DEFENSE DENIES MURDER; PROSECUTORS SAY PARENTS STARVED DAUGHTER.

Byline: Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writer

Frail and weighing just 44 pounds, 15-year-old Lindsay Gentry was malnourished but not to the extent that she starved to death, said the attorney who is defending her parents against murder charges.

During closing arguments Monday in the trial on murder charges against Kathleen and Michael Gentry of Lake Los Angeles, the attorney for Lindsay's father told the jury that the girl was the victim of myotonic dystrophy, a congenital disorder characterized by mental deficiency and wasting away of muscles.

``Since people do die from this at age 15,'' defense lawyer Pat Thomason said there is cause to believe that she did and there is ``certainly reasonable doubt'' she was murdered.

``Just because malnourishment contributed in some insignificant way does not rise to the level of murder,'' Thomason said.

But prosecutor Kathleen Cady said the parents could be convicted of murder even if malnutrition was only one of the causes of death. Although myotonic dystrophy weakened her and she eventually would have died of natural causes, ``she didn't have to die at 44 pounds because of her disease,'' said Cady. The teen-ager weighed only as much as a typical 6-year-old when she died in February 1996, the prosecutor pointed out.

``What they did was turn her disease, what she was born with, into a prison for her,'' Cady said. ``Every time they had an injury, they blamed it on the disease. Every time she didn't want to eat, they blamed it on the disease.''

The Gentrys are each charged with murder, child abuse and conspiracy to commit child abuse.

While her husband sat stiffly with his attorneys, Kathleen Gentry, who suffers from a mild form of myotonic dystrophy, looked confused during the attorneys' arguments. She occasionally turned and made eye contact with someone in the audience, which included about two dozen supporters from Lake Los Angeles.

Outside of court, Helen Darrow, Michael Gentry's 78-year-old mother, said she was encouraged by the defense attorney's presentation.

``They're making sense. They're telling the truth,'' said Darrow, who lived with the defendants while Lindsay was alive. ``There's just no truth to it at all. If anybody had been hurting Lindsay, I would have known about it.''

But prosecutors outlined what they called a pattern of abuse documented since Lindsay, at 6, went to school with bruises on her buttocks and said her father had hit her with a belt.

Cady said Lindsay suffered a black eye and cuts to the face, and some of her teeth were broken or damaged, before she was 10 years old.

In weighing the child-abuse charge, the jury was instructed to consider only injuries that occurred after July 1995. There was no evidence of abuse after that date, and no signs of abuse were found in the autopsy, defense attorneys said.

Prosecution and defense attorneys played up the opinions of their own expert witnesses and attacked those of the other side's experts.

Cady said defense witness Marvin Ament, a gastroenterologist, contradicted himself. She said he initially testified that Lindsay was severely malnourished and should have been treated for that problem starting at 10, but later testified that the teen-ager was only mildly malnourished and that there was no evidence her heart was affected by the trouble she had swallowing.

Two prosecution experts testified that Lindsay died of starvation. One of them, Dr. Frank Sheridan, forensic pathologist for San Bernardino County, said it was obvious that Lindsay was the victim of chronic abuse and neglect, Cady said.

Defense attorneys noted that Sheridan never treated the girl and was not involved in the autopsy. They said his opinion that malnutrition ``quite possibly'' affected her heart came in response to a hypothetical question posed by prosecutors.

A defense expert, Dr. Gholam Pezeshkpour, said Lindsay died of a heart attack that sent her into a coma from lack of oxygen, according to defense attorney Thomason.

``The heart stoppage was not due to malnutrition. It was sudden and unexpected,'' Thomason said.

Cady cited three actions that she said proved the Gentrys conspired to kill their daughter.

She said they deprived her of adequate dental care for at least six years before her death. ``One of the reasons Lindsay told people she didn't like to eat was that her teeth hurt,'' Cady said.

The couple inflicted mental suffering on their daughter by telling her it it was her time ``to go be with Jesus,'' Cady said. Defense attorneys said Lindsay and her parents had an innocuous religious discussion, and the statement about its being time to go, as related by Lindsay through another person, should be viewed with skepticism.

Prosecutors accused the Gentrys of not providing adequate food for Lindsay.

Kathleen Gentry's attorney, David Houchin, said social workers came to the house on unannounced visits and found no evidence that Lindsay was being starved. The teen-ager was repeatedly examined by doctors for a variety of ailments, and none found that Lindsay was being starved to death, said Houchin, who urged the jury not to let emotions cloud the deliberations.

``Emotion is a part of us all, folks. Don't let it become a part of the decision in this case,'' Houchin said.

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) Kathleen Gentry

Searches audience

(2--Color) Michael Gentry

Sits stiffly upright