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Gentry supporters seek verdict reversal This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press June 29, 2000 By ALAN SCHNEPF Valley Press Staff Writer -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LANCASTER - Supporters of Michael and Kathleen Gentry want Superior Court Judge John Fisher to reverse a guilty verdict that could send the Lake Los Angeles couple to prison for abusing their disabled daughter. Gentry supporters, who have formed the group Defenders of Parents and Care Givers Nationwide, have mounted a petition drive to gather signatures in an effort to have the couple declared innocent. After nearly a month of testimony and more than three weeks of deliberations, a jury in the couple's second trial convicted them of involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment and conspiracy for the 1996 death of their mentally and physically disabled daughter, Lindsay. The Gentrys faced murder charges during their first trial in 1999, which ended with a hung jury favoring acquittal 10-2, forcing a mistrial. The Gentrys face up to 10 years in prison when they are sentenced July 6. Brock d'Avignon, one of the founders of the Lancaster-based Defenders of Parents and Care Givers Nationwide, said his group will set up shop outside the Lancaster Wal-Mart, 44765 Valley Central Way, at 9 a.m. today seeking signatures on the petition. During the Gentrys' two trials, prosecutors told the jury that the couple failed to adequately feed and care for their daughter and caused her death. The Gentrys' supporters say Lindsay was lucky to live as long as she did because she was afflicted with myotonic dystrophy, a rare form of muscular dystrophy. That disease wasted her muscles, deformed her spine and made it difficult for the girl to swallow, according to Gentry defenders. The alleged difficulty with swallowing - a point of contention during the last trial - discouraged Lindsay from eating, according to the Gentrys' lawyers. At the time of hear death, the girl stood 4 feet, 10 inches tall but weighed just 44 pounds. The extent of the petition's power to reverse the verdict is limited at best, said Peter Arenella, a UCLA law professor. "A simple claim that the jury got it wrong is not cognizable," Arenella said, explaining that the petition in itself has no legal power to affect the verdict. "None," he said of the petition's authority in a court of law. "It's a simple answer." To reverse the verdict, Arenella said defense attorneys must expose a technical error in the trial, such as erroneous rulings or faulty instructions to the jury. Lyle Middleton, one of three attorneys who defended the couple during their two trials, said the petition certainly won't hurt the effort to overturn the verdict. "Anything's helpful," Middleton said. "This will allow the judge to see the community's view beyond the witnesses (at the trial)." Middleton said the defense is presenting motions to Judge Fisher to consider at the Gentrys' probation and sentencing hearing set for July 6. Those motions will ask Fisher - who presided over both of the Gentry trials - to overturn the verdict on "too many grounds to enumerate," Middleton said. Among those grounds is a contention that the jury's decision goes against the weight of the evidence. If Fisher chooses not to reverse the verdict, Middleton said an appeal is likely. He added that he does not expect Fisher to reverse the verdict at the July 6 hearing. Paul Villandry, a member of Defenders of Parents and Care Givers Nationwide, said the group was formed in response to the Gentrys' experience through the judicial system after Lindsay's death. "As a result of this trial, it has become apparent to us that care givers are at risk," he said. He also said the group's recruitment efforts have drawn people who aren't involved in the Gentry case. "As care givers, they're aware of the problems with the system," he said. The core belief of the group is that people taking care of disabled children are often unjustly held accountable for their deaths, d'Avignon said. The responsible party in many of those deaths is Mother Nature, he continued. "These are not cases of home abuse or neglect," d'Avignon said. "The children simply don't make it." Lindsay Gentry was one of those children, according to the Gentrys' supporters. "If she was in an institution, she would have died as a baby," d'Avignon said. "Charges never should have been filed." |
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