By TIM FOUGHT
Associated Press Writer | Posted: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 12:00 am
OREGON CITY - Lawyers for parents charged in the death of their 15-month-old daughter said Monday the couple never thought the child was dying as they and other members of their church went through rituals such as anointing her with oil and the laying on of hands.
Instead, said the lawyers for Carl and Raylene Worthington of Oregon City, those who gathered around Ava Worthington thought what they had done worked, that the child was getting better.
The Worthingtons are members of the Followers of Christ Church, whose members shun doctors in favor of spiritual healing.
They are accused of manslaughter and criminal mistreatment in the death of their child, who didn't get a doctor's care. The state medical examiner said she could easily have been treated with antibiotics for her pneumonia.
The trial got under way Monday with opening statements.
The Clackamas County prosecutor said the child was not getting better in March 2008. Instead, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Greg Horner, what family and friends interpreted as recovery was the little girl's body shutting down, "giving up because it can't hang in there.''
Horner said the girl lost a long battle caused by a cold that led to a bacterial infection and pneumonia, accompanied by a cyst-like growth on her neck caused by her lymphatic system struggling against the infection. Horner described it as "wallet-size'' and said it greatly constricted her breathing.
In opening statements Monday, the Worthingtons' lawyers focused on the child's condition before her death. They said she was active, ate well and didn't have a fever or other symptoms associated with pneumonia.
She was teething and had a cold, said John Neidig, defense attorney for Raylene Worthington, but colds and flu were common that winter in the community and family.
Neidig acknowledged that the child had pneumonia when she died but said it was a fresh infection. He and fellow defense lawyer Mark Cogan said Ava was overwhelmed by a fast-acting infection called sepsis.
Neidig said the cyst-like growths are common in the Worthington side of the family. He disputed Horner's contention the child was malnourished and underdeveloped.
The opening statements did not suggest that the Worthingtons planned to make observing their religious convictions a defense.
"They didn't deny medical care to Ava,'' said Cogan. "They just didn't think she needed it.''
Horner said the religious rituals weren't wrong. That family and friends went through the laying on of hands three times in 24 hours showed they were concerned for her life, he said.
But there was nothing criminal in what they did, he said, "except that it should be in conjunction with adequate medical care, not instead of.''