Parents Face Retrial in Death of Disabled Daughter, 15

They walked slowly through the courthouse, hand in hand as he steadied her uneven gait.

Nearly a year after a mistrial on murder charges in the death of their severely disabled teenage daughter, whom prosecutors alleged had died of child abuse and starvation, Michael and Kathleen “Katrina” Gentry were in court in Van Nuys again Tuesday to face potential jurors for their new trial on reduced charges of involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment and conspiracy.

A Van Nuys jury deadlocked last year over whether 15-year-old Lindsay Gentry had been murdered by her parents or died naturally of myotonic dystrophy, a degenerative muscle disease, which her mother suffers in a milder form.

The disease stunted Lindsay’s growth, wasted away her muscles, twisted her spine and caused severe cataracts. At the time of her February 1996 death, the girl was 4-foot-10 and weighed 44 pounds. School officials and experts said she appeared emaciated.

The Lake Los Angeles parents have steadfastly maintained their innocence, rejecting at least three proposed plea bargains. Each parent served about one year in jail before the first trial. The last offer by the prosecution would have allowed them to go free after pleading guilty to a single count of child endangerment, said M. David Houchin, an attorney representing Katrina Gentry.

If convicted on all counts, each parent faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.

The Gentrys, Houchin added, “at whatever cost, are not going to admit something they did not do.”

Jack Nicolai, a family friend who accompanied the couple to court this week, said: “They’ve been through so many things. They’re not guilty.”

Defense attorneys said the two provided for their daughter, spent tens of thousands of dollars on her care and took the girl to doctors many times over the years.

There will be more witnesses at the new trial than at the previous one, according to prosecution and defense attorneys. But the thrust of their testimonies will be the same: clashing eyewitness accounts of the girl’s condition, opinions from medical experts and recollections of doctors who treated her.

At the first trial, Deputy Dist. Atty. Kathleen Cady contended that the couple had repeatedly abused and neglected Lindsay for eight years before her death. Cady asked jurors for a second-degree murder conviction.

Now, to prove involuntary manslaughter, the prosecution has the easier job of showing that the Gentrys committed an unlawful act--withholding or not giving enough food to Lindsay “without due caution and circumspection,” Cady said.

According to court documents, a school nurse reported in 1987 that Lindsay had what appeared to be belt mark bruises. In subsequent years, school employees reported more bruises, a bloody nose and a swollen lip. The defendants also allegedly told the child’s school to “cease and desist” from providing food or drink and to stop weighing her.

Lindsay seemed so hungry that she stole food from other children, one teacher testified during the first trial.

The county Department of Children and Family Services looked into the child abuse allegations but found them unsubstantiated or unfounded. Friends of the family and people in the community also believed the Gentrys to be good parents, the defense argued.

A pathologist initially determined Lindsay’s death was a natural consequence of myotonic dystrophy. Listed as a contributing factor was marasmus--malnutrition because of severe starvation.

On Tuesday, Katrina Gentry collapsed outside a courtroom where jurors were being screened. Her husband crouched down and cradled her in his arms, whispering in her ear until paramedics arrived. She was transported to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Panorama City in fair condition, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Katrina Gentry fainted several times during her first trial and about a dozen times when she was in jail, Middleton said, possibly because of her medical condition.

Jury selection in the courtroom of Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge John S. Fisher will continue today. Opening statements are expected next week.