Abuse trial begins for grandparents

PALMER — How much did George and Shirley Long know about what was happening on their daughter’s property in the spring and summer of 2004?

Did they know enough that it was a crime not to contact law enforcement?

That’s what a jury of five men and three women will be asked to decide at the end of what could be a week-long trial before District Court Judge William Estelle.

Patrick and Sherry Kelley, along with their adopted children, lived on a plot of land next door to Sherry’s parents in the Big Lake area. The Kelleys’ case took years to wind through the legal system and in the end the pair were sentenced to time served for neglect and abuse of their adopted children. Allegations in the case included tying a child to a tree, locking a child in a box, tossing a child into a pond to teach him a lesson, beatings and general neglect.

At one point the Kelleys were facing nearly 100 charges of abuse, kidnapping and child endangerment. Those charges were whittled down for Sherry to one count each of assault and criminal nonsupport and for Patrick to a single count of child endangerment.

For their part, George Long, 69, and Shirley Long, 63, are charged with assault and failing to report child abuse. The assault charge relates to an incident Assistant District Attorney Rachel Gernat describes as George tying up a child in a dog run. Defense attorney John Pharr said that incident was minor and brief.

Lawyers in the case spent most of their time during Friday’s first day of the trial going over the latter charges — those of not reporting the Kelleys’ abuse.

“Rather than call the police on their daughter they turned a blind eye and did not,” Gernat said.

Gernat went over some of the allegations against the Kelleys — the incident in the pond, the tying of children to trees and a burn one had that was so bad he needed skin grafts but for which Sherry didn’t seek medical treatment.

In the case of the adopted grandparents, “It’s not necessarily what the defendants did, it’s what they failed to do,” Gernat said. “It’s what they knew or should have known about what was going on.”

Pharr, who represents George Long, said the Longs didn’t know how bad things were for the children on the Kelley property as there was a quarter mile separating the two plots. The Longs were the “kindly grandparents” of the children and George, in particular, was their protector.

“Sherry knew that she couldn’t hit these children around George because George wouldn’t allow it,” Pharr said.

In his opening statement, Pharr pointed out that it was George’s call to Alaska State Troopers that finally landed the children in the custody of the state.

“And his thanks is to be in the dock over here,” Pharr said, drawing an objection from Gernat.

Judge Estelle sustained Gernat’s objection, saying opening statements are a time to talk about what the evidence will show, not make arguments as Pharr had.

The call Pharr spoke of was played for the jury just before noon Monday.

“We have a slight problem out here at Misty Lake,” George Long tells dispatchers. “My daughter, she has five children, adopted children, and basically they’re in one big free-for-all.”

“A fight?” the dispatcher asks.

“Yeah, a fight,” George replies. “Them and their mom seem to have lost it.”

Gernat argued during her opening statements that Long wasn’t reporting the depth and the severity of the abuse, simply a temper tantrum Sherry was having.

On the tape, when George is asked if the fight is physical, he replies, “it ranting and raving right now.”

The trial continues Monday.