Nov 7, 2008 9:00 pm US/Eastern
Mom, Caseworker To Stand Trial In Starvation Death
PHILADELPHIA (AP) ―
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Danieal Kelly, a 14-year-old with cerebral palsy, died a harrowing death at 42 pounds after weeks of neglect.
CBS
A judge on Friday ordered a woman to stand trial for murder in the starvation death of her disabled daughter, saying the teenage victim looked like she had been in a concentration camp.
The judge also ordered a social worker to be tried for involuntary manslaughter in the death of 14-year-old Danieal Kelly, who was under the care of the city's Department of Human Services when she died in August 2006. She weighed 42 pounds.
"She died looking like she had been in Auschwitz," Common Pleas Judge Patrick Dugan said. "She appeared to have rotted away."
Andrea Kelly, 39, of Philadelphia, was charged with murder in July after a blistering grand jury report described how Danieal's body was found covered with bone-deep, maggot-infested bedsores. Danieal (pronounced "Danielle") had cerebral palsy and was unable to walk.
Kelly's lawyer, Richard Hark, had sought to have the offense downgraded to third-degree murder at Friday's preliminary hearing, saying others were equally responsible for the girl's death. But the judge ordered Kelly tried on a general murder charge, which leaves first-degree murder -- and the possibility of the death penalty -- on the table.
Hark said the judge wrongly based his decision on gruesome pictures of Danieal's corpse.
"Body weight and pictures alone do not constitute the totality of the circumstances," Hark said after the hearing.
Prosecutors had argued against a preliminary hearing for Kelly and social worker Julius Murray because the case had already gone before a grand jury. But defense attorneys asked for the proceeding because they said the evidence did not warrant such severe charges.
The judge took testimony over three days, beginning last week, and concluded there was enough evidence for the case to move forward.
Seven other people charged in Danieal's death have already been ordered to stand trial based on the grand jury's report.
Authorities said Murray, 51, of Darby, falsified documents to cover up the fact that he rarely checked on Danieal.
On Friday, defense attorney William Spade said Murray tried to help but was thwarted by Kelly and other family members. Spade said one of Danieal's brothers, who testified he'd never before seen Murray, was not home enough to know whether Murray visited.
The preliminary hearing included many of the same witnesses who testified before the grand jury.
They included a teacher from Arizona, where Danieal once lived with her father, who remembered the girl as happy and joyful; and Danieal's grandmother and brothers, who portrayed Kelly as unconcerned with the girl's deteriorating health.
(© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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