Parents found guilty of murder after SECOND child dies from pneumonia because they prayed instead of seeking medical attention

Herbert and Catherine Schaible pleaded 'no contest' to third-degree murder charges today in relation to their 7-month-old son Brandon's April death

When Brandon came down with bacterial pneumonia last spring, his parents decided to pray for him to get better instead of taking him to the hospital

At the time, the Schaibles were on probation for the 2009 manslaughter of their two-year-old son Kent, who also died from pneumonia



Schaibles belong to fundamentalist Christian church, which teaches that it's a sin to rely on modern medicine over prayer



A Philadelphia couple were found guilty of the third-degree murder of their son after pleading 'no contest today.

Herbert and Catherine Schaible's 7-month-old son Brandon died last April 18 from dehydration and pneumonia when his parents decided to pray for him to get better rather than seek medical attention.

At the time, the Schaibles were on 10-year probation for their 2-year-old son Kent's similar death in 2009. The terms of their probation required the Schaibles to seek medical attention any time one of their seven surviving children got sick.

Guilty: Herbert and Catherine Schaible were found guilty of the third-degree murder of their 7-month-old son today after pleading 'no-contest'

The fundamentalist Christian couple will face sentencing February 19 for their crime. 'I can't even imagine being a mother myself, what was happening,' Philadelphia prosecutor Joanne Pescatore said. 'The sheer pain and the stress that that child was in. When a parent can actually say that his breathing was worsening and he was fussy and whiny and crying and still, at that point, not calling anyone for help, it's just unbelievable to me - and totally foreseeable (that he died).' About a dozen U.S. children die each year when parents turn to faith healing instead of medicine, typically from highly treatable problems, according to experts. Repeat offenders: When their 7-month-old son Brandon died in April, the couple were on 10-year probation for their 2-year-old son Kent's similar death in 2009 The Schaibles are third-generation members and former teachers at the First Century Gospel Church, a small, insular congregation in northeast Philadelphia. ‘We believe in divine healing, that Jesus...died on the cross to break the devil's power,’ Herbert Schaible told homicide detectives after Brandon died. RELATED ARTICLES Previous

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Six-year-old girl from polyamorous family had been submerged... Share this article Share Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said the care was never given and decided to bring murder charges against the couple. Their remaining children have been placed in foster care. ‘He is incarcerated because of his faith,’ said lawyer Bobby Hoof in May when the couple was ordered held without bail. He described client Herbert Schaible's mindset as resolute. Faith-healing: First Century Gospel Church, where the parents are members, says using medicine is a sin

‘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 told Philadelphia homicide detectives in April. Medicine, he said, ‘is against our religious beliefs.’

‘These are people who have been brought up in these communities; their beliefs are reinforced every day,’ said Shawn Francis Peters, a University of Wisconsin lecturer who has studied faith-healing deaths.

‘They're not trained intellectually to question these doctrines, where the rest of us might engage in critical inquiry, weighing the benefits of medicine versus the benefits of prayer,’ he said.

Peters isn't sure that courts have the means to prevent the problem, since such people don't fear legal punishment, only Judgment Day. Some believe death ‘is a good outcome,’ given their belief in the afterlife, he said.

Extreme: Pastor Nelson Clark of the First Century Gospel Church tells followers to shun 21-century medicine for the power of prayer

‘They don't want to harm their children. They're just in this particularly narrow - and very, very dangerous - way misguided about the potential of medical science,’ he said.

He believes that ‘empathetic’ intervention, through dialogue between church and public health educators, could help some ‘get to a point where they allow their beliefs and practices to evolve.’

But there's also a risk that could backfire, and drive these communities further underground, he said.



WHEN GOD DOESN'T ANSWER: THE CASUALTIES OF FAITH-HEALING It is estimated that around a dozen U.S. children die in faith-healing cases each year, a handful of which spawn criminal charges, according to experts.

The First Century Gospel Church of Philadelphia’s teachings has clashed with authorities in the past.

In 1991, eight children died in a measles outbreak. All the parents were members of either First Century Gospel Church or the nearby Faith Tabernacle of Nicetown which also preaches faith-healing. In 2011, Dale and Shannon Hickman of Oregon were sentenced to 75 months in prison after turning to faith healing to say their premature newborn, which was born in a family home, died from complications that could have easily been averted with medical care.

Also in Oregon, Jeff and Marci Beagley, were sentenced to 16 months in 2010 for the death of their 16-year-old son. The couple refused to use medicine for their son Neil, who was suffering from a preventable urinary tract blockage. Instead, they prayed and used anointing oils in the hope of divine intervention.

'Too many children have died unnecessarily - a graveyard full,' Judge Steven Maurer said at their sentencing. 'This has to stop.'

Oregon has since banned faith healing as a defense against murder charges.







