THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 3, 1995 TAG: 9505030475
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 108 lines
The possibility of a retrial for two Little Rascals defendants stirred starkly different feelings Tuesday in friends and foes of the accused.
No one was in a hurry to subject the 12 children who testified against Robert F. Kelly Jr. to another day in court, but parties on both sides of the case said they were willing to go through a second trial if necessary.
The North Carolina Court of Appeals ordered new trials for Kelly, co-owner of the Little Rascals day-care center in Edenton, and Kathryn Dawn Wilson, a cook in the center. Both had been convicted of sexually molesting children.
The ruling opens the door for a series of petitions and possible hearings before the state Supreme Court, which can choose whether to review the appeals court's decision.
If the Supreme Court refuses to review the case or upholds the appeals court, Kelly, still serving 12 consecutive life sentences on 99 abuse convictions, will likely return to Pitt County for a new trial.
Officials said Kelly would not have a chance to be released on bond until his case returns to the trial court.
Mark Montgomery, the state-appointed defender who represented Kelly in his appeal, said he expects the Supreme Court to respect the ruling written by Chief Judge Gerald Arnold and signed by two other appellate judges.
``These are not judges known to bend the rules in favor of criminal defendants,'' Montgomery said from Raleigh. ``I think their opinion is going to be taken seriously by the Supreme Court.''
``I got the sense in the oral argument that the Court of Appeals was troubled with a lot of the aspects of this case,'' Montgomery said. ``I was obviously pleased, but I wasn't surprised.''
Montgomery visited Kelly in Raleigh's Central Prison Tuesday. ``He was pleased,'' Montgomery said, adding that ``he's been around long enough to not get too carried away.''
Wilson, who was sentenced to life and is under electronic house arrest at her mother's home in Statesville, told the Associated Press she was ``just ecstatic. It kind of restores a little bit of faith. I still have some hurdles to jump.''
The ruling Tuesday stunned parents and children's advocates who fought for Kelly's and Wilson's convictions.
``I'm really devastated,'' said Judith Abbott, a licensed clinical social worker who evaluated and counseled 22 children from the day-care center over five years.
``I just feel so for these families and these children,'' Abbott said from her Camden County home. ``Certainly, Mr. Kelly's entitled to due process, but these families and these children have been through so much.''
The Little Rascals cases began in 1989 and have cost the state more than $1 million to prosecute. If the orders for a new trial are upheld, those involved with the longest and most expensive trial in state history will have to decide whether a second trial is worth the effort.
``That's not been discussed,'' said Nancy Lamb, an assistant district attorney in Elizabeth City who served as a special prosecutor in the Little Rascals cases. She said the families involved in the case would help decide whether to proceed with a new trial.
``We have a case. Yes, we do,'' Lamb said. ``From my point of view, it's worth going through it again.''
The 12 children who testified at Kelly's trial, about 5 years old at the time of the alleged abuses, today are approaching 11 and 12, Abbott said. She said she wasn't sure what effect time might have on their testimony.
``Certainly their memory of the traumatic events is most likely very clear,'' Abbott said. ``But I really don't know. . . . This is an age when kids are more self-conscious about sexual things.''
Supporters of Kelly, Wilson and the five other defendants in the cases said the children's growth would put an end to the process.
``It could drag on, but I don't think it will,'' said Raymond J. Lawrence, an Episcopal minister and chairman of The Committee For Support of the Edenton Seven. ``No way. Bet money on it.''
Lawrence, who said said he is originally from Portsmouth and now lives in New York, said the international organization has about 1,000 members and has raised more than $50,000 to support the defendants.
``The only thing they had going was the testimony of the children. The kids were untouchable,'' Lawrence said. ``The kids are no longer immune to cross-examination, for one thing. . . . With the children's testimony down the drain, what case do they have?''
At least one parent of a child who testified at Kelly's trial said he thought prosecution witnesses would endure a second trial.
``My guess is that, yes, people would be willing to do it again because they feel so strongly about this,'' said C. Christopher Bean, now a 1st District court judge. But, he said, ``the prospect of having to go through it all again is not one that we want to face.''
Bean has been a key figure in the appeals process; his testimony was one of three points used by the appeals court to overturn Kelly's conviction.
Bean had served as Kelly's lawyer early in the case but withdrew about the time he discovered his son was an apparent abuse victim.
The appeals court ruled that it was acceptable for Bean to testify but that he should not have been allowed to tell the jury he had been Kelly's lawyer.
That particular ruling has no precedent, Bean said. He said he had known there was ``some difficulty'' with revealing he had been Kelly's lawyer but was primarily concerned that his attorney-client agreement would not be breached. He said it was not.
Jeffrey L. Miller, one of Kelly's trial lawyers, said he hoped the ruling would lead to a new trial.
``We're gratified that the court of appeals found prejudicial error that was asserted on the appeal,'' said Miller, a Greenville attorney appointed to Kelly's case in January 1991. ``I think they located three issues that gave them a great deal of trouble.''
``I'm just really happy for Bob,'' Miller said.
KEYWORDS: DAY CARE CENTERS CHILD ABUSE SEX CRIME
CHILD MOLESTER TRIAL SENTENCING
RETRIAL by CNB