' Booger Red ' Kelly Trial Begins Today
By CASEY KNAUPP
Staff Writer
A Smith County jury will begin hearing evidence today in the trial of Patrick “Booger Red” Kelly, who is accused of forcing young children to perform sex acts for an audience at the “Mineola Swingers’ Club.”
Staff Writer
A Smith County jury will begin hearing evidence today in the trial of Patrick “Booger Red” Kelly, who is accused of forcing young children to perform sex acts for an audience at the “Mineola Swingers’ Club.”
Kelly, 41, of Tyler, is charged with seven felonies but will go on trial this week for engaging in organized criminal activity and aggravated assault of a child for allegedly forcing young siblings to have sex; and tampering with evidence for allegedly destroying costumes and videotapes used in the performances. If convicted, Kelly could face five years to life in prison on the first two charges and two to 10 years in prison on the tampering charge.
Twelve jurors were selected out of a panel of 150 people after 241st District Judge Jack Skeen Jr. denied defense attorney Thad Davidson’s motion for continuance. The trial, originally set for June 23, had already been postponed by Skeen three times at Davidson’s request.
Davidson subpoenaed Child Protective Services records in the case last week, Skeen said. He ordered that the documents be turned over to Davidson.
Patrice Savage, a regional attorney for CPS, said the records had earlier been given to prosecutors, who then supplied them to the defense. Ms. Savage also handed over two videotaped interviews conducted at the Children Advocacy Center of Smith County (CAC) of two of the child victims in May 2005.
Davidson said he didn’t know about the videos, but Assistant Smith County District Attorney Joe Murphy said his office called Davidson on Friday when they got the tapes.
Skeen said he would rule during trial whether the information on the CPS documents and videos would be admissible in Kelly’s trial.
Davidson called Jason Isham, a therapist at the CAC, to testify and asked him how many interviews were conducted there involving the case. Isham said only two children were interviewed there in May 2005.
Murphy listed recorded interviews done with several defendants and victims in the case by different agencies and said they have been available to the defense for some time, but Davidson never came to his office to view them or pay for copies.
Davidson, who was hired by Kelly, said his client is now indigent and he would like copies of the interviews provided to him.
Skeen said Davidson has been the attorney on the case for a long time and on the day of jury selection, he asked for copies of the videos. He said they would be given to defense before trial.
Davidson also subpoenaed Greg Singleton, who was a therapist for some of the child victims for nearly a year. But before he testified to his records, Murphy said all of Singleton’s records had already been provided to Davidson in the discovery. Davidson said he would like to know where in the 11,000 pages of discovery the documents were.
Skeen said the court granted earlier the defense’s motion to compel an out-of-state witness to come to Smith County to testify. John Cantrell, the foster dad for three of the sibling victims, was charged in June on an aggravated sexual assault of a child charge from an alleged incident in 1990 in California. Skeen ordered a Smith County sheriff’s deputy to go to California Monday, where Cantrell was scheduled to appear in court, and bring him back to testify in Kelly’s case.
Skeen asked Davidson if he still wanted a continuance in Kelly’s case because that would make his order to bring Cantrell to court void. Davidson said he did still want the trial postponed because of the CPS records he’s received in the past few weeks, he needed more time to prepare for trial.
Skeen said Davidson could have subpoenaed the CPS records much earlier. He said the case would proceed to jury selection and Davidson would have an opportunity to subpoena additional witnesses if he needed to.
THE VICTIMS
The victims — three siblings who are now a 10-year-old girl, a 9-year-old boy, a 7-year-old girl and their 9-year-old aunt — testified in previous trials that Kelly and the co-defendants taught them, beginning at age 5, to dance and perform sex acts in “kindergarten,” and then forced them to perform in front of a paying audience. The children said they were given “silly pills,” or drugs, before they performed.
The victims — three siblings who are now a 10-year-old girl, a 9-year-old boy, a 7-year-old girl and their 9-year-old aunt — testified in previous trials that Kelly and the co-defendants taught them, beginning at age 5, to dance and perform sex acts in “kindergarten,” and then forced them to perform in front of a paying audience. The children said they were given “silly pills,” or drugs, before they performed.
Although the club is in Wood County, the defendants were charged in Smith County because they lived here and reportedly held “kindergarten” at their houses. Prosecutors claim the offenses began and ended in Smith County when the children left and returned to the homes.
In November 2004, CPS began investigating Shauntel Mayo and her boyfriend, Jamie Pittman, two of the other defendants, on allegations of child neglect and drug abuse. Texas Rangers investigated allegations that the children were sexually abused, after foster parents reported behavioral issues and outcries from the children. Kelly and five others were indicted in 2007.
Ms. Mayo and Jamie Pittman have been convicted and sentenced to life in prison and face additional charges. Other defendants, Dennis Boyd Pittman, Rebecca Pittman, Shelia Darlene Sones and Jimmy Dale Sones, await trials.
Smith County district attorneys Joe Murphy and Zach Davis are prosecuting the case while Tina Brumbelow is representing Kelly along with Davidson.
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