Danieal Kelly's mother allowed a hearing

A Philadelphia judge agreed yesterday to let the mother of Danieal Kelly - the 14-year-old with cerebral palsy who starved to death in her bed in 2006 - have a preliminary hearing on the murder charges she faces in her daughter's death.

Common Pleas Court Judge Lillian Harris Ransom ruled after a hearing on several motions filed by lawyers for nine people accused of having a role in the girl's death.

"This is a very good result," Richard Quinton Hark, who represents Andrea Kelly, 39, said of the ruling.

The judge's ruling also affects one of the other defendants: Julius Juma Murray, 51, the private social-services agency caseworker assigned to help Danieal Kelly and her family under contract with the Philadelphia Department of Human Services.

The grand-jury presentment accuses Murray of contributing to Danieal Kelly's death by rarely visiting her or her family and then helping his employer create paperwork and records to make it appear otherwise.

Assistant District Attorney Edward McCann said a date for the preliminary hearing for Kelly and Murray would be set at a Sept. 15 status hearing on the case.

McCann had filed a motion to bypass a preliminary hearing, a post-arrest court session at which the judge determines whether there is enough evidence to let the case proceed to trial.

McCann argued that a preliminary hearing was a needless expense because the evidence was already outlined in the 263-page report and 141-page presentment compiled by a Philadelphia investigating grand jury over 22 months.

But Hark said that bypassing a preliminary hearing was unfair to people charged with murder because doing so made it impossible for him to argue for bail.

Bail is typically denied to people charged with first-degree murder.

"She is charged with murder, but we don't have a degree - not first, second or third, where she might be entitled to bail," Hark told the judge.

Although the grand-jury report and presentment extensively outlined what the prosecution witnesses said were the circumstances leading to Danieal Kelly's death, Hark said, the report does not contain the witnesses' actual words or other evidence that underlie the criminal charges.

Such information is not given to defense lawyers until after a preliminary hearing. But without a preliminary hearing, Hark said, he and his client would have no chance to see and question key prosecution witnesses before a trial at which Kelly could be convicted of first-degree murder.

The judge ultimately issued a compromise ruling. Kelly and Murray will get preliminary hearings, but only on the counts of murder and involuntary homicide. The prosecutor can bypass a preliminary hearing for the remaining counts against Kelly, Murray and the other seven defendants.

Danieal Kelly's skeletal, bedsore-riddled body was found Aug. 4, 2006, in a bed in the two-bedroom West Philadelphia apartment she shared with her mother and eight siblings.

Three categories of people are charged in the case.

There are Andrea Kelly and her estranged husband, Daniel Kelly, 37, who is charged with endangering the welfare of children for abandoning Danieal Kelly to her mother's care though he knew the child was being neglected.

There are DHS child welfare workers Dana Poindexter, 51; and Laura Sommerer, 33, accused of failing to ensure that Danieal Kelly and her family were visited regularly by caseworkers and received the help they needed. Both are charged with endangering the welfare of children and reckless endangerment; Poindexter is also charged with perjury involving his grand-jury testimony. Also charged were two employees of a private company, MultiEthnic Behavioral Health: Murray and company cofounder Mickal Kamuvaka, 59.

Finally, there are three of Andrea Kelly's friends: Andrea Miles, 18; Marie Moses, 34; and Diamond Brantley, 22, who are charged with perjury. Authorities said the three lied to the grand jury in an effort to protect Andrea Kelly.

Ransom denied Hark's motion to prohibit the defendants, their lawyers and witnesses from talking publicly or to reporters.

Instead, Ransom reminded the lawyers of their ethical responsibilities under the code of professional conduct and said she would impose contempt penalties on anyone who violated them.

Ransom also increased Kamuvaka's weekly requirements for reporting to pretrial service officials but denied a motion by McCann to require her to wear an electronic monitoring device. McCann had argued that Kamuvaka, a native of Namibia, might flee before trial.

Murray, a native of Sierra Leone, had an appearance yesterday in federal court in Philadelphia, where his attorney, William Spade, waived reading of last Thursday's federal grand-jury indictment charging Murray with being in the United States illegally and lying to immigration officials on his application to become a naturalized citizen.

Spade said Murray, who faces deportation, would remain in federal custody until after the criminal charges in the Kelly case are resolved.