Parents murder child and then sue Department of Public Welfare

**Boston Whaler** · 08-12-2008 02:06 PM

This is outrageous beyond comprehension To put it in a nut shell......the family was not properly supervised by Child welfare (which they weren't) so the parents of the murdered child are suing the city of Philadelphia for not properly supervising them as parents.

FYI - The murdered child is one of 10 children and the dad has not seen the child in almost 5 years.

You can't make this shit up!

Danieal Kelly's parents, charged in her death, are suing for damages
By JULIE SHAW
Philadelphia Daily News

shawj@phillynews.com 215-854-2592

WHAT A MESS!
The parents of 14-year-old Danieal Kelly face criminal charges in connection with her death, but have now also filed a lawsuit against their criminal co-defendants, blaming them for the girl's demise.

Danieal, as a recent Philadelphia District Attorney's Office's grand-jury report so gut-wrenchingly detailed, died two years ago of starvation while lying in her own feces, with flies buzzing around her mouth and maggot-infested bedsores ravaging her skeletal back.

Her mother, Andrea Kelly, 39, faces the most serious charges: murder and related offenses. It was in her Parkside house that Danieal's emaciated body was found. Danieal, who suffered from cerebral palsy, was reportedly kept in a dark room because her mother was embarrassed to take her outside.

The father, Daniel Kelly, 37, was charged with endangering Danieal's welfare and other offenses. He was not living with Danieal at the time of her death.

Both parents remain in custody and were not brought into court yesterday for a status listing of their criminal case.

The civil suit on behalf of the estate of Danieal Kelly was filed in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Aug. 1. The administrators of Danieal's estate are her parents. The suit, which seeks more than $50,000, has since been moved to federal court.

When informed of the lawsuit yesterday afternoon, Ed McCann, chief of the D.A.'s homicide unit, said: "I think it's an obscenity. I cannot imagine that people in that situation who did what they did to their own daughter are attempting to profit from it."

Chief Deputy Attorney General Barry N. Kramer, who represents the state and the Department of Public Welfare - two defendants named in the civil suit - yesterday filed a motion in federal court to dismiss the state and DPW from the case.

He would not comment on the case. But in the motion, he noted the apparent irony of the civil suit. "Despite their [the parents'] egregious denial of her [Danieal's] existence in life, they now seek to profit by her tragic death that they caused," the motion says.

Civil attorneys Brian Mildenberg and Eric Zajac, who filed the civil suit, contended yesterday that it would be wrong to paint Daniel and Andrea Kelly as money-grubbers.

"The parents are not seeking any money from this," Mildenberg said. "The potential beneficiaries are the brothers and sisters and the parents, but the parents may be disqualified by a conviction or a civil finding of abandonment."

If a jury decides that the estate should get money, Orphans Court would decide who the beneficiaries would be, the attorneys said. They said that Daniel and Andrea Kelly had to be named as administrators of the estate because they are Danieal's parents. They also said that the parents were aware before they were criminally charged that they may not benefit from a civil suit, and they contend that the parents' main concern in the suit is the welfare of Danieal's siblings.

"The beneficiaries could be these kids [Danieal's siblings], and that could be a positive outcome," Mildenberg said.

The attorneys confirmed that they filed the complaint on Aug. 1 because of an approaching two-year federal statute-of-limitations deadline. Danieal died on Aug. 4, 2006, so the suit, which contains federal civil-rights claims, had to be filed within two years of that date.

The wrongful-death suit seeks more than $50,000 and names as defendants the city, DHS, MultiEthnic Behavioral Health, DPW, and the Commonwealth.

It also names as defendants now-fired DHS caseworkers Dana Poindexter and Laura Sommerer, and two people who worked at MultiEthnic - one of its founders, Mickal Kamuvaka, and Julius Murray. MultiEthnic was an outside agency that DHS assigned to handle Danieal's case.

These four have also been criminally charged in connection with Danieal's death.

The suit contends that Sommerer and Poindexter, as DHS employees, and Kamuvaka and Murray, as MultiEthnic employees, handled Danieal's case "in a dangerous and reckless manner" resulting in her death.

The wrongful-death suit seeks, among other things, "reimbursement for medical bills, funeral and interment expenses, and administrative expenses."

Daniel Kelly had filed a civil lawsuit in federal court last year, but dismissed it Oct. 29, the same day his attorney notified Common Pleas Court of his intention to file a civil suit there.

Separately, attorney Zajac also filed a lawsuit Aug. 5 in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court on behalf of Troy Washington, now 19, the oldest of Danieal's siblings. The suit names the same entities and individuals as defendants.

It contends that Washington "has suffered substantial mental pain" from his sister's death.

Zajac said yesterday that Washington, who was 17 when his sister died, tried to kill himself afterward and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

"He viewed her dead body before she was removed by the Medical Examiner's Office," he said.

Washington couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.

Meanwhile, in Municipal Court yesterday, five of the defendants, who are out on bail, were in court for a status hearing before Judge Marsha Neifield.

In court were Poindexter, Sommerer, Kamuvaka and two friends of Andrea Kelly who allegedly lied to the grand jury - Marie Moses and Diamond Brantley.

After the judge got on the bench, Poindexter was the only defendant who spoke in court. When his name was called, he told the judge he was "still seeking counsel."

Poindexter had allegedly failed to investigate at least five abuse or neglect complaints regarding Danieal and had kept a file on her family at the bottom of a box filled with food wrappers and unopened mail.

McCann, chief of the D.A.'s homicide unit, asked the judge to modify bail for Kamuvaka, citing concerns that she might flee the country.

Kamuvaka, a natove of Namibia, had posted 10 percent of her $200,000 bail and handed in her passport as part of her release from custody.

But McCann said that her passport was expired and that the United States does not have an extradition treaty with Namibia. He asked that she be placed under house arrest with electronic monitoring, a request the judge denied.

McCann said after the proceeding that he intends to file a motion to bypass a preliminary hearing, which can be done in cases that have been heard by a grand jury.

If Common Pleas Judge Lillian Ransom grants the motion, there will not be a preliminary hearing and the case will proceed to trial.

Meanwhile, Murray, one of the MultiEthnic founders, was not in court yesterday because he apparently is in federal immigration custody. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman could not confirm that yesterday.

His attorney, Will Spade, said after yesterday's proceeding that his client, a native of Sierra Leone who has been in the United States for more than 20 years, has a green card but was detained by immigration officials last week because of his arrest.

Murray is charged with tampering, endangering the welfare of a child and related offenses. Spade said that his client "intends to fight the charges."

A ninth defendant, Andrea Miles, 18, is charged with perjury in the case. Her case is being handled in juvenile court. *

Staff writer Wendy Ruderman contributed to this report.