Mom acquitted, father guilty on one charge in faith-healing case

Jury finds Carl Brent Worthingon is guilty of criminal mistreatment

By Matthew Graham

The Oregon City News, Jul 23, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (23 Reader comments)

pool photo by Ross Hamilton / The Oregonian

Carl Worthington was found guilty of one charge of criminal mistreatment. He was cleared on a charge of manslaughter. His wife, Raylene was acquitted of both charges in the death of their daughter, Ava Worthington.

The mother of Ava Worthington was found not guilty on both serious charges in her daughter’s death Thursday afternoon, while Ava’s father, Carl Brent Worthington, was found guilty of second-degree criminal mistreatment, but not guilty of second-degree manslaughter.

He will be sentenced on Friday, July 31, at 1:30 p.m., and the charge carries a penalty of up to one year in prison.

Ava Worthington died on March 2, 2008, of bronchopneumonia, sepsis and a cystic hygroma, or large mass of cysts, in her neck, according to the state medical examiner. She was 15 months old.

Ava’s parents, Carl Brent, 29, and Raylene Worthington, 26, faced second-degree manslaughter and second-degree criminal mistreatment charges because they didn’t take Ava to a doctor as her condition worsened. Under a 1999 Oregon law parents are required to seek medical attention for their ailing children, even if they believe in faith healing.

There was a palpable anxiety in the courtroom Thursday as friends and family of the Worthingtons waited for Carl Brent and Raylene to arrive, and stifled crying when the verdict was read.

Dozens of Followers of Christ members walked by the defense attorneys, thanking them, hugging them, many with tears in their eyes as they left the courtroom.

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