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In this emotional courtroom moment, a father breaks down while sharing his heart-wrenching story about his daughter. Watch as raw emotions unfold, highlighting the human side of justice.
💔 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more powerful courtroom moments.
Disclaimer: This video is for educational and entertainment purposes only. The events and individuals depicted are presented as reported and are not intended to defame or harm anyone. Viewer discretion is advised.
In this emotional courtroom moment, a father breaks down while sharing his heart-wrenching story about his daughter. Watch as raw emotions unfold, highlighting the human side of justice.
💔 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more powerful courtroom moments.
Disclaimer: This video is for educational and entertainment purposes only. The events and individuals depicted are presented as reported and are not intended to defame or harm anyone. Viewer discretion is advised.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00And during the first 10 years of Michelle's life, did you think there was anything unusual about her not being able to eat solid foods?
00:12Well, other than that, she probably should have.
00:14At the time, she weighed 27 pounds as a 10-year-old. That was a few years ago.
00:20Well, she did lose a lot of weight due to her being sick.
00:24But children are 100% dependent upon adults.
00:27They're dependent on them to feed them. They're dependent on them to clothe them and for them to be educated.
00:34All right. You entered a plea to the offense of assault, intentionally knowing serious bodily injury of a child by omission.
00:43You entered a plea to a cap of 35 years in the prison. The state is opposing your application.
00:49All right, Mr. Kennedy, if you can raise your right hand for me, please.
00:52Do you solemnly swear or affirm the testimony you give will be the truth and nothing but the truth, so help you, God?
00:58I do, Your Honor.
00:59All right. You can lower your hand. State your name for the record, please.
01:02My name is James Michael Kennedy.
01:04All right. Counsel?
01:06Mr. Kennedy, would you say this event with your daughter finding it out about cerebral palsy and having it removed from your presence because of lack of proper nutrition was a real eye-opener to you?
01:18It was.
01:19I'm sorry. Could everyone please whisper? And, Counsel, if you could speak up for me, please.
01:28And during the first 10 years of Michelle's life, did you think there was anything unusual about her not being able to eat solid foods?
01:41Well, other than that, she probably should have.
01:42Given her state with cerebral palsy, I didn't know.
01:51And the primary caretaker, Michelle, was Norma, is that correct?
01:54Yes, sir.
01:55And you were with Norma. You're not married to her.
01:57Yes, sir.
01:58Did Norma ever have any complaints to you about something she wasn't allowed to do for Michelle?
02:03No, sir.
02:04Okay. And you've read the report and you're happy with Miss, I can't do her name, Sitsu, the foster mother?
02:13Yes, sir.
02:14Okay. And I read you as the expert. Do you agree with what she wrote?
02:17Yes, sir. I do.
02:18Okay. And do you want the best for your daughter?
02:21I do, yes, sir.
02:22And you've had a hearing in CPS court on Valentine's Day where you gave an affidavit of relief in front of your parental rights?
02:30Yes, sir, I did.
02:30Okay.
02:34So do you feel sorry for what you either did or failed to do for your daughter?
02:44At the time, I wasn't aware, but yes, I do.
02:51Okay.
02:52So you realize the judge is probably going to send you to prison?
02:59Yes, I do.
03:00Are you asking for something maybe in the 20-year range as opposed to 35?
03:06I am asking for leniency.
03:10No further questions. That's a process. You may want to ask me something.
03:14All right. In just a moment, my email went down.
03:17I did have the PSI report up, but the PSI report has disappeared on my system.
03:22All right.
03:27Yes, just a few, if I may.
03:30Mr. Kennedy, my name is Zach Dunn. I'm one of the prosecutors in the Family Violence Division.
03:34I should have a few questions for you, and some of it goes to your statements in the PSI, which is the report that the judge is looking at right now.
03:42You basically mentioned on kind of the last page of it that you really kind of didn't know or were unsure of the fact.
03:50You said you said you had ignorance of your daughter's condition.
03:55She was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth, though, correct?
03:59I do not know.
04:00With respect to her abilities, things she was able to do, did you notice any kind of comparison between her and other 10-year-olds?
04:11Actually, comparison between her and when I was born through high school, I noticed that there was children that were similar.
04:21And are you aware of how much she weighed as a 10-year-old when the police came to the residence for the first time?
04:31I believe she was at 27 pounds.
04:3627 pounds as a 10-year-old.
04:38Does that seem normal to you or abnormal to you?
04:40I do not know.
04:45I mean, when I look at when I remember how there were other others that were her age, more or less, even when I was going through high school, I saw that they were about her size.
05:06You're saying when you went through high school personally?
05:08When I went through high school.
05:10You knew of 10-year-olds that were around 20 pounds in weight?
05:13We went to the kitchen cafeteria, and I saw others that were rolled around in wheelchairs that were about the same size.
05:27And what did you make of the fact that Michelle, again, a 10-year-old, was unable to speak and barely even move when the police first interacted with her coming on scene?
05:36Is that normal behavior you think for a 10-year-old?
05:38I think given that she had cerebral palsy, that it was normal.
05:43And with respect to her diet, do you think it's appropriate to feed someone Oreos, milk, and Kool-Aid to sustain their life as a 10-year-old with cerebral palsy?
05:51Michelle could not eat solids, so she couldn't even eat Oreos.
05:54But at the time, does it surprise you, or is it surprising to hear now that y'all's statements at the time on scene was that, again, you fed her Kool-Aid, milk, and Oreos?
06:03At that time, given that Numa was taken to the doctors and that the doctors were aware of what was going on, I thought everything was okay.
06:18Given that now, I know that it's not okay because that could have all been avoided with the surgery of a G2 gastrostomy tube.
06:32You said you know about that now.
06:34I do.
06:34So if police had never come and CPS was never involved, what do you think the future of Michelle's life would look like?
06:42Again, at the time, she weighed 27 pounds as a 10-year-old.
06:45That was a few years ago.
06:48Well, she did lose a lot of weight due to her being sick.
06:51It wasn't due to that of us providing nutrition.
06:57It was due to her being sick that she lost weight.
07:00No further questions, Ron.
07:02All right.
07:03Any follow-up?
07:04I'll follow-up.
07:05All right.
07:05May I ask a question?
07:07Please.
07:08All right.
07:09Why was she never placed back in school?
07:13She was originally taken out of school due to the coronavirus.
07:18All right.
07:19And then after that?
07:20We attempted to take her back to school.
07:22She could never keep the mask on.
07:25She would keep constantly pulling it off.
07:28And then they told her to no longer go back to school.
07:32I'm sorry, what?
07:32They told her not to go back to school until she could take care of that.
07:36Okay.
07:38And I'm sorry.
07:39I'm trying to find the trial court certification form.
07:43Just one second.
07:44I'll have it.
07:44All right.
07:46So you're saying that they didn't allow her to come back to school because she continued
07:51to pull off her mask.
07:52Yes, ma'am.
07:54And the offense date on this is 2023.
08:00So help me.
08:01In 2023, were students still required to wear a mask?
08:05I do not, ma'am.
08:08I do not, ma'am.
08:09All right.
08:09So you didn't take her back to school in the year of 2023?
08:13No, ma'am.
08:15And I read the PSI report and it said that you had personal insurance?
08:22I do.
08:24All right.
08:25All right.
08:25So at that time, you had personal insurance, correct?
08:29Yes, ma'am.
08:30How often had she seen a doctor?
08:35I believe the last time she saw the doctor was in 2020.
08:41And I believe it was on either annual or due annual checkup.
08:49I left that all to Norma to take care of.
08:52All right.
08:52So the last time she saw a doctor was in 2020.
08:57Yes, ma'am, I believe so.
08:58So did your wife, Norma, have the insurance card to take her to her doctor?
09:03No, ma'am.
09:04All right.
09:04So you had this.
09:05They just lived together.
09:06All right.
09:07So the person you lived with, were you in a romantic relationship with them?
09:12Yes, ma'am.
09:12All right.
09:13And were you all living together as boyfriend and girlfriend or husband and wife?
09:18Yes, ma'am.
09:19All right.
09:20And so you left her in charge of taking care of your child?
09:22Yes, ma'am.
09:23And is she the biological mother of that child?
09:26Yes, ma'am.
09:27All right.
09:27So you didn't give her your insurance card to take her to the doctor for emergencies?
09:32I never was issued one.
09:34Everything was done electronic.
09:36All right.
09:37So since 2020, you never took your child to the hospital emergency rooms or to see a pediatrician?
09:45Personally, I haven't.
09:46I do not know what Norma has done.
09:49All right.
09:49Did you ever ask her, hey, she's not eating right.
09:52Something's going wrong.
09:54Have you taken her to the doctor?
09:56This will actually all happen recent.
10:00Like because she got sick because of everything that happened.
10:03We took her to the hospital to Christa Santa Rosa at first.
10:09When was that?
10:09Was that in 2023?
10:12Yes, ma'am.
10:12All right.
10:13I'm talking about before 2023.
10:15Unless, and if I'm wrong, correct me, and I won't take offense to you correcting me.
10:22It appears that this is something that was happening over time.
10:26Am I right?
10:27The fact that she's not gaining weight, she's not eating?
10:30The way we were giving her nutrition over the time period from her birth until the time that she got sick was the same constant method.
10:49Okay.
10:49And then all of a sudden she gets sick and she lost the weight.
10:57So what was her highest weight?
11:00Because this is saying that she was 27 pounds at 10.
11:04So before she started dropping all of the weight, what was her weight as a 10-year-old?
11:09I believe it was either at 40 or 45 pounds.
11:12So 45 pounds, and then all of a sudden she's at 27 pounds.
11:18Yes, ma'am.
11:18So you didn't think to take her to the doctor when she dropped down to 30 pounds?
11:25I would be at work.
11:26So when I would come home, I'd always want to try to sleep or relax just before sleeping.
11:35All right.
11:35And how far did you go in school?
11:37For school, I graduated from St. Phillips College.
11:43Okay.
11:44I got my certificates for aircraft and power plant.
11:48All right.
11:49Any other questions, defense?
11:51No, Your Honor.
11:52State, any other questions?
11:53No, Your Honor.
11:54All right.
11:54The court will hear argument.
11:57The state is opposed to the application.
12:00State?
12:01Your Honor, this is an individual that essentially the state doesn't believe has taken responsibility.
12:07The litany of I don't knows and I'm not sure doesn't replace the fact that you're talking
12:11about a 10-year-old who had, as the medical facility, diagnosed her with, quote, extreme
12:17prolonged malnourishment.
12:2010-year-olds are somewhere in the range of above 70 pounds.
12:23This is a 27-pound individual who, through the defendant's own words, was fed Oreos, Kool-Aid,
12:29and milk.
12:29So, as if being a child wasn't a vulnerable enough position to be in, in the world, to
12:34be diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth and have parents that don't take you because
12:39their insurance bill has expired and knew about the, well, first they knew about the
12:46diagnosis, but then they didn't know about the diagnosis.
12:49The state would, of course, respectfully request that, you know, the court take all these factors
12:59into consideration given how this person completely disregarded the health of a young girl for
13:07many years on the drug.
13:09All right.
13:09Defense?
13:09This case has a certain whorbleness factor, especially to me as a parent.
13:15I can't imagine not feeding your child, and this is my second sentencing on this, at prime
13:21in a week, so I didn't know that many people weren't feeding their child.
13:28In presenting my client, he's basically been clueless.
13:32I've had a very difficult time getting to him to understand what he did or did not do and
13:38what he should have done or should not have done.
13:40That doesn't condone what happened to his daughter.
13:44One thing I don't understand is how she went to health care providers and no one noticed
13:48anything, especially on the day in which she was taken to a health care provider a second
13:53time, and that's when she was taken into police custody, CPS custody.
13:59And you have terminated your parental rights.
14:01Is that correct, sir?
14:03Yes.
14:05That's it, Your Honor.
14:06All right.
14:06One final question.
14:08So what were you eating?
14:11I would eat out a lot.
14:13Okay.
14:14And did your weight ever drop at normally low?
14:18No, Your Honor.
14:19And how much did you weigh?
14:22Before I was at 277.
14:25All right.
14:26So if your weight went from 277 down to 100 pounds or 90 pounds, would you go to the doctor?
14:33I would find out what's going on, yes.
14:35Okay.
14:36All right.
14:37The court is going to deny your application.
14:39The court will find you guilty.
14:41I understand that there may have been other issues at play here as far as maybe the mother
14:48was in charge of taking care of your daughter during the day-to-day.
14:52So I am taking that in consideration.
14:55I'm going to sentence you to 34 years in the prison.
14:58Give you credit for any time served.
15:00There's an affirmative finding of family violence.
15:02There's to be no contact with the complainant.
15:05There's to be no unsupervised contact with minors.
15:11I'm going to show you what's entitled trial court certification of defendants' rights to appeal.
15:16Did you review that with your attorney?
15:18Did you understand it?
15:19And did you sign it?
15:21Which one?
15:23That's his.
15:25Yes, George.
15:25All right.
15:26Because this is a plea bargain agreement, because I followed your plea bargain agreement,
15:30and because you waive your right to appeal, you do not have the court's permission to appeal.
15:34Because this is a felony conviction, you're not allowed to own or possess any weapons or ammunition.
15:39If you have a question over what a weapon or ammunition is, you'll need to speak to an attorney.
15:43Do you understand?
15:44Yes, ma'am.
15:45All right, we can go off the record.
15:46Mr. Kennedy, I understand that you're probably hurt by what happened to your daughter.
15:53I do understand that.
15:55But children are 100% dependent upon adults.
15:59They're dependent on them to feed them.
16:01They're dependent on them to clothe them and for them to be educated.
16:05And you can't say your responsibility, I'm just outside working, somebody else is taking care of my daughter,
16:12and I'm not noticing anything.
16:13You understand?
16:14I understand, Your Honor.
16:15And I wish I did really know what was going on.
16:21Like, when CPS came by, my caseworker, she gave me all this paperwork, and I was reviewing it.
16:31It was at that moment that I understood.
16:34Okay.
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