In the news|February 20, 2014 04:33 EST
Faith Healing Parents Sentenced to Prison for 2nd Prayer Death in Family (VIDEO)
A P.A. faith healing believing couple are going to prison for the death of their baby son who fell ill and never saw a doctor because of their religious beliefs. This is their second child to die after choosing to turn to prayer and faith healing rather than medicine for their child's wellness.
Herbert and Catherine Schaible are sentenced to 3 ½ to 7 years in prison for the death of 8-month-old son Brandon. They disobeyed a court's order to get medical care for their children after their 2-year-old son, Kent died of untreated pneumonia in 2009.
Judge Benjamin Lerner overruled defense claims that their religious beliefs "clashed" with the 2011 court order to get annual checkups and call a doctor if a child became ill. The order came after a jury convicted them of involuntary manslaughter in Kent's death, and they were sentenced to 10 years of probation.
"April of 2013 wasn't Brandon's time to die," Lerner said, stating that this case was like the violence committed throughout human history in the name of religion. "You've killed two of your children. ... Not God. Not your church. Not religious devotion. You."
Schaible's lawyer Bobby Hoof defended his client calling Herbert "a good man, a righteous man, a spiritual man. He's still grieving the loss of his two sons," he said.
The Schaibles pleaded no contest to third-degree murder in Brandon's death back in November.
"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," Mr. Schaible said in a 2013 police statement. Medicine, he said, "is against our religious beliefs."
Both parents expressed regret and apologized for violating a court order to seek medical care for their children.
"My religious beliefs are that you should pray, and not have to use medicine. But because it is against the law, then whatever sentence you give me, I will accept," Catherine, 44, told the judge. She added that her beliefs have now changed.
Reports say about a dozen U.S. children die in faith-healing cases each year. The Schaible's are third-generation members of a small Pentacostal community, the First Century Gospel Church in northeast Philadelphia.
Their pastor, Nelson Clark, blamed their first child's death on a "spiritual lack" in the parents' lives, and insisted they would never seek medical care, even if another child was dying.
"It was so foreseeable to me that this was going to happen," said Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore, who prosecuted both cases. "Everybody in the system failed these children."
Their six surviving minor children are now reportedly in foster care, some with relatives. They are attending public schools for the first time, and are getting medical, dental and vision care. Several now wear glasses.
The oldest child, who is 18, sat in court with his grandparents, the family pastor and other supporters.