Social workers’ trial linked to starvation death of disabled Philadelphia teen to open

Pa. trial stemming from starvation death to open

PHILADELPHIA — Opening statements were slated Wednesday in the trial of four former social workers in a case linked to the starvation death of a disabled teenager, who weighed just 42 pounds when her body was found.

The trial was delayed for a day Tuesday after U.S. District Court Judge Stewart Dalzell discharged two jurors for what attorneys said were reasons unrelated to the specifics of the case.

When Danieal Kelly, a 14-year-old with cerebral palsy, starved to death in 2006 she was less than half the weight of an average girl that age. Her mother, Andrea Kelly, pleaded guilty last year to third-degree murder and was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison.

Prosecutors allege that now-defunct MultiEthnic Behavioral Health Inc. was supposed to care for the girl and others but billed the city for services it never performed and then tried to cover up by forging documents. Charged in the case are company co-founders Michal Kamuvaka and Solomon Manamela and two others; they have pleaded not guilty.

From July 2000 through December 2006, the city paid MultiEthnic about $3.7 million for services that were to be provided to more than 500 families. Although twice-weekly home visits had been ordered for Danieal and her family, she had long stopped going to school and had severe bed sores when she was found in the squalid, stifling home.

Five other company workers have pleaded guilty in the case.

Information from: The Philadelphia Inquirer, www.philly.com