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Defense says Gentry's tried to feed daughter This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press April 26, 2000 By BART WEITZEL Valley Press Staff Writer VAN NUYS - Witnesses for the defense on Tuesday characterized Michael and Kathleen Gentry as loving parents who tried their best to get their daughter, Lindsay Gentry, to eat. "I saw a very affectionate, very close relationship between a father and his daughter," said Sue Stokka, a former board member of the Antelope Valley Union High School and Wilsona School districts. "It was very apparent to me that she was daddy's little girl," Stokka added. "She was a very affectionate little girl who loved her daddy very much." The Lake Los Angeles couple stand accused of allowing their daughter Lindsay, a 15-year-old mentally and physically disabled girl, to starve to death in 1996.The couple face charges of involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment and conspiracy. The couple and their defense attorney say Lindsay Gentry died because she was afflicted with congenital myotonic dystrophy, a rare neurological disease that weakens the muscles. The defense contends the disease, coupled with Lindsay's mental retardation, made it difficult to keep the girl properly nourished. The condition hampered her ability to swallow, they said. After prosecutor Kathy Cady rested her case Monday, the Gentrys' three-lawyer defense team, led by attorney Lyle Middleton, called witnesses who repeatedly told judge and jury that there was no abuse in the home and that the Gentry's tried numerous avenues to overcome their daughter's "picky" eating habits. The deceased girl's appetite is of paramount importance in the trial, because the prosecution says Michael and Kathleen Gentry failed to feed the girl. Defense lawyers contend that Lindsay's disease kept her from eating and caused her 4-foot, 10-inch body to wither to 44 pounds before she died. Those witnesses included Elizabeth Bowman, a nutrition educator employed by Kaiser Permanente in Lancaster. Bowman said she met with Lindsay and her mother in December 1995 and attempted to design a plan to help Lindsay gain weight. She said she recommended liquid dietary supplements and asked for a record of Lindsay's food intake at their next scheduled appointment, two weeks later. The Gentrys failed to keep that next appointment, and Bowman testified that she never saw any record of the girl's eating habits. Middleton then produced a photocopy of a notebook with a food record, and Bowman verified that it was exactly what she wanted to see. The move apparently surprised and angered Cady, who complained in a sidebar with Judge John S. Fisher that defense attorneys had not provided her with that piece of evidence despite repeated requests for discovery. Two men from home-based multi-level marketing companies testified that they sold Michael Gentry hundreds of dollars' worth of nutrition supplements in the parents' search for a way to improve their daughter's dietary intake. Robert Hull, who sells products for a company called New Vision International, said he sold Michael Gentry $227 worth of a mineral supplement that he said "increases the nutritional value of what you are eating." Gregory Rollins said he first sold the Gentrys a powder supplement from Herbalife, then later began to represent New Vision and sold that product to them.He said the Gentrys spent more than $100 a month on the New Vision supplements, and Michael Gentry told him they were for Lindsay. Rollins also testified that he had been to the Gentry home on a number of occasions and that Lindsay was a slow eater who often would leave food on her plate and have to be encouraged to eat.The final defense witness Tuesday afternoon was Susan Brown, a social worker with the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. Brown said she received a referral from Lindsay's school, Challenger Middle School, on Sept. 8, 1995, that alleged medical neglect. She added that she was cautioned by her supervisor that the Gentry home had been visited numerous times before. Brown testified that she found no evidence of neglect, but rather commended Kathleen Gentry for the time spent with numerous doctors caring for Lindsay's special needs. The defense will resume this morning at 9:15 in Van Nuys Superior Court. |
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