heal her increasingly ill child, Worthington said she didn't remember the 15-month-old girl choking at all.

Worthington contested or said she didn't remember several points from interviews with police on the night of the death and two days later.

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OREGON CITY, Ore. - Carl and Raylene Worthington, parents of a 15-month old daughter, Ava, put their faith in spiritual healing, when their child got sick. Now the couple is on trial for manslaughter and criminal mistreatment for the infant’s death.

Carl Brent Worthington testified Friday that in the hours before his daughter died of pneumonia, he didn't lose his faith, which he called a gift from God. But Worthington wouldn't say whether he would have done anything differently or taken the 15-month-old to a doctor last year.

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NASHVILLE, Tennessee - Most U.S. states have child abuse laws allowing some religious exemptions for parents who shun medicine for their sick children, but a few recent cases highlight thorny legal issues for parents following less-recognized faiths.

Existing laws have gradually accounted for more well-known and established faiths, such as Pentecostalism, Christian Science and Jehovah's Witnesses.

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