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Posted on 10/31/2011 3:52:02 PM PDT by jazusamo
A Clackamas County judge sentenced the couple found guilty of second-degree manslaughter in their infant son's death to more than six years in prison, rejecting their entreaties for mercy and saying their son's fate could have been easily avoided.
A jury in September unanimously found Dale and Shannon Hickman, of the Followers of Christ church, guilty in the death of their son, David Hickman, who lived for less than nine hours. He was born approximately two months premature and weighed less than four pounds.
After standing and hugging each other, both Hickmans were led out of the courtroom in handcuffs as supporters sobbed. Close to 100 people packed Judge Robert Herndon's courtroom, nearly all of them believers in the Followers of Christ church, an Oregon City congregation that shuns medicine in favor of faith-healing and has a lengthy history of child deaths. About 30 more supporters milled outside the room.
The Hickmans were sentenced to 75 months in prison, the mandatory minimum under Measure 11 sentencing guidelines. Herndon also gave them three years of probation.
Herndon's tone, which steered clear of harshest admonishment, almost contrasted with the sentence he doled out, the longest ever given to a Followers of Christ couple for failing to seek medical care for a child.
"As the evidence unfolded and the witnesses testified, it became evident to me and certainly to the jury … that this death just simply did not need to occur," said Herndon, referencing that the jury had come back with a verdict in a "stunningly" short time.
Defense attorneys pleaded for leniency under a Measure 11 religious exemption statute that would have allowed the judge to avoid giving the mandatory minimum, but Herndon rejected the notion that this case qualified. The exemption was eliminated by the legislature after the Hickmans' indictment.
(Excerpt) Read more at oregonlive.com ...
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“Followers of Christ”?? What is that? Is it anything like the “Children of God” sex and pedo cult??
That doesn't bode well.
I'm not saying what they did was right; I'm just asking for some consistency.
It’s a church (I consider it a cult) that reject medicine and any treatment by a doctor, they believe their faith in God will heal.
If they as adults want to make that choice it’s their business but their children are a different story, IMO.
Oregon finally changed the religious exemption in the law for minor children because of the many children that would not have died with simple medical procedures.
The members of the Followers of Christ church have resisted change but this judge finally got tough and imposed a sentence that’s not a slap on the wrist.
“The Hickmans were sentenced to 75 months in prison...”
It should have been 75 years in prison.
Children have been dying for years needlessly, check my post #6.
Also, if this couple would have decided to abort the baby the day before, there would be no charges. That is the consistency I am looking at. If this judge passes this harsh of a sentence on this family, why does he do the same for every third trimester abortion in the state?
I pray that right-to-life groups use this as a way to get more restrictions on abortions in Oregon.
I understand perfectly what you’re saying but though I consider abortion murder this is not an abortion issue.
This case was about a preemie born two months early. The other three court cases mentioned in the article prosecuted in the last three years were older children.
It seems to me that underlying the judge’s decision is a presumption that modern medicine carries a guarantee of saving any life regardless of the condition. That is both ignorant and arrogant.
po-TA-to, po-tat-o. The law is inconsistent in the protection of a child at that stage of development. Also, in many cases, even with EXTRAORDINARY medical attention, a two-month preemie has a significant chance of dying. The other cases appear to have merit; this one seems sketchy at best.
I live near this case, and I seriously wondered why they didn’t use the “abortion didn’t go as planned” defense.
Also wondering why this merits more time than a drunk driver killing someone.
Seems like the judge is deeming it neglect and rightly so in my opinion.
I wonder if our legal overlords realize what a clown show they are?
Of course, they're the scary crazed clowns, with pinwheels for eyes, and blue-clad thugs with automatic weapons to back up their insane rulings...
So, did judgie-clown also get tough, and jail a bunch of aborting baby-killers at the same time?
If not, he can shove his sanctimonious hypocrisy where the sun don't shine.
You out there jailing aborting baby-killers? Didn't think so. Then I don't want to hear it.
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