Defense: Couple who adopted 11 loved children

The prosecution alleges the special-needs kids were abused.
NORWALK, Ohio (AP) -- A couple on trial for putting some of their 11 adopted special-needs children in cages are guilty only of loving them, a defense attorney said Tuesday in his opening statement.
"Eleven is a strain, a huge strain, but they did it for the right reason," said Ken Myers, attorney for Sharen Gravelle who, along with her husband, Michael Gravelle, is charged with 16 counts of felony child endangering and eight misdemeanor child endangering charges.
The children ranged in age from 1 to 14 when authorities removed them in September 2005 from the Gravelles' home in rural Wakeman about 60 miles west of Cleveland. The youngsters were placed in foster care last fall.
The couple, who lost custody in March, have repeatedly said the enclosures, equipped with alarms, 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.
Huron County Prosecutor Russell Leffler told jurors not to get hung up on semantics.
"It's about chicken wire and wooden boards, being literally cooped up, hotter than blazes in summer, an amazingly shrill alarm and little fingers trying to tear wire," Leffler said.
Alleged punishments
Leffler described punishments that the children allegedly received, including being confined to the cages, being forced to eat peanut butter for weeks and having their heads dunked in a toilet.
Myers defended the use of the enclosed beds, which he said were no smaller than an average bunk bed. He said they were necessary to protect the children from getting into trouble at night.
"Some of the kids thought they [the cages] were cool because it felt like being in a fortress," Myers said.
Social worker Jo Johnson testified that she visited the Gravelles' home Sept. 9, 2005, after receiving a tip about the cages. She saw no physical signs of abuse on the children, but determined the cages, which she likened to "slave quarters," constituted abuse.
A photo of eight of the children was taken before they were removed that day. It shows a couple of them smiling and all dressed appropriately in shorts, T-shirts and tank tops. Most were playing outside when Johnson toured the house. One boy rode a bike.
Questioning caseworker
Michael Gravelle's attorney, Richard Drucker, in an aggressive cross examination, raised his voice and asked Johnson: "Was he in chains when he was riding on that bike?"
Johnson answered, "No."
She noticed a strong urine odor upstairs where the children slept and saw one girl in a room with a door made of wooden slats.
Johnson described photos of the red and blue painted cages for the jury, including one cage that had some wooden patchwork done by Michael Gravelle.
"When the children tried to get out, he put the wood slabs up so they could not get out," Johnson said.
She testified that there was little bedding inside the cages. Drucker countered that testimony by again showing jurors the photo of the children, who were standing in front of sheets and blankets hanging on a clothes line. Defense attorneys say there was no bedding in the enclosures because it was laundry day.
Asked by Drucker why she described the cages as "slave quarters" she replied, "The way they were piled on top of each other. There was not a light source. It was very dark."
Myers, during his opening statement, suggested that she came up with the comparison because she and the children are black and the Gravelles are white.
Myers told jurors that the children were in poor shape when Michael, 57, and Sharen Gravelle, 58, adopted them and that Huron County knew about the cages for years but did nothing.
Myers has said Huron County authorities have fueled a media bias in the case by calling the structures cages instead of enclosed beds.
Comments by Gravelle
Leffler told jurors that he would show during the trial that Michael Gravelle once commented that there was good money in adopting special-needs children and that he thought about opening an orphanage, saying he was Moses.
Leffler said two of the children have blossomed since being removed from the Gravelle home and the others also have improved. Myers said they still have behavioral problems.
The Gravelles, who acknowledge spanking the children, also are accused by the prosecution of leaving the children outside in the cold, hosing them down and forcing one boy to live in the bathroom for nearly three months.
"It must have been a terrible 81 days for him," Leffler said. "He took his meals there."
The Gravelles deny those allegations.
If convicted, they face one to five years in prison and a maximum fine of 10,000 for each felony count.