PORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 1 (UPI) -- A husband and wife, members of a faith-healing church in Oregon, have been sentenced to prison for six years in the death of their premature son.
Dale and Shannon Hickman were convicted in September of second-degree manslaughter for failing to seek medical care for their son David, who lived less than 9 hours after being born two months prematurely, The (Portland) Oregonian reported.
In a Clackamus County courtroom crowded with their supporters, Judge Robert D. Herndon passed the sentence Monday on the couple, members of the Followers of Christ church.
"This is a sentence you have justly earned," Herndon said, calling the sentence "a modest penalty for causing the death of a vulnerable person. ... This was so preventable."
During the Hickmans' trial, pediatric experts testified the infant almost certainly would have survived if taken to a hospital.
The Hickmans sought no medical intervention even as the baby turned gray and struggled to breathe, a jury was told during their trial.
