OREGON CITY, Ore. — Brushing aside pleas for leniency, a county judge on June 24 sentenced two members of a faith-healing church to 90 days in jail and three years probation for failing to get medical care for their infant daughter.
“Your prayers should complement, not compete with, proper medical care,” Clackamas County Circuit Judge Jeffrey S. Jones said in his brief and sternly worded comments to Timothy and Rebecca Wyland.
A jury convicted the couple of first-degree criminal mistreatment in early June for not seeking medical treatment for their daughter, Alayna, when she developed an abnormal growth of blood vessels that left her nearly blind.
Timothy Wyland was taken into custody and immediately started serving his sentence. Rebecca Wyland will start her term once her husband is released.
Prosecutor Christine Landers had urged 90 days in jail and three years’ probation — the maximum penalty allowed under Oregon’s sentencing guidelines. “This is a case about child abuse,” she said, asserting that Alayna is unlikely to regain normal vision.
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