THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 3, 1994 TAG: 9412030234
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Short : 37 lines
The North Carolina Court of Appeals has set Jan. 9 hearings for two defendants appealing sexual abuse convictions in the Little Rascals day-care case.
The former owner of the center, Robert F. Kelly Jr., was convicted in 1992 on 99 abuse counts. He is serving 12 life sentences at Central Prison in Raleigh. His 200-page appeal, alleging 20 points of error from jury selection through sentencing, was filed this spring, said Mark Montgomery, a staff attorney with the state Office of the Appellate Defender in Durham.
Kathryn Dawn Wilson, a cook at the center, is appealing her January 1993 conviction on five sexual abuse charges. Wilson is free on bail and under house arrest at her mother's after giving birth.
The convictions stem from charges in 1989 of abuse of children at the Little Rascals Day Care Center in Edenton.
Rules for the hearings before a three-judge panel allow for 30-minute oral arguments from each side, Montgomery said.
Kelly's wife, Elizabeth T. Kelly, pleaded no contest in January to 30 charges in the case, including 26 counts of taking indecent liberties with children. She was released from prison Monday. Another defendant, Willard Scott Privott, pleaded no contest to charges and was released on probation.
Three defendants are still awaiting trial.
KEYWORDS: LITTLE RASCALS DAY CARE CENTER APPEAL CHILD ABUSE SEXUAL
ABUSE SEX CRIME
by CNB