Doctor Doubts That Disease Killed Girl

The disease wastes away muscles, curves the spine and causes severe vision problems.

But myotonic dystrophy is not known to cause the type of malnutrition that afflicted rail-thin Lindsay Gentry when she died in 1996, an expert witness testified Monday in the retrial of her parents.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a patient with myotonic dystrophy suffering from malnutrition,” said Dr. Thomas Anderson, a professor who runs the Muscular Dystrophy Clinic at Harbor/UCLA Medical Center.

“I would be concerned there’s something else going on,” said Anderson, testifying after examining a photo taken a few months before the girl’s death that showed her stick-thin, nobby legs.

Michael and Kathleen “Katrina” Gentry are on trial for involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment and conspiracy for allegedly failing to provide enough food for their daughter, who stood 4-feet-10 and weighed 44 pounds at the time of her death. The prosecution in the trial before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge John S. Fisher contends that the couple physically abused and neglected the girl for years.

Defense attorneys for the Lake Los Angeles couple said the girl died from her disease. The Gentrys provided food for Lindsay and spent tens of thousands of dollars on her medical care, they said. In response to abuse allegations, the attorneys said the girl fell down often because of her unsteady gait and was known to lie about her home life.

Last year, a jury deadlocked on whether the Gentrys were guilty of murder.

The couple have steadfastly maintained their innocence, rejecting at least three proposed plea bargains. Rather than risk 10 years in prison if convicted on all counts, they could have taken a deal by which they would have gone free if they pleaded guilty to child endangerment.

They rejected the offer because, according to their attorney, they do not want to admit something they did not do.

On Monday, Anderson--who testified at the first trial--said malnutrition can result if the disease makes swallowing difficult. In Lindsay’s case, however, a test performed the month before she died showed that she had no difficulty swallowing, Anderson said when questioned by Deputy Dist. Atty. Kathleen Cady.

Two former teachers of the severely disabled girl testified Monday that she seemed so hungry they heard her stomach growl, so they tried to feed her.

Patricia Turner, who taught Lindsay in a special education class in 1992-93, said she bought the girl a special nutritional drink to help her gain weight.

“It seemed to revitalize her a bit,” Turner said. The girl, who had been lethargic, seemed more energetic and participated in more activities after those drinks, the teacher said.

Turner also said she noticed a seesawing in Lindsay’s weight. On Fridays after a week of the nutritional supplement, the girl gained 2 pounds, she said, adding that Lindsay invariably lost the weight after a weekend at home. After a month, Katrina Gentry told the teacher to stop because the girl was “on a special diet,” Turner said.

Lawyers for the Gentrys sought to portray them as caring, active parents who attended all parent-teacher meetings.

Michael Gentry insisted on a special Braille machine for his daughter and went to the school for a show-and-tell presentation, said teacher Diane Hogaboan, when questioned by attorneys M. David Houchin and Patrick Thomason. The father also went to the school to show teachers how to put a back brace on Lindsay.

Lindsay was stubborn and a slow eater, Hogaboan said. “Sometimes we spent two hours” to get the girl to eat her lunch.

In November 1993, Lindsay arrived at school with a swollen lip and bloody nose, Hogaboan said. “She said her father hit her . . . because she dropped keys into her Brailler,” Hogaboan said, adding that she notified the principal and filed a report with the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.

Hogaboan snapped the photo of Lindsay now displayed in court in September 1995.

“I was having trouble believing what I was seeing,” said the teacher. “She was thinner than I had ever seen her. ‘Emaciated’ is the word that comes to mind.”

Lindsay, who had begun home-schooling, never returned to class.