Lynch Mob Named in Death of Girl with Cerebral Palsy

Similar to the lynching of a Negro for the crime of having black skin, fourteen year old Danieal Kelly was punished by death for having cerebral palsy. To her own mother, she was an embarrassment and, hence, was horrifically neglected. Danieal's last words uttered were cries for water. Others paid to protect children at risk, like Danieal, stood by and did nothing, even though they knew this unspeakable cruelty was occurring.

Unlike lynch mob members who often wore white hoods to conceal their identities while committing the horrendous acts, the Grand Jury has identified those most responsible in Danieal's death:

Marie Moses, Andrea Miles, and Diamond Brantley, friend's of Danieal's mother, passively watched while Andrea starved her daughter and refused her medical care. Although not legally culpable in Danieal's death, they did not make any effort to protect the girl and they perjured themselves before the Grand Jury to protect her mother.

Laura Sommerer, Department of Health Services (DHS) assigned to the case after it slipped by Dana Poindexter, only had to monitor the outside contractor hired to provide day-to-day service to the family. With only eighteen families in her caseload, she failed to read the case file and even when she visited the Kelly apartment (her last trip five weeks prior to Danieal's death), she failed to check in on the child. The Grand Jury has recommended charges of endangering the welfare of children and recklessly endangering another person

Dana Poindexter, DHS intake social worker, who had been previously reprimanded and suspended when a three-week-old baby died after he failed to check the safety of the baby's family, grossly underperformed in protecting Danieal's welfare. He failed to investigate the four separate reports of neglect that came into DHS's hotline, and even when another social worker responded to another report and informed him that Danieal was "at high risk of neglect or abuse, indicating the highest possible urgency and need for services", he did not act. In fact, Danieal's file was found in the bottom of a large cardboard box, with food wrappers tossed in on top. Then, he had the nerve to lie to the Grand Jury, which has recommended charges of endangering the welfare of children, recklessly endangering another person, and perjury.

Mickal Kamuvaka, Director of the outside agency MultiEthnic Behavioral Health, was the direct supervisor of the Kelly case, responsible for assigning a caseworker, monitoring his delivery of service, and billing DHS for it. Yet, for services the first few months, she didn't assign a social worker at all, but rather an unpaid, untrained student interim, even though she billed DHS for the highest level of services. She then assigned Julius Murray, knowing his propensity for not doing his job and for falsifying records. The Grand Jury has recommended charges of involuntary manslaughter, endangering the welfare of children, recklessly endangering another person, and perjury.

Julius Murray, MultiEthnic employee, was assigned, for the five month's prior to Danieal's death, to visit the Kelly children twice a week to ensure they were well fed, in school and healthy. His only accomplishment was to have the mother sign blank, post-dated forms to falsify home visits. The Grand Jury has recommended charges of involuntary manslaughter, endangering the welfare of children, and recklessly endangering another person.

For attempting to covering up their culpability in Danieal's death, the Grand Jury has also recommended charges of forgery, tampering with records, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, tampering with public records, criminal conspiracy for Murray and Kamuvaka.

Daniel Kelly, Danieal's father, had a parental duty to protect her. But, after having undisputed custody of his daughter for ten years, during which time Danieal thrived because she went to school and received medical care (thanks to her stepmother), he handed Danieal back to her mother, knowing the risk his daughter was in and ignoring his legal obligation to protect her. The Grand Jury has recommended the charge of endangering the welfare of children.

Andrea Kelly, Danieal's mother, had complete disregard for her daughter's well-being, taking "calculated steps to prevent her daughter from receiving help that otherwise would have been forthcoming and would have saved her life." She did not use the services available and provided to her, Danieal and her other eight children. She even "repeatedly prevented her son Daniel from summoning an ambulance for his obviously dying sister." Pediatrician Dr. Steven Bachrach testified "that he had never seen a child neglected to the extent that Danieal was." The Grand Jury has recommended charges of murder, involuntary manslaughter, and endangering the welfare of children.

With the hoods removed and the lynch mob members' identities revealed, will justice now prevail and do right by Danieal?

Let freedom ring, let the white dove sing
Let the whole world know that today is a day of reckoning
Let the weak be strong, let the right be wrong
Roll that stone away, let the guilty pay
~ Martina McBride, "Independence Day"