Faith-healing couple plead no contest in 2nd son's death

HERBERT AND Catherine Schaible, the Rhawnhurst couple who prayed over their pneumonia-stricken baby in April instead of taking him to a doctor like a court order required them to do, pleaded no contest yesterday to murder and related charges.

The couple, lifelong members of the faith-healing First Century Gospel Church in Juniata Park, will be sentenced Feb. 19 on counts of third-degree murder, conspiracy and endangering the welfare of a child.

Their 7-month-old son, Brandon Schaible, died at the family's home April 18 of bacterial pneumonia. He suffered for several days while his parents prayed for him.

At the time, the Schaibles were on probation for the 2009 death of another son, Kent, 2, who also died at home of the same ailment after the couple chose prayer over medical care.

The couple was convicted in December 2010 of involuntary manslaughter in Kent's death, sentenced to 10 years of probation and ordered to get medical care for their surviving children.

Their failure to do that for Brandon should result in lengthy prison sentences, said Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore, who prosecuted the couple for Kent's death.

A third-degree murder conviction carries a maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years in state prison. Common Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner will determine the couples' sentences.

During yesterday's hearing, Lerner allowed Catherine, 44, to remain on house arrest but kept Herbert, 45, jailed without bail. The couple's seven living children are in foster care or with relatives.

Catherine and the pastor of their church, the Rev. Nelson Ambrose Clark, 72, declined to respond to reporters' questions after leaving the Center City courthouse.

"The law is what the law is," Pescatore said after the hearing. "You're a parent, you're responsible to take care of your children if they're sick . . . whatever your religious beliefs are. This case is not about religious beliefs. It's about parents doing what they're supposed to do for their children."

Brandon, she said, suffered an agonizing death due to his parents' actions. "I can't even imagine, being a mother myself, what was happening," she said. "The sheer pain and stress that child was in."

The couple told police in both children's deaths that they chose prayer over medical care because that was what they believed God wanted them to do.

Mythri Jayaraman, Catherine's attorney, said, "what will come out at sentencing is the rest of who she is, who she is as a mother, what her intentions were . . . The rest of the puzzle."

Bobby Hoof, Herbert's attorney, said his client pleaded no contest to avoid a trial and to gain resolution in his son's death.

"He's remorseful for what happened," Hoof said.