Prison for three in Danieal Kelly's death

Danieal Kelly's father was not there when she starved to death almost five years ago in her mother's squalid West Philadelphia apartment.

Neither was Dana Poindexter, the city Department of Human Services social worker who supposedly investigated reports that she was being neglected. Nor Mickal Kamuvaka, head of a DHS contractor paid to put a social worker in Danieal's house twice a week to make sure she was safe.

But a Common Pleas Court jury Friday ruled that each played a role that inevitably led to an agonizing death for a 14-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who could not care for herself.

The jury deliberated seven hours before finding the three guilty on all charges:

Daniel Kelly Sr., 40, endangering the welfare of a child.

Poindexter, 54, child endangerment, recklessly endangering another person, and perjury.

Kamuvaka, 62, involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment, reckless endangerment, perjury, criminal conspiracy, and four charges involving what prosecutors called a "forgery fest" to create a case file to fool investigators into thinking Kelly actually got in-home services.

None showed any emotion as the verdicts were announced shortly before 4 p.m.

"It's been five years and I am tremendously, tremendously gratified by the jury's verdict," said Acting First Assistant District Attorney Edward McCann, who with Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Selber got the case Aug. 4, 2006, upon Kelly's death.

McCann praised the jury for seeing that all three played parts in the death in a fetid, two-bedoom apartment Kelly shared with her mother, Andrea, and eight siblings.

Andrea Kelly, 42, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in 2009 and is serving a 20-to-40-year prison term.

Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart set sentencing for Sept. 6.

McCann said Daniel Kelly faces a seven-year prison term, Poindexter eight to 16 years, and Kamuvaka up to 25 years.

Defense attorneys - Earl G. Kauffman for Kelly, Joshua E. Scarpello for Kamuvaka, and Craig Hosay for Poindexter - said they would discuss possible appeals with their clients.

Scarpello said he had hoped the jury might acquit Kamuvaka of involuntary manslaughter.

"The only reason she went to trial is she didn't want to admit she killed anybody, and that's what that charge means," Scarpello said.

Daniel Kelly and Kamuvaka have been in custody. Kelly's bail was revoked this year after he fled to Indiana. Kamuvaka was in federal custody serving a 171/2-year term for health-care fraud involving Danieal Kelly's case.

Minehart immediately revoked Poindexter's bail, and deputies removed him from the courtroom.

When Danieal Kelly died, she weighed 42 pounds, the weight of an average 5-year-old. Authorities said she was lying on a feces-stained mattress, her back pocked with maggot-infested bedsores, one so deep it exposed her hipbone.

Her shocking death - and those of other children under DHS supervision - triggered a wholesale review of what DHS did to protect the city's most vulnerable families.

The Inquirer published a series on the children's deaths, and in 2006 Mayor John F. Street fired the top two DHS officials. Other employees followed, some retiring before they were fired.

In August 2008, a county investigating grand jury recommended charges against nine people - including the three who went to trial - and blasted a "toxic culture" at DHS where workers did not do their jobs and supervisors did not hold them accountable.

DHS Commissioner Anne Marie Ambrose released a statement Friday saying the verdicts "represent the closing of a sad chapter in the history of the department."

Ambrose cited a 2011 report of a DHS oversight board of child-welfare experts that found post-Kelly agency changes have "led to increased child safety and to improved fairness in the decision-making process for families."

Witnesses who testified during the nine-day trial outlined a series of events where adults responsible for Danieal Kelly's welfare went missing or ignored reports of her tortured deterioration between 2003 and 2006.

Kelly Sr. was charged for abandoning his daughter and her year-older brother, Daniel Jr., with his ex-wife even though he took them from her 10 years earlier because of neglect.

Witnesses said Poindexter, a former DHS intake social worker, never visited the Kelly house to investigate neglect complaints involving Danieal and then kept his investigation file open for 21/2 years, preventing her from getting in-home services.

And the jury found Kamuvaka ignored reports that her MultiEthnic caseworker assigned to Danieal in April 2006 never went to the house.

Four months later, the girl was dead, and Kamuvaka convened an "all-hands" staff meeting on Aug. 4, 2006, to create a case file showing she had received services.

Defense attorneys argued that only Kelly's mother was culpable for her death.

Daniel Kelly removed the children in 1995 after in-laws reported Andrea Kelly was neglecting them. He took them to Pittsburgh, where he was living with a girlfriend, and the couple and children then moved to Phoenix, where they had three other children.

Daniel Kelly and his two children returned to Philadelphia in July 2003 after he and his girlfriend separated.

They again started living with Andrea Kelly - who by then had seven other children - and other relatives. But in March 2004 Daniel Kelly was ejected from the house after arguing with his mother-in-law.

He never again saw Danieal. He testified that his ex-wife moved and would not say where she and the children were living, though he conceded he took no legal action for visitation.

Following is the status of those charged by the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office in the Danieal Kelly case who did not go to trial:

Andrea Kelly, 42, Danieal's mother, pleaded guilty in April 2009 to third-degree murder. She was sentenced to 20 to 40 years and is housed at the state prison in Muncy.

Julius Juma Murray, 54, Danieal's last caseworker, an employee of MultiEthnic Behavioral Health Inc., pleaded guilty in February to involuntary manslaughter, conspiracy, and child endangerment, and was sentenced to four to eight years in prison. Murray is also serving an 11-year federal prison term for his conviction on health-care fraud and conspiracy. Murray, a native of Sierra Leone, is in federal custody and will face deportation after serving his sentence.

Laura Sommerer, 36, Danieal's last city Department of Human Services caseworker, pleaded guilty in 2009 to child endangerment and was sentenced to four years' probation.

Marie Moses, 37, a friend of Andrea Kelly, pleaded guilty in 2009 to perjury and was sentenced to three years' probation.

Andrea Miles, now 21, Moses' daughter and a friend of Andrea Kelly, pleaded guilty in Juvenile Court in 2008 to perjury and was sentenced to probation.

Diamond Brantley, 25, a friend of Andrea Kelly, pleaded guilty in 2009 to perjury and was sentenced to two years' probation.

Other than Kamuvaka and Murray, those indicted in the federal probe who were associated with MultiEthnic Behavioral Health Inc. were:

Solomon Manamela, 53, MultiEthnic cofounder. He was convicted at trial and sentenced to 14 years in prison. Currently at federal prison at Fort Dix.

Earle McNeill, 74, MultiEthnic cofounder. He pleaded guilty to fraud charges and was sentenced to 71/2 years. Currently at federal prison in Butler, N.C.

Manuelita Buenaflor, 68, MultiEthnic cofounder and quality assurance supervisor. She pleaded guilty to fraud charges and was sentenced to three years in prison. Currently at federal prison in Danbury, Conn.

Mariam Coulibaly, 42, MultiEthnic caseworker convicted at trial of fraud. She was sentenced to 11 years. She is at the federal prison in Hazleton, W.Va.

Christiana Nimpson, 55, MultiEthnic social worker. She pleaded guilty to fraud charges and was sentenced to 20 months. Currently in transit between federal prisons.

Sotheary Chan, 42, MultiEthnic office worker, pleaded guilty to fraud charges and was sentenced to 15 months in prison. Currently in federal halfway house in Atlanta, Ga.

Patricia Burch, 58, former Philadelphia special education teacher who moonlighted for MultiEthnic. She pleaded guilty to lying to a federal grand jury and was sentenced to 24 months. Currently at federal prison in Alderson, W. Va.

- Joseph A. Slobodzian

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Inquirer staff writer Drew Singer contributed to this article.