Re: Faith Healing Gone Wrong Claims Boy's Life

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 8/29/2003 8:20:22 AM Eastern Standard Time,

4makelas@... writes:

> Two hours? I think they should ALL be charged, especially the boy's mother.

> This is a clear case of child abuse leading to death. I read another article

> on this story that said he was suffocated because the sheets that were wound

> around him were so tight that he couldn't expand his chest to breathe.

> Although in some cultures this was the way to cure him I bet the mom thought

she was helping him and getting him " the cure " . Too bad she was not better

educated and given the support by the state she lives in to cope with his

disability.

[Guest guest]

Two hours? I think they should ALL be charged, especially the boy's mother.

This is a clear case of child abuse leading to death. I read another article

on this story that said he was suffocated because the sheets that were wound

around him were so tight that he couldn't expand his chest to breathe.

/ 4makelas@...

Way, Way Up in Northern Ontario

----- Original Message ----- > August 29, 2003

> Faith Healing Gone Wrong Claims Boy's Life

> By MONICA DAVEY

>

>

> ILWAUKEE, Aug. 28 — Terrance Cottrell Jr., an autistic 8-year-old, died on

> the floor of a hot, dingy storefront church in a forgotten strip mall.

> His shirt was drenched in sweat when the congregants who were holding him

> down, saying they wanted to rid him of demons, finally noticed that he was

> dead. He had urinated on himself, and his small brown face had a bluish

> cast.

> Terrance, who was supposed to start third-grade special-education classes

at

> 65th Street Elementary School next Tuesday morning, will instead be buried

> here on Friday, exactly a week after he died of asphyxiation, a victim of

> the prayer service intended to save him. The medical examiner has ruled

the

> death a homicide.

> As relatives and neighbors on the city's North Side mourned for Terrance

> this week with small tributes — three stuffed animals and a few

> room-deodorizer candles on the window ledge of his apartment, a photocopy

of

> his picture taped to the church door — some also denounced prosecutors'

> plans for the case as far too lenient.

> Ray A. Hemphill, a 45-year-old preacher who led the spiritual healing

> service for Terrance last Friday night, has been charged with felony child

> abuse, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and five

> years of court supervision. No one else involved in the service has been

> charged.

> According to the criminal complaint against Mr. Hemphill, he told

> investigators that he had been leading sessions to help Terrance for three

> weeks before the boy's death. During those sessions, Mr. Hemphill said, he

> and others would pray, sing and force Terrance to lie on the floor,

holding

> down his feet, arms, head and chest when he struggled to get up, kicking

and

> scratching.

> The point, Mr. Hemphill said, was to deliver the boy from demons that were

> believed to possess him, as revealed by his erratic behavior: the way he

> jumped from his chair and made loud noises.

> Mr. Hemphill was freed from jail on Wednesday until his next court

hearing,

> on Sept. 8, on the condition that he promise to conduct no further

spiritual

> healing sessions or exorcisms. He could not be reached for comment today,

> but investigators quoted him as saying he had received no formal training

as

> a minister, aside from a calling from the Lord, and had been ordained by

his

> brother.

> The brother, E. Hemphill, pastor of the tiny, independent Faith

Temple

> Church of the Apostolic Faith, where Terrance died, said the Hemphill

family

> would have nothing more to say about what had happened.

> But Luckett, Terrance's grandmother, said that the spiritual healing

> sessions should never have occurred and that Mr. Hemphill ought to face

more

> serious charges.

> " How can a child be dead and these people get charged with child abuse? "

Ms.

> Luckett said. " I can't even understand what these people are thinking. I

> don't care if it was a church. I don't care what they were trying to do. "

> Prosecutors defended their decision to pursue nothing more than abuse

> charges against Mr. Hemphill, saying that under Wisconsin law, they could

> not win a conviction for second-degree reckless homicide, or some even

more

> serious homicide charge, without proving that he had been aware that his

> actions could create a substantial risk. That would have been difficult to

> show, if not impossible, said Mark , an assistant district

attorney.

> " That is a subjective test, " Mr. said. " What matters from a legal

> sense is what was in his mind when he was doing what he was doing. And in

> his mind, he was trying to help this child. "

> That religious practices were involved complicates the legal situation,

Mr.

> acknowledged. " This wasn't a normal situation, " he said.

> Critics, including some legal scholars, said the case reflected a general

> discomfort among prosecutors with trying to draw lines where religion is

> involved.

> " If the child had died in a home, there'd be a whole array of charges,

maybe

> including child abuse but also homicide, or manslaughter, " said Marci A.

> Hamilton, a professor at the Cardozo School of Law in New York. " When a

> religious entity enters the picture, prosecutors get very nervous. "

> Professor Hamilton described a child abuse charge in such a case as

> " extraordinarily weak " and said the decision sent a devastating signal.

> " It sends a message that if you are doing anything — whether it's holding

> down a child or refusing to give them medical treatment, or whatever it

is —

> if it's religious, then they're not accountable to the laws, " she said.

" And

> that's not right. "

> Terrance, whose autism was diagnosed when he was 2 years old, was not an

> easy child, acknowledged Ms. Luckett, his grandmother. He rarely talked,

and

> when he did, it was only a word or two. Neighborhood children said he

> snatched their ice-cream bars from them. His younger sister, a toddler,

was

> the only one he seemed to obey, Ms. Luckett said.

> He was being reared by his mother, Pat , who is single and in her

late

> 20's. She had a relationship with Ms. Luckett's son, the boy's father,

which

> ended long ago, Ms. Luckett said. Repeated visits to Ms. 's home

this

> week found her gone, and she has no listed telephone number.

> Ms. , who met Mr. Hemphill and joined the church a few months ago,

was

> part of the evening prayer sessions for her son, including the fatal one

> last Friday, the police said.

> That night, Ms. held down one of Terrance's feet, investigators

> quoted her as saying, while two other women held down other parts of his

> body, and Mr. Hemphill held his head and body down. By the police account,

> Ms. told the investigators that at one point she saw Mr. Hemphill's

> knee pressed into the boy's chest. And Mr. Hemphill, who weighs nearly 150

> pounds, acknowledged lying on top of the boy, chest to chest, the police

> said.

> The medical examiner later found extensive bruising on the back of

> Terrance's neck, and said he had died of mechanical asphyxiation from

> pressure placed on his chest. Mr. Hemphill is quoted as saying that about

> two hours into the praying and the struggling, he got up, but Terrance was

> still.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 8/29/03 12:09:35 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

annomalous2000@... writes:

> she might be spending

> $40-$50K a year on some intensive therapy to try to do the same thing.

> People prey on parents' desperation to have " normal " kids, but it is

> the kids who pay for it. Sometimes with their lives.

>

Actually, some parents get ABA therapy and it's not about having a " normal "

kid. I think there is a huge difference between what happened to this poor

boy and parents obtaining ABA/IBI therapy.

Roxanna

ò¿ò

It makes sense to go up the molehill

dressed for the mountain

Nan, the Wiser

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 8/29/03 1:18:47 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

dayton@... writes:

> Don't these people watch their kids????

> My kids have never gotten in the car because I don't leave the keys

> where they can get them.

> It is just another case of someone doing something on purpose and

> getting away with it.

> Dawn

>

Do you really think they did it on purpose? If so, wouldn't that be a great

way to get away with it? Too bad you aren't on the jury!

As for kids and cars, I know how they get in there. My oldest once got the

keys and put the car in gear and floated a small way down into the road to

block traffic. This was at my parents home. Reece was always wandering off and

would get into other people's cars too. He's a 24/7 kind of kid and still,

he'd get loose sometimes. He's much better at that now but I still have to keep

tabs on him - more so than other kids his age.

Roxanna

ò¿ò

It makes sense to go up the molehill

dressed for the mountain

Nan, the Wiser

[Guest guest]

wrote:

> I bet the mom thought

> she was helping him and

> getting him " the cure " .

> Too bad she was not better

> educated and given the support

> by the state she lives in to

> cope with his

> disability.

Yes, I think this is an extreme example of what many parents of

autistic spectrum kids do to try to " cure " them. If she were better

educated and had more financial resources, she might be spending

$40-$50K a year on some intensive therapy to try to do the same thing.

People prey on parents' desperation to have " normal " kids, but it is

the kids who pay for it. Sometimes with their lives.

[Guest guest]

My own opinion is - she met this " minister " and they wanted to

date and do their own thing without being bothered by the

autistic boy and his behavior. They probably planned the whole

thing out and now they are going to get away with it - because

they were smart enough to do it in the church instead of at home.

Just like all the people who are leaving their children in hot cars to

die - once the first couple that did it got away with it because " it was

an accident " (an accident my a$$) HOW MANY TIMES HAVE ANY

OF YOU LEFT YOUR CHILDREN IN A CAR FOR A FEW HOURS

BECAUSE YOU FORGOT ABOUT THEM??!!?!??!) what a load

of crap.

So after the first stupid couple got away free and clear - then other

people started doing it. One story was about a little boy who got the

car keys and opened the trunk of the car - put his puppy in there and

then he climbed in - and shut the trunk with the keys in there.

They found him dead the next day.

Don't these people watch their kids????

My kids have never gotten in the car because I don't leave the keys

where they can get them.

It is just another case of someone doing something on purpose and

getting away with it.

Dawn

> I bet the mom thought

> she was helping him and

> getting him " the cure " .

> Too bad she was not better

> educated and given the support

> by the state she lives in to

> cope with his

> disability.

Yes, I think this is an extreme example of what many parents of

autistic spectrum kids do to try to " cure " them. If she were better

educated and had more financial resources, she might be spending

$40-$50K a year on some intensive therapy to try to do the same thing.

People prey on parents' desperation to have " normal " kids, but it is

the kids who pay for it. Sometimes with their lives.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 8/29/03 4:43:45 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

annomalous2000@... writes:

> >I think there is a huge difference

> >between what happened to this poor

> >boy and parents obtaining ABA/IBI

> >therapy.

>

> Yes, I agree that *legitimate* ABA, IBI, CBT, OT, ST, SIT, etc. is not

> the same as storefront exorcism.

>

Have more faith in parents. I think most of us have common sense to tell the

difference.

Roxanna ôô

What doesn't kill us

Makes us really mean.

[Guest guest]

Yeah, but ABA isn't killing kids- it helps some, and it's a good option if

it's right for your child.

This is just not getting to people the way it should. This man MURDERED

this child, with his mother standing by HELPING him, and because they did it

in the name of " RELIGION " they are going to get AWAY with it!

[Guest guest]

Roxanna wrote:

> I think there is a huge difference

> between what happened to this poor

> boy and parents obtaining ABA/IBI

> therapy.

Yes, I agree that *legitimate* ABA, IBI, CBT, OT, ST, SIT, etc. is not

the same as storefront exorcism.

[Guest guest]

Tammy wrote:

> This is just not getting to

> people the way it should.

> This man MURDERED this child,

> with his mother standing by

> HELPING him, and because they did it

> in the name of " RELIGION " they are

> going to get AWAY with it!

It gets to me. I think they should be prosecuted for more than child

abuse.

[Guest guest]

It gets to me. I think they should be prosecuted for more than child

abuse.

>

I know it gets to most of us here... it's the courts that are making me so

angry... I hope no one here thought I meant WE don't get it. I KNOW better.

Thanks Anne.

Love

Tammy