Judge Steven Maurer sentenced Jeffrey and Marci Beagley to 16 months in prison this afternoon, calling the couple’s decision to not seek medical care for their 16-year-old son, Neil Beagley, a “crime that was a product of an unwillingness to respect the boundaries of freedom of religious expression.”

The Beagleys and Worthingtons are members of the Followers of Christ Church. Members of the Oregon City church have a lengthy history of child deaths from lack of medical care that influenced a 1999 law eliminating the religious freedom defense in cases involving the welfare of a child.

The judge in the faith-healing trial of Carl and Raylene Worthington sent jurors home this afternoon after they sent a note saying they were deadlocked on all charges.

The Worthingtons are charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminal mistreatment for failing to provide adequate medical care for their daughter in favor of faith healing practices.

The parents of Ava Worthington are members of the Followers of Christ, an independent church that shuns conventional medicine for spiritual healing practices such as the laying on of hands and anointing the sick with olive oil.

They are accused of manslaughter and criminal mistreatment in the death of their 15-month-old baby girl.

A Clackamas County, Ore., couple accused of letting their infant daughter die by relying on prayer, rather than medicine, today asked that the charges be dropped, arguing that they infringe on their freedom of religion and their right to raise their children in their own way.

“Mr. and Mrs. Worthington maintain that their prosecution contravenes their right ‘to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences,’ as guaranteed by the Constitution of the State of Oregon and the Constitution of the United States,” the motion said.

The prosecution of an Oregon couple who allegedly tried to heal their dying son with prayer has focused attention on laws that, in some cases, allow parents to treat their children with faith.

Jeffrey Dean Beagley, 50, and Marci Rae Beagley, 46, pleaded not guilty on Friday to criminally negligent homicide charges in the death of their son, 16-year-old Neil Jeffrey Beagley.