DHS worker pleads guilty in Danieal Kelly starvation case

The last city social worker assigned the case of Danieal Kelly - the 14-year-old with cerebral palsy who starved to death three years ago - pleaded guilty today and was sentenced to four years probation.

The sentence for Laura Sommerer, 34, was far less than the 3 1/2 to 7 years in prison she could have received on her plea to one count of child endangerment.

The sentence was part of a negotiated plea between the District Attorney's office and Sommerer's attorney that both sides said took into account her cooperation with the investation of Kelly's death and her record of good works in the community.

In accepting the guilty plea and sentence, Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Benjamin Lerner told the weeping Sommerer that "I know you're a good person and a good professional but I also know that this guilty is fully justified."

But the judge spent even more time criticizing prior administrations and the leadership of the Department of Human Services and wondered aloud why none of the former DHS leaders was criminally charged in Danieal's death.

"That the people at the top walked away from their positions and even advanced without any significant consequences is a crime which almost equals or maybe surpasses the crime in this case," Lerner said.

"I am so sorry about the death of Danieal Kelly and the impact is has had on her brothers and sisters," Sommerer told the judge. She said she was "deeply sorry for not understanding the severity of Danieal's situation."

Sommerer's guilty plea came during what was supposed to have been the final pretrial hearing for five defendants still facing charges for their alleged involvement in Kelly 2006 death.

Lawyers for the other four defendants say they intend to go to trial.

Danieal, who had cerebral palsy and could not walk or care for herself, was found dead in her bed on Aug. 4, 2006, her body pocked with bone-deep bed sores and weighing just 47 pounds.

The West Philadelphia apartment in which she lived with her mother and eight of her siblings did not have electricity or running water and was fetid and sweltering in the summer heat.

Last August, a Philadelphia investigating grand jury issued a scathing report recommending criminal charges against nine people it alleged bore some responsibility for Danieal's death, including her parents, two employees of the City's Department of Human Services and two employees of a private social services firm under contract to DHS.

Andrea Kelly, 40, the girl's mother, pleaded guilty April 30 to third-degree murder and child endangerment and was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison in a plea deal that spared her a life prison term. She is at Muncy state prison in north-central Pennsylvania.

Three of Kelly's friends also pleaded guilty to charges of lying to the grand jury by testifying that Danieal Kelly appeared healthy and well-cared-for in the days before her death. All three were sentenced to probation and community service.

The remaining defendants include Danieal Kelly's father, Daniel Kelly, 38, who is charged with endangering the welfare of children.

Prosecutors say Kelly had custody of Danieal and her slightly older brother Daniel Jr. from 1997 until 2003, when he returned to Philadelphia from Arizona. Kelly is accused of abandoning the two children with his estranged wife though he knew they were being neglected.

The other four facing trial included Sommerer, 34, and were public employees or contractors charged with neglecting their responsibility to regularly check on the troubled Kelly family to ensure Danieal was not being neglected.

The others are: Dana Poindexter, 52, also one of Danieal's former DHS caseworkers, Mickal Kamuvaka, 60, co-founder of MultiEthnic Behavioral Health, the now-defunct private social services firm hired by DHS, and Julius Juma Murray, 51, the MultiEthnic caseworker assigned to visit Danieal Kelly and her family twice a week.

All three are charged with child endangerment; Poindexter, Kamuvaka and Murray are also accused of perjury or records tampering in what prosecutors say was an attempt to cover up their alleged neglect.

Contact Joseph A. Slobodzian at 215-854-2985 or jslobodzian@phillynews.com.