Two testify of severe decline in Danieal Kelly's health over five years

The Arizona special education teacher and the Philadelphia school psychologist each knew Danieal Kelly - separated by five years.

Both agreed on one thing: They would never have recognized the Danieal the other knew.

The contrasting portraits of Kelly, a 14-year-old with cerebral palsy, dominated testimony Wednesday in the criminal trial of the girl's father and two social services workers for their alleged roles in the starving death in 2006.

Teacher Lynn Levin recalled the 9-year-old girl who attended Madison Rose Lane School in Phoenix from 1999 to 2001.

In two hours of testimony, Levin told the Common Pleas Court jury that despite her physical and mental limitations, Kelly loved school, was learning to speak, and sang along with a Shania Twain recording.

"Her personality was so sweet, so endearing," Levin testified. "She was appreciative for whatever was being done with her or for her."

The Danieal Kelly seen by Philadelphia School District psychologist Wendy Galson on June 12, 2006, at a school admissions evaluation at her mother's West Philadelphia house, was anything but.

"She appeared thin, small, and she was sitting in a larger umbrella stroller," said Galson. The Danieal she met did not speak, screamed loudly when Galson tried to move her stroller, and was unable to tolerate even an hour's evaluation.

Less than two months later, she was dead, her weight down from 100 to 42 pounds, her body dehydrated and pocked with deep bedsores.

Galson looked shocked when Acting First Assistant District Attorney Edward McCann projected a photo of a grinning, exuberant Danieal in Arizona at a school party.

"Look at her chubby cheeks," said Galson, who also commented on the flexibility of Danieal's arms, which were raised in a cheer.

When she met Kelly, Galson said, her arms and hands were curled and locked close to her body, the result of a lack of physical therapy.

Danieal's father, Daniel Sr., 40, is charged with child endangerment for leaving her with his ex-wife, Andrea, whom he knew had neglected her before.

Daniel Kelly had taken their two children, Daniel Jr. and Danieal, from Andrea Kelly's custody in 1996. He and the children moved to Arizona with his girlfriend; the three returned to Philadelphia in 2003 when the relationship ended and he then again left the children with his ex-wife.

Andrea Kelly, 42, has pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and is serving 20 to 40 years in prison.

Two others are charged with failing to provide at-home social services deemed crucial to Danieal Kelly's health and safety and then lying about it.

Dana Poindexter, 54, a former intake social worker at the Department of Human Services, was supposed to investigate child-abuse complaints, verify them, and, if they were found to be true, start the process of getting services.

Also charged is Mickal Kamuvaka, 62, cofounder and chief administrator of MultiEthnic Behavioral Health Inc., a now-defunct DHS contractor that was paid to have a worker monitor the health and safety of Danieal Kelly, her brother, and Andrea Kelly's eight other children.

Daniel Kelly's lawyer has said Kelly will testify in his own defense. Lawyers for Poindexter and Kamuvaka have said that only Andrea Kelly is responsible for Danieal's death.

Also testifying Wednesday was DHS social worker John Dougherty, who on Aug. 4, 2006, was sent to investigate after the girl was found dead.

Dougherty called the house in the 1700 block of Memorial Avenue "one of the worst I'd ever seen."

"The house was deplorable, full of clothing and debris. The smell was atrocious. It hit you when you first walked in," said Dougherty.

Dougherty's testimony supported the prosecution's claim that the two social workers on trial never provided services - including twice-weekly visits to the home - approved for the Kelly family.

Dougherty testified that the DHS caseworker responsible for the Kelly household, Laura Sommerer, joined him on that 2006 emergency call.

Dougherty said Sommerer was supposed to have inspected the Kelly house at least once a month. The household was also supposed to receive twice-weekly visits from Julius Juma Murray, a MultiEthnic employee.

Sommerer, now 36, pleaded guilty to child endangerment in 2009 and was sentenced to four years probation.

Murray, 53, pleaded guilty in February to involuntary manslaughter, conspiracy, and child endangerment, and was sentenced to four to eight years in prison.

On Tuesday, Daniel Kelly Jr., now 20, testified that he recalled just three social worker visits to the home in the three years he and his sister lived with their mother in West Philadelphia.