Parents Charged With Murder : Christian Scientists Accused of Denying Medical Aid to Son

Murder charges were filed this week against two Christian Scientists in the death of their 17-month-old son, who died after the Culver City couple allegedly chose to pray for his recovery rather than seek medical aid.

Deputy Dist. Atty. David F. Wells said he filed the additional charges of murder and child neglect, a misdemeanor, against Eliot D. Glaser, 27, and Lise E. Glaser, 26, as a result of evidence presented at a preliminary hearing earlier this year.

Old Charges Remain

Besides the new counts, the Glasers remain charged with involuntary manslaughter and felony child endangering in connection with their son’s death. They were indicted on those charges last June by the Los Angeles County Grand Jury.

The accused parents were arraigned Wednesday in Santa Monica Superior Court but did not enter pleas.

The attorney for Lise Glaser, Douglas Dalton, said Wednesday that he does not believe that the testimony presented at the preliminary hearing established that the Glasers are guilty of any crime, much less murder.

Defense attorneys are expected to ask Judge Jacqueline L. Weiss to dismiss the case when the Glasers return to court on March 29.

Whatever the judge’s ruling, both Dalton and Wells said they expect it will be appealed before the Glasers’ trial begins.

The Glasers’ son, Seth, died of acute bacterial meningitis on March 28, 1984, about two hours after the couple brought the boy to the Santa Monica home of a Christian Science “practitioner,” a church-sanctioned healer who helped pray for the child’s recovery. According to testimony at the hearing, the boy had been ill for slightly more than a day.

The Christian Science Church teaches that mental attitude, not medical treatment, is the key to health and healing.

At the conclusion of the preliminary hearing on Feb. 27, Santa Monica Municipal Judge Laurence D. Rubin ordered the Glasers to stand trial on the manslaughter and child-endangering counts but dismissed the case against the practitioner.

Wells said his office has the right to file additional charges in Superior Court if they are supported by evidence presented at the hearing.

Legal Theory

In this case, Wells said, the district attorney’s office charged the Glasers with murder under the legal theory that a death that occurs during the commission of an inherently dangerous felony--in this case child endangering--is second-degree murder.

It is the same legal theory under which the district attorney’ office is prosecuting Cathy Evelyn Smith, the Canadian backup singer accused of murder in the drug overdose death of comedian John Belushi.

Because of technical legal rules, the district attorney’s office would have been powerless to add the murder charges if the Glasers had not asked for a preliminary hearing after their indictment, Wells said.