TOWANDA — A couple accused in the death of their child were sentenced Monday in Bradford County

July 2, 2016 /  Charlie  /  3 Comments  /  News, Newspaper Article, North East USA, Recent news

Source: ABC The news station

June 27, 2016, by Kristina Papa

Ebed Delozier was sentenced to 4 to 23 months in prison. His wife Christine Delozier received 16 months on probation.  Both pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter back in April.

The couple’s sentencing was painful for family and friends who watched as a grieving mother pleaded for forgiveness.

Christine Delozier walked into her sentencing in Towanda alone. Back in April, she and her husband Ebed Delozier, both from Wyalusing, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter after their 18-month-old daughter Hope died last year from meningitis.

According to police, the couple noticed their daughter was sick about three weeks before taking her to the doctor.

The autopsy report shows the meningitis started with an ear infection and had it been treated with a simple antibiotic, Hope would have lived.

The couple says they did not bring Hope to the doctor because they couldn’t pay for it, but also because of their personal beliefs.

“They gave their child all kinds of natural means to cure what they believed was an earache,” said their attorney Christina Fleury.

Fleury spoke at length about how Ebed’s upbringing in a church called the 12 Tribes of Israel led him to think modern medicine wasn’t necessary and at times untrustworthy.

“Ebed had been raised without any medical intervention through the cult community, so that’s what he knew. They thought they were doing everything they could. They thought it was working,”

At the sentencing, testimony was positive, calling the couple tentative and their three children at home well taken care of.

“The take away for them has been in this last year, that they learned that really, they have to be taking their kids to the doctors even for the smallest sniffle at this point because they don’t want to take those risks,” said Fleury.

The couple has three other children, including one that was born after baby Hope died.