OREGON CITY, Ore., Dec. 16 (UPI) -- An Oregon judge has rejected claims of entrapment made by lawyers for a couple who refused to seek medical treatment for their teenage son, who died.
Attorneys for Jeff and Marci Beagley of Oregon City had argued state law allows children older than 15 to seek their own medical care and that state social workers had concluded 16-year-old Neil Beagley was not in danger.
Neil Beagley died less than three months later of a urinary tract blockage.
The Beagleys belonged to a religious sect that subscribes to faith healing and rejects mainstream medical treatment. The teen's parents face charges of negligent homicide.
The couple's daughter and her husband were acquitted of manslaughter this past summer in the death of their own 15-month-old daughter, Ava Worthington.
The (Portland) Oregonian reported Wednesday Clackamas County Judge Steven Maurer ruled it would be up to the jury to determine how much weight to place on the interaction between the Beagleys and the social workers.
Jury selection in the trial begins Jan. 11 in Oregon City.
