Parents Placed on Probation in Son’s Death

A judge Friday placed a Christian Science couple on 10 years’ probation for denying medical care to their dying son and ordered periodic medical examinations for their other children.

The couple, convicted of manslaughter in their son’s death, said they would comply with the order.

“We always tried to obey the law . . . and we’ll try to obey the judge’s instructions,” David Twitchell said after he and his wife, Ginger, were sentenced by Suffolk Superior Court Judge Sandra Hamlin.

The Twitchells, lifelong Christian Scientists, were convicted by a jury Wednesday of recklessly and wantonly causing the death of their 2 1/2-year-old son Robyn by relying solely on prayer to heal the boy. Robyn died on April 8, 1986, and an autopsy showed he had suffered from a congenital defect that caused a bowel obstruction.

On Friday, Hamlin placed the Twitchells, who had faced up to 20 years in prison, on probation and said that they must take their three children for periodic health checkups under guidelines for children set by the American Medical Assn.

She said a doctor should be called at “any signs of serious illness” in the children--Elias, 9 months old, Brian, 2 years old, and Jeremy, 8.

Hamlin asked for monthly reports and said she would call for an immediate hearing if conditions are violated.

Hamlin denied a defense motion to stay the sentence pending the outcome of an appeal, which was filed Thursday.

Defense lawyer Steve Lyons said Friday that the defense would appeal that denial next week.

In a brief statement after the sentencing, Twitchell said that, although he would obey the judge’s order, he would “always pray first” for his children’s health.

Special prosecutor John Kiernan had asked for a “very lengthy” period of probation for the Twitchells, who now live in Brentwood, N.Y., periodic medical checkups of their children and that the couple perform community service “designed to benefit young children.”