Oregon Public Broadcasting

An Oregon City couple accused of illegally depriving their daughter of medical attention went on trial Monday. Instead, Brent and Raylene Worthington prayed for their 15 month-old daughter, Ava.

Rob Manning was at opening arguments and has this report.

The case against the Worthingtons could prove to be the first test of a 1999 Oregon law opening parents to prosecution, if they don’t provide medical attention – and their child dies. But religious freedom was in the background, as the trial began.

Ava Worthington’s course toward death was front-and-center.

Chief Clackamas County prosecutor, Greg Horner, wants jurors to believe that the toddler’s death was at the end of a long downward spiral – that the parents could’ve reversed at a number of points.

Horner told jurors of one example – a growth on Ava’s neck, which was apparent nearly a year before she died. Then it got bigger, when Ava was 13 months old.

Greg Horner: “The parents did nothing about it. They didn’t do any checking, they didn’t take the child in, they didn’t make any effort to figure what the heck was the problem, but they were aware of it.”

Prosecutor Horner says the growth got even larger as a blood infection, called “sepsis” spread. At the same time, Ava battled pneumonia and struggled to breathe.

Horner says the Worthingtons can’t claim they didn’t know something was wrong  – because they called repeatedly for their fellow Followers of Christ, to come to their house and pray.

On the issue of prayer, Horner told jurors that Brent Worthington told officers that he used only prayer to heal his daughter.

Greg Horner: “There’s nothing criminal about asking for prayer. There’s nothing about this prosecution that has anything to do with asking for prayer. But what is inherent in that answer is the failure to do anything about providing adequate medical care, Saturday night, Sunday morning.”

Ava Worthington died on Sunday, March 2nd, 2008.

The defense tells a very different story about Ava’s last few days. Defense attorney Mark Cogan says Ava played with her four year-old sister and other relatives just a few days before she died.

Mark Cogan: “We don’t agree with the timeline that he showed you. We will show you evidence that as of Friday, February 29th, Ava Worthington – their child, was fine. So this is not a situation where the child had a long-lingering illness.”

Defense attorney, Cogan, says the people who prayed and “laid hands” on Ava in her last days didn’t even think she had a fever. Cogan told jurors that Ava fell victim to a fast-acting infection, which doctors might not have caught in time.

Mark Cogan: “You will find, and the evidence will show that she was killed by a very fast-acting condition called ‘sepsis,’ which, unfortunately is such a deadly and fast-acting condition that treatment is often ineffective.”

The prosecution argued that the lump on Ava’s neck, and what happened during Ava’s last days weren’t the only evidence of neglect turning to manslaughter. Greg Horner says Ava weighed only 16 pounds – 15 months after being born at ten pounds.

Cogan responded with a photo of a normal-looking baby Ava, in her father’s arms.

Mark Cogan: “Do you see a malnourished, starving child in that photograph? Do you see a child that is not being adequate nutrition? Do you see a child that is wasting away?”

Jurors will see more pictures. The defense tried unsuccessfully to block post-mortem photos of Ava Worthington.

Prosecutor Greg Horner said he was sorry that jurors would have to see them. The Worthington’s fate may rest on whose story and photos jurors believe.

The trial continues Tuesday.