Parents on trial for praying while sick child died
When 2-year-old Kent Schaible fell ill in January 2009, his parents prayed for him to get well.
The question put to a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury today is: Should Herbert and Catherine Schaible also have sought medical care for Kent before he died of bacterial pneumonia?
In a case that calls for the jury to dissect the boundaries of parental responsibility, religion and the law, the involuntary manslaughter trial of the Rhawnhurst couple began this morning.
Mythri Jaraman, the lawyer for Catherine Schaible, 41, argued in her opening that Schaible's religion does not play a role in the charge against her because the prosecution cannot prove a key element of involuntary manslaughter: that she knew, or should have known, Kent "faced a substantial risk of death. She is being charged with letting Kent die."...