OREGON CITY, Ore. – The Oregon City parents charged in the faith-healing death of their year-old daughter have launched a counteroffensive, pledging through lawyers to defend their right to religious freedom and unveiling a Web site aimed at rallying nationwide support.
They also plan to create a legal defense fund, their attorneys said.
“Our clients are not wealthy,” defense attorney Mark Cogan said this week. “We surely anticipate there will be folks who want to help these people.”
Cogan compared the Web site for Raylene and Carl Brent Worthington – worthingtondefense.info – to those for other high-profile defendants, such as the Duke lacrosse players who were accused and later vindicated in a rape case. He said the Internet is the best way to disseminate accurate information because “we're getting inquiries from all over the place.”
National advocacy groups and legal scholars are keeping close watch on the Worthington case, which will invoke federal religious protections and test, for the first time, a 1999 Oregon law that struck down religious shields for parents who treat their children solely with prayer.
“Prior to this prosecution of Mr. and Mrs. Worthington, no person in this state has faced charges involving the 1999 legislation,” their attorneys wrote in documents made public last month, when the Worthingtons appeared for a bail hearing in Clackamas County Circuit Court.
The courtroom was packed with friends, relatives and fellow members of the Followers of Christ Church, who say they believe in healing the sick with prayer rather than medical care.
On March 31, the couple pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter and criminal mistreatment in the death of their 15-month-old daughter. Ava Worthington died at home March 2 from bacterial pneumonia and a blood infection, conditions the state medical examiner said were treatable with antibiotics.
Outside the courtroom, defense attorney John Neidig challenged the basis for criminal charges.
Ava Worthington's medical condition “might have been treatable, but not necessarily curable in conventional medical terms,” Neidig said. He said the Worthingtons had used several faith-healing methods – “prayer and anointment and the laying on of hands” – to treat their daughter.
Court documents indicate the Worthingtons' defense will include “exhaustive research” into the legal history of religious protections and a team of “experts, investigators and other professionals.”
Noting the potential expense of such a trial, defense attorneys asked the court to return their clients' bail money so they can “fully litigate the constitutionality issues in this case.”
After defense witnesses testified that the Worthingtons posed no flight risk, they were each granted a reduction in bail from $250,000 to $50,000. Since they had already paid the 10 percent – or $25,000 apiece – required to be released from jail, each will receive $20,000 back from the court.
Cogan told Judge Robert Herndon that the Worthingtons have never left the country and have no passports. He touted their openness with police, reading excerpts from an interview conducted March 4, less than 48 hours after Ava died: “I think you are probably the most honest and endearing people I've met in a very long time,” he quoted Detective James Rhodes telling Carl Worthington.
Neidig said the Worthingtons also cooperated with state authorities regarding their surviving child, a 4-year-old daughter.
Jessica Rhodes, a state child-welfare worker, testified that the Worthingtons complied with her directive to get a medical checkup for the girl, who was found to be in good health and remains with the family.
Neidig said the Worthingtons are ready for the court battle to come. “They've been called upon by God to face this challenge,” he said.
