Two local women were found guilty by a jury on Tuesday, Sept. 13 and sentenced to prison time in what one first responder called “as close to a Holocaust scene as I could ever see.”

Donna K. Bartley and Rita Mitchell, both 46, were found guilty of assault in the first-degree and criminal abuse in the first and second degree, respectively, when the jury returned after approximately an hour of deliberation.

The trial stemmed from a discovery by Department of Child Based Services at a house owned by Bartley at 4170 Mudlick Flippin Road, in the Gum Tree Community on Oct. 20, 2010. There they located Kalvin Bartley, then age 24, who is autistic and mildly mentally disabled and the son of Donna Bartley.

According to testimony during Monday and Tuesday’s court sessions in Judge Eddie C. Lovelace’s courtroom, after officials arrived at the home, Mitchell was arrested and Kalvin Bartley was transported to the hospital. When Donna Bartley arrived at the hospital and was questioned in the matter, she was also arrested.

Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Clay Hundley, who was the lead prosecutor in the case with Commonwealth Attorney Jesse Stockton, began his opening statement outlining the case, which he then supported with witnesses and evidence presented to the jury.

Bartley, who was represented by Attorney Greg Berry, and Mitchell, who was represented by Department of Public Advocacy Attorney Sandy Letaio, sat stoically through the proceedings with only Mitchell taking the stand in the defense portion of the trial.

With the two defendants being tried jointly in the trial, Judge Lovelace allowed Letaio to question and/or speak first for the defense, followed by Berry, throughout the two-day trial. Throughout the trial, she maintained that Mitchell, who was no relation to Kalvin, had been left to care for him when she was so severely depressed she “couldn’t even care for herself.”

Berry followed with his opening statement that although the jury would see “shocking” and sickening photos, you can’t judge based on an emotion,” maintaining that Bartley was not living at the home with Kalvin and it was not her legal duty to be there as he was over 24 years of age. “If anybody abused Kalvin, it would have been Mitchell,” he added.

The following witnesses then were called to testify with the synopsis of their testimony given here from notes taken within the courtroom.

Jane Dubree, the office manager at the Monroe County Water District, testified that Bartley had an account for the property at 4170 Mudlick-Flippin Road since May 3, 1995 until August 2010. Dubree noted that on July 26, a disconnection notice had been mailed for non-payment of the $14.85 per month bill as the last payment was made on June 15, 2010. The bill was never paid and the service was disconnected on August 10, 2010.

Local realtor, Eddie Proffitt, then took the stand to testify that he had been contacted by the mortgage company which was beginning foreclosure procedures on the property and asked to take pictures. Proffitt noted that he went to the property several times and was supposed to go inside, but was never allowed access. He added that several dogs were on the property and kept him from getting close and that he would park behind the voting building (which was near the property) to keep the dogs from “getting” him. When Proffitt was told there might be a child in the property, he became concerned both because of the dogs and because of the odor which was noticeable, he said, up to 100’ away from the house, “if the wind was right,” he added. He reported the concerns to Sheriff Roger Barlow’s office.

Billy Pickerell, who was working as a deputy in the sheriff’s office in October 2010, then testified that he had taken the complaint and went to the property with Deputy Joe Copass. Pickerell noted that he knew Bartley had lived there as he had been sent there previously to serve her legal documents. He and Copass approached the house in uniform and Mitchell answered the door. When asked if there were any small children in the house, she told them no. Due to the fact that the dogs were “ill,” Pickerell said they decided to come back with someone else. He testified that the smell coming from inside the home was “unbearable, I had never smelled anything like that before,” he added. Mitchell, he said, had what looked like dog feces on her feet and smelled like the home did.

Copass and MacShane Bartley from Social Services returned to the home with Pickerell returning later in the afternoon (after escorting a funeral) and by that time, Kalvin had already been removed from the home, Pickerell noted. He also added that he was bitten by one of the dogs while helping the dog catcher and had to leave the scene after looking in the bedroom where Kalvin resided and told the court that he had to burn his clothes due to the smell.

Upon cross examination by Letaio, Pickerell told the court that he was not working with the sheriff’s office anymore and that Mitchell had been asked if anyone else was in the house and she said no.

Berry then questioned Pickerell who said that he did not see Donna Bartley at the property and that Mitchell never said that Bartley would be there.

MacShane Bartley, investigator with the Department of Social Services, then took the stand and testified that he had been contacted by Gerene Brown with the sheriff’s office and met Copass to go to the home. Being stopped by the dogs, Bartley asked for mace but Copass did not have any with him. Bartley noted that Mitchell came outside and that the dogs calmed down. After he identified himself and stated the purpose, he was denied access by Mitchell three times because “Donna told her not to let anybody in.”

After questioning Mitchell, Bartley said she maintained that no children were living there and eventually said that Kalvin was inside and that “he was dirty when we asked about his condition.” Bartley then remained on the porch until paramedics arrived, then went to the bedroom with the EMTs and took photos. The photos were entered into evidence and Bartley noted that they were exactly accurate and “show everything–except the smell.”

“When Kalvin reached out, it scared me. Robbie Hutcherson and I jumped back. There was a radio blaring to drown out Kalvin’s yelling,” he added. He then called Detective Michael Dubree with the Kentucky State Police.

Bartley noted that Mudlick first responders, Ricky and Patrick Collins, and EMTs Hutcherson and Phillip Bennett, were then all on scene with the firemen rolling Kalvin in a sheet and carrying him onto the back deck and put on the stretcher after the EMTs had put on special clothing.

“Mr. Bennett threw up. I had never seen anything like that before. They were flies on Kalvin, and I threw my clothes away when I got home that night. I was in that home in 2003, it was a nice, clean home,” Bartley added.

While at the hospital, investigator Bartley noted that he heard Det. Dubree questioning Donna Bartley, who said she had been at the home on the previous Friday when she had taken sheets over there and had noticed feces on Kalvin.

He went on to say that Kalvin’s condition later improved once he was being cared for at the local nursing home and that he improved to speak in short phrases, walk with assistance and feed himself, even though he lost all his teeth.

As Kalvin’s mother, Donna, cried softly in the courtroom, investigator Bartley noted that to the best of his knowledge, Kalvin is living in Bowling Green.

Det. Dubree then took the stand and told the court that he made a video of the scene and then immediately contacted County Attorney Wes Stephens to describe the home He added, after the video without narration was played, that the dog feces were not in the kitchen/living room area as it was in the back area where Kalvin was. While in the home with MacShane Bartley, he stated that he saw the dogs jump up in the bed with Kalvin.

In an interview with Mitchell, she noted that she lived there but that Donna had moved out and “she stated that it was her fault because she had depression and sometimes didn’t feel like doing anything. She said that Donna came by and dropped off food several times, but never saw Kalvin and only took her word for it that he was okay.”

After arresting Mitchell, Dubree noted that he called Donna on the phone and asked her to meet him at the hospital.

When she arrived at the hospital, Dubree noted that he conducted an interview during which Donna Bartley noted that she had seen Kalvin the previous Friday and that she had checked on him two or three times per week and took him clean sheets and that Kalvin was mild mentally retarded and was autistic and that she had began moving out of the home in the spring and was gone by August.

Dubree continued that Bartley’s other son, Dusty, had told him that he had seen Kalvin with feces on him and that Kalvin was found with no clothing nor sheets on his bed.

In closing arguments, Letaio pointed out that the situation had arose because Donna Bartley left Kalvin and Mitchell behind and “turned her back on them, leaving them with no water and was only worried about herself when officials arrived.”

“Anyone who was thinking clearly wouldn’t stay for a minute in that place,” Letaio said. She continued that Donna intimidated Mitchell and that she had no reason to keep Kalvin locked up. “There was no benefit for her–Donna Bartley had a reason to keep him there. She was in Glasgow in a nice, clean home.

Berry, in Bartley’s closing arguments, told the jury that the Commonwealth had tried to “make you mad by showing you photos and talking about smell…they want a verdict based on emotion, not evidence.”

Berry continued that Bartley was “nowhere around for two to three months leading up to Kalvin’s removal and said that there was no control by Bartley, that she could have “picked up the phone at any time. There is no proof that Donna Bartley had legal duty to care for Kalvin. At some point, we no longer have control over our children.”

Hundley began by telling the jury that at the risk of being “chastised for showing you these pictures, that is what this case is really about” as he displayed photos of the squalor he noted Kalvin had been kept in. He continued that common sense would lead anyone to the belief that the level of filth displayed couldn’t have happened in two weeks.

“All Donna was interested in was the $2,300 to $2,400 per month…custody is control. Mitchell was afraid to do anything because she was afraid she wouldn’t have anywhere to live. Donna had control, but Rita was the instrument that let it go on,” Hundley concluded.

(Due to time and space constraints, the remainder of the court report, including the sentencing phase, was to be published in this coming week’s Tompkinsville News, too late for Clinton County News press deadline.)