Trial Starts in Danieal Kelly Starvation Case

Four people go on trial Tuesday on charges that came out of the investigation into the starvation death of Danieal Kelly.

All of the defendants worked for a government-funded social service agency.

MultiEthnic Behavioral Health was supposed to be checking on Danieal's welfare twice a week to make sure she was not only getting the proper care and services she needed, but to make sure she was safe.

Danieal starved to death in her mother's Parkside home in 2006.

She suffered from cerebral palsy and weighed only 46 pounds when she died. She had bed sores, some of which were infected and had been living in squalid conditions. Her mother later admitted to third-degree murder.

The social service agency workers are accused of billing the city for work they never provided and then attempting to cover it up by falsifying documents.

Danieal's death led to a shake-up in the city's Department of Health in the summer of 2008.

Mayor Michael Nutter suspended seven workers after a grand jury investigation, saying if anyone ever treated his own daughter like that, "I would kick their asses myself."

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