Parents Convicted in Death of Daughter

After more than two weeks of deliberation, a Van Nuys jury convicted Michael and Kathleen Gentry of involuntary manslaughter Tuesday for the starvation death of their severely disabled daughter.

After an earlier mistrial, prosecutors had offered the Gentrys a plea bargain that would have freed them with time served if they each pleaded guilty to a single count of child abuse. But the couple proclaimed their innocence and insisted on a new trial.

Each could be sentenced to 10 years in prison.

“They didn’t want to plead to something they did not do,” said defense attorney Lyle F. Middleton. “They knew the downside. Their position was, and still is, that they didn’t do that.”

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Kathleen Cady said the verdict spoke for itself and commended the jury for its “tenacity,” “integrity,” and “thoroughness.”

“Children with diseases and other disabilities can and often are victims of abuse and neglect,” Cady said. “Unfortunately their abuse can be masked by their disease and disability. I’m very glad the jury can see that.”

Lindsay Gentry suffered from myotonic dystrophy, a congenital muscle-wasting disease that crooked her back, made it difficult for her to walk, and caused severe cataracts. The Lake Los Angeles couple contended that their daughter died of her disease, but prosecutors alleged that the girl starved to death because of neglect by her parents.

When she died at age 15, the 4-foot-6 Lindsay weighed 44 pounds. She was the subject of six child abuse complaints in Orange County in 1987 and 1988 and nine complaints in Los Angeles County from 1988 until her death in 1996. But at each turn child welfare workers decided there wasn’t enough evidence of abuse to intervene.

The Gentrys, who were also convicted of felony child abuse and conspiracy, are scheduled to be sentenced July 6 by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John S. Fisher.

Last year, the couple faced second-degree murder charges, but the trial ended with a hung jury. Prosecutors presented much of the same evidence in the second trial, but had an easier time proving involuntary manslaughter. They did not need to prove intent, but only show that the Gentrys committed an unlawful act--withholding or not giving enough food to Lindsay “without due caution and circumspection.”

The case was more “streamlined” compared to last year, said Sgt. Ray Rodriguez of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, who investigated the case. This year, Rodriguez said, “We kept it more focused . . . and concentrated on malnutrition and neglect.”

Listening to the verdict as she sat in a wheelchair, Kathleen “Katrina” Gentry, 46, afflicted with a milder form of the same disease suffered by her daughter, sobbed quietly. Her husband, 56, looked ashen and was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

As Katrina Gentry was wheeled out by bailiffs, she complained of chest pains. She was in stable condition at a hospital, said Deputy David Cervantes, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman.

Deliberations lasted 13 days; two jurors were replaced by alternates.

Jurors declined to answer questions, and bailiffs escorted them out of the courtroom through a rear exit.

In the courtroom audience were a few friends of the family, including a woman who cried softly after hearing the verdict. Earlier, another member of the community called the case a “witch hunt.”

The Lake Los Angeles community rallied around the couple, with neighbors, friends and fellow church members packing the Van Nuys courthouse during closing arguments last month. Their donations helped pay for Katrina Gentry’s two attorneys; Michael Gentry was represented by a public defender.

During the trial, witnesses included doctors who treated the rail-thin girl, experts who reviewed her medical records and teachers who fed Lindsay extra food because she appeared emaciated.

Social workers from the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, who testified for the defense, said they investigated the abuse allegations, but found them unsubstantiated.

Cady called their investigations “shoddy.”

“If DCFS had not blanketly accepted the parents’ explanation, but had delved deeper, they should have realized what was going on,” Cady said.

“Lindsay was a little girl who loved life, and she managed under very difficult circumstances to maintain a happy disposition,” Cady said. “I wish her parents had given her the care she needed.”

Middleton said he hasn’t heard the couple express any regrets about having rejected the plea agreement that would have set them free. But now, he said, “It may be on their minds.”