Despite an hour delay this morning at the CJC chalked up to not having enough Sheriff’s deputies on hand to handle the prisoners, Daniel Kelly took the stand around 11:45 a.m. He spoke for about an hour, painting a picture of a guy who moved around. A lot.
He met Danieal’s mother Andrea (now serving 20 to 40 years for her daughter’s gruesome death) in 1990 in his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio. They got married in 1991. Their first child, Daniel Jr., was born later that year. Danieal was born prematurely in early 1992. “She could fit in my hand, only weighed about two pounds,” he recounted.
The couple split shortly thereafter. Andrea came to Philly; Daniel to near Pittsburgh. Soon, he testified, he was getting calls from his ex-mother-in-law and others concerned about Danieal’s living conditions so he came to Philly. “Maybe, kinda, sorta, borderline I might have to take my children,” but he didn’t do so until the next visit, orchestrated by him and his ex-mother-in-law to take Daniel Jr. and Danieal back to Pittsburgh. (As for the first visit, he said he wanted to give Andrea an opportunity to get it back together.”)
He brought them back to western Pa. and then moved around Arizona a bit for the next couple years. Danieal went to school during part of that time and was physically healthy as could be expected for a girl developing with cerebral palsy that rendered her unable to walk. Andrea took a Greyhound out to visit for a couple weeks at one point; she also learned he was getting $500/mo. of Social Security benefits.
Ultimately — and both because Daniel was uncomfortable with the lack of diversity in Mesa, Az. and he wanted the kids to know their other siblings and mother — they moved back to Philadelphia. “My heart was telling me they should be in Philadelphia,” he testified.
“Even though I had issues with their mother, I never tried to put that in [their] heads because that’s [their] mom,” he said explaining the July 2003 return.
That’s when the broke trial for lunch. More to come.
