Lansing faith-healing couple sentenced for death of baby who died of treatable condition
Lansing State Journal/June 11, 2025
By Ken Palmer
Lansing — Joshua and Rachel Piland were sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison for allowing their newborn baby girl to die by refusing to get her medical care because it conflicted with their faith-healing religious beliefs.
The June 11 sentences from Ingham County Circuit Judge James Jamo ended an eight-year criminal legal battle stemming from the death of Abigail Piland, who lived for just 61 hours after being born at the Pilands' Lansing home from a treatable condition that caused a lethal buildup of bilirubin, a condition known as jaundice.
The Pilands testified they trusted only in God for healing and would not have taken Abigail to a doctor for any reason.
Prosecutors contended the couple caused the baby's death by shunning medical care, despite warnings the baby could die. In late March, a jury convicted the Pilands of second-degree murder and first-degree child abuse, both maximum life felonies, after a lengthy trial.
The jury was allowed to consider lesser charges of involuntary manslaughter and third-degree child abuse, as well as not-guilty verdicts, but convicted the Pilands on the most serious charges.
In separate hearings, Jamo sentenced the couple to 240 months to 540 months, or 20 to 45 years, in prison for second-degree murder, and 225 months to 540 months in prison for first-degree child abuse.
Parents prayed over the body instead of calling 911
Abigail was born late on Feb. 6, 2017, with the assistance of a midwife. She died on the morning of Feb. 9, 2017 as a result of hemolytic disease of the newborn, which in turn resulted from an Rh incompatibility between her and her mother.
The parents and a group of friends prayed over Abigail's lifeless body, and no one at the home called 911 to report the death. Police were alerted by a relative who lives in California and responded to the house about nine hours after Abigail died.
The jury deliberated about four hours over two days before returning its verdicts after listening to days of testimony by police, medical doctors and other witnesses.
“This was a very difficult and long case," Deputy Chief Assistant Ingham County Prosecutor Bill Crino said after the jury returned its verdicts in Late March. "Throughout, we have tried to use Abigail Piland’s life as a lighthouse to guide us through the many complex legal and factual issues that were presented.
Abigail died from a condition so rare that it's basically been eradicated, according to testimony. The blood incompatibility problem is easily treated with a prenatal injection, and doctors testified that Abigail still could have been saved after she was born if she had received treatment.
About 20 hours after Abigail was born, a midwife and her assistant noticed she was jaundiced and advised she be taken to a hospital immediately, but the couple declined. Rachel's mother, who had traveled from Grand Rapids to help when the baby was born, also implored her daughter to seek medical care for Abigail, but the couple declined.
"We believed (praying) was the best thing we could possibly do for her," Rachel Piland testfied in the trial. "Even if she had died from some kind of struggle, we wouldn’t have called 911."
Attorneys argue the couple did the best they could
Attorneys for the Pilands argued they cared for their daughter as best they could. They said Crino failed to prove the parents acted with the intent necessary for them to be guilty of murder or involuntary manslaughter.
They also said Joshua and Rachel tried to treat Abigail's jaundice by placing her in a sunlit window and did what they could to help her on their own. And both of them thought Abigail was getting better just before she died, they said.
Prosecutors also introduced evidence about two of the couple's children born after Abigail. Both were born at home from hemolytic disease of the newborn after their mother had received no prenatal care but were seized by Child Protective Services shortly after birth and received life-saving care at a hospital.
The Pilands had sought to keep out evidence about medical care and their other children, or what is known in legal circles as "other acts" evidence. But the Court of Appeals sided with prosecutors and cleared the way for them to present evidence about children who were born after Abigail's 2017 death.
The Michigan Supreme Court declined Rachel Piland's request for it to intervene in that appeal.
[Note: Joshua and Rachel Piland are members of Faith Tech Ministries, a nondenominational Pentecostal-style church that emphasizes divine (faith) healing and rejects modern medical intervention.]
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