Spotlight returns to caged-children case

The Gravelles are charged with 16 counts of felony child endangering.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- The story of 11 adopted special-needs children in cages made international headlines last year.
The trial of their adoptive parents is expected to draw the glare of the media once again when opening statements begin Tuesday in rural northern Ohio.
The story may be sensational, but public interest in the case is legitimate because it provides a rare look inside how government agencies care for children, said Kelly McBride, ethics group leader at The Poynter Institute, a journalism think-tank.
"This is a really important case because it's a window into the system," she said. "So much is wrong with the system, not just in Ohio, but in state after state."
What happened
The children ranged in age from 1 to 14 when authorities removed them from the home of Michael and Sharen Gravelle in September 2005. The youngsters were placed in foster care last fall after a county social worker likened the wood and chicken-wire enclosures in the Gravelle home to cages in a kennel.
The Gravelles, who deny mistreating their children, lost custody in March and are charged with 16 counts of felony child endangering and eight misdemeanor child endangering charges. If convicted, they face one to five years in prison and a maximum fine of 10,000 for each felony count.
The couple has repeatedly said the enclosures were necessary to keep the children from harming themselves or one another. The children have problems such as fetal alcohol syndrome and a disorder that involves eating nonfood items.
McBride, who specializes in how the media covers children, said she hopes journalists and the public will look beyond the case into a child care system that needs more caseworkers, responsible parents and thorough background checks.
"As much as these parents seem to have failed these children, I think it's of interest to the public that the system failed these children," McBride said.
Sharen Gravelle's attorney, Ken Myers, a former freelance journalist, blames the Huron County sheriff's department for inflaming the media and the public by saying the children were held in cages. Myers said the children slept in the structures, which he prefers to call enclosed beds, but were never put there for punishment.
Image
"It raised this specter of incredible cruelty," Myers said. "I've been working to dispel that image but it's been difficult. That image has taken root and it's been very difficult to undo that. They did a great job of misleading the public."
Sheriff Dick Sutherland said the children were kept in the cages at night and were confined there as punishment during the day.
The publicity made jury selection difficult, Myers said. It took more than a week to select 12 jurors and four alternates for the trial that could have as many as 120 witnesses and is expected to last three weeks.
"Certainly, it's been a concern that so many people knew about the case and had formed opinions, but I'm pleased with the group that we got," Myers said. "I think they're intelligent, open-minded and I think they will listen carefully and not prejudge the case based on the publicity."
Prosecutor Russell Leffler said he was hopeful that the jury will be able handle its job as he sets out to prove the cages constituted abuse.
The Gravelles, who acknowledge spanking the children, are also accused by the prosecution of leaving the children outside in the cold, hosing the children down and forcing one boy to live in the bathroom for nearly three months.
They deny those allegations, said Myers, who believes discipline and parenting techniques will be a key issue in the case.
That's always been a topic that's of interest to the public, McBride said.
"There's almost a prurient interest in the plight of abused children -- all stories about crime and punishment when it comes to children," she said. "Whether you spank, ground, what's excessive, what's too permissive ... as a society we love to judge other people when it comes to parenting."