Unfinished background reports caused the delay Tuesday of sentencing for three people found guilty in the 2006 death of Danieal Kelly, the disabled teen who starved in her mother's squalid West Philadelphia apartment.
Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart told lawyers that incomplete presentencing investigations made it necessary to postpone until Oct. 20 the sentencing of Danieal's father, Daniel Kelly, 40, and two others.
"Just like in this case, bureaucracy seems to get in the way constantly," said Minehart, referring to personnel problems and policies in the Department of Human Services that caused neglect reports to go uninvestigated until after Danieal Kelly died on Aug. 4, 2006.
[...]
All three are in custody. Kelly's bail was revoked this year when he was arrested after he fled to Indiana. Kamuvaka was serving a 171/2-year federal sentence for health-care fraud involving the Kelly case. Minehart revoked Poindexter's bail after the verdict.
Prosecutors have estimated that each faces a long prison term - for Kelly, seven years; Poindexter, eight to 16; and Kamuvaka, up to 25.