The trial is now underway in Philadelphia with Danieal Kelly's mother accused of starving to death the 14-year-old with cerebral palsy. I posted an entry about this case July 31.It was the unhappiest of family reunions.
At the defense table yesterday was Andrea Kelly, 39, mother of 10, charged with murder in the Aug. 4, 2006, starvation death of her disabled 14-year-old daughter, Danieal (pictured in an undated photo).
About 20 feet away on the witness stand, in succession and funereal gloom, sat Andrea Kelly's mother and two of her teenage sons, testifying for the prosecution about the agonizing final weeks of Danieal Kelly's life.
"She was starting to get smaller," said 17-year-old Daniel Kelly, who, like his sister Danieal, was born of the marriage between Andrea and Daniel Kelly Sr. "Her body was, well, she didn't have as much meat on her body as she used to."
During his mother's preliminary hearing yesterday in Philadelphia Municipal Court, Daniel Kelly also testified about a visit from an older sibling earlier in the summer of Danieal Kelly's death. That brother, Troy Kelly, was not living in the two-bedroom West Philadelphia apartment that was home to Andrea Kelly and eight of her children.
Daniel Kelly said that Troy saw Danieal and that he then overheard Troy talking to their mother."He came back and gave me money and said, 'Make sure she [Danieal] eats,' " Daniel Kelly testified.
Earlier, Philadelphia Assistant Medical Examiner Edwin Lieberman testified that Danieal Kelly's desiccated, bedsore- and insect-ridden body weighed just 42 pounds when it was found.
The bedsores on her back and buttocks were so deep that the pelvic bone could be seen in autopsy photographs and would have taken weeks or months to develop, Lieberman said.
Andrea Kelly sat with her hand shielding her face, gasping and sobbing as the graphic photos filled a screen in the courtroom.
Neither Daniel nor 15-year-old Tony Kelly appeared to look at their mother. For her part, Andrea Kelly seemed torn between covering her face and sneaking a peek at her sons.
The preliminary hearing for Kelly and Julius Juma Murray, 51, a private child-welfare caseworker assigned to ensure that Danieal Kelly and her family received needed services, resumes this morning before Judge Patrick F. Dugan at the Criminal Justice Center in Center City.
The pair were among nine people charged earlier this year for playing a role in the chain of events that resulted in Danieal Kelly's death.
Danieal Kelly, who had cerebral palsy, could not walk. Authorities say she died in her bed of thirst and starvation.
Murray, charged with involuntary manslaughter, worked for a private social-services company under contract with the Philadelphia Department of Human Services. He was assigned to visit the Kelly home twice weekly.
Prosecutors allege that Murray's visits were so rare that Danieal Kelly's siblings did not know who he was. Neither Daniel nor Tony Kelly was able to identify Murray yesterday as one of the social workers who visited their home.
Under cross-examination, Kelly's attorney, Richard Quinton Hark, and Murray's attorney, William Spade, attacked the credibility of the Kelly brothers' recollection of their sister's death.
Under questioning by Hark, Daniel Kelly admitted that he was a truant and marijuana seller and was usually out of the house all day during the last weeks of his sister's life.
Kelly told Hark that he made $300 a day selling marijuana but conceded that he did not help his mother with food bills and could not remember how much she spent on food for her family.
"Objection," interjected Assistant District Attorney Edward McCann. "It doesn't matter if she spent $5,000 a week on food if she didn't give any to Danieal." The judge agreed and sustained the objection.
In questioning Andrea Kelly's mother, Naomi Washington, Hark portrayed his client as a woman woefully unprepared to be the mother of one child, let alone nine, with another on the way when Danieal Kelly died.
Washington agreed that Andrea Kelly, seventh of her eight children, had learning disabilities, left school in the 10th grade, and had her first child at 18. She said her daughter seemed overwhelmed trying to care for nine children, including a 14-year-old daughter who could not care for herself.
But Washington balked when Hark asked whether she believed Andrea Kelly did not have enough training to care for a child with cerebral palsy and special needs.
"She, I . . ." Washington sputtered. "You know how to bathe, feed and take care of them. It's not something anybody has to tell you."
