TRUMBULL COUNTY Indictment is declined
The father remains on probation for the 1999 suffocation death of his infant daughter.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The Trumbull County grand jury has declined to indict a Girard couple whose son was injured when he stepped into North State Street and was hit by a van.
Cindy and Brian Kelly of 510 N. State St. have been free on $5,000 bond each after being arrested by Girard police in February on charges of child endangering.
Brian Kelly said he's relieved. He would not comment further until talking with his attorney.
Daughter's death: Brian Kelly is still on probation for the 1999 suffocation death of his infant daughter.
Police Capt. Frank Bigowsky has said that Brian Jr., 4, was injured Feb. 8 when he was struck by a van after he stepped into North State Street from behind a utility pole.
According to information in the court file, police said the Kellys allowed the boy to go with his 11-year-old sister to the grocery store. The Kellys live across the street from the grocery store.
This is not the first time the Kellys were facing child endangering charges. The Kellys were indicted in November 1999 by a Trumbull County grand jury in the death of their 3-month-old daughter, Leeann, who died July 28 of that year.
Brian Kelly was charged with involuntary manslaughter and child endangering. Mrs. Kelly was indicted on a charge of child endangering.
Pleaded guilty: On Feb. 15, 2000, Brian Kelly pleaded guilty to child endangering and was sentenced to six months in the Northeast Ohio Community Alternative Program, a Warren facility for nonviolent offenders, and placed on five years' probation. A week later, his wife was sentenced to a six-month suspended jail term and placed on two years' probation. Her probation ended last year, court officials said.
Police and prosecutors said at the time that Mrs. Kelly allowed her husband to sleep on the couch with the infant even though she knew her husband had consumed 12 or more cans of beer.
Kelly admitted he rolled onto his daughter, suffocating her.
sinkovich@vindy.com