Pa. couple face prison after sons’ prayer deaths
A Pennsylvania couple who believe in faith-healing face 20 years or more in prison in the death of a second child who died without seeing a doctor.
Herbert and Catherine Schaible are being sentenced Wednesday in the death last year of their 8-month-old son, Brandon.
At the time, they were under court orders to seek medical care for their children after a 2-year-old son died of untreated pneumonia in 2009.
The Schaibles are third-generation members of a small Pentacostal community, the First Century Gospel Church in northeast Philadelphia.
Catherine Schaible’s lawyer plans to explore their religious beliefs at the sentencing. Her husband’s lawyer argues that no malice was involved.
The Schaibles have pleaded no contest to third-degree murder in Brandon’s death.
They have seven surviving children.
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