March 27, 2009 - The Austin Chronicle

NEWSBelieving the ChildrenIn 1992, Fran and Danny Keller were convicted of multiple counts of child sexual abuse at theirOak Hill day care center and sent to prison for 48 years. It’s likely they were innocent. Indeed,it’s very likely that no crime ever occurred – except an absurd and overzealous prosecution.BY JORDAN SMITH PHOTOS BY JANA BIRCHUMWhen the little girl on the witness standsaid, “No, it didn’t happen,” Frances Kellerput her head in her hands and began to sob.It was the second day of what would be asix-day trial of Keller and her husband, Danny,on charges that they’d sexually assaulted ayoung girl, Christina Chaviers, in the summerof 1991, when the 3-year-old was an infrequentdrop-in at their home-based Oak Hillday care. Among the multiple counts wereallegations that Danny had forcibly penetratedChristina with a pen and his penis and thatFran had performed oral sex on Christina andforced the girl to do the same. The chargeswere based on statementsChristina had made, first toher mother, Suzanne Guinne,and then to her therapist,social worker Donna David-Campbell. There was no definitivephysical evidence.On the witness stand, thelittle girl sat on her older sister’slap, chewing on a lollipop.“Did Danny ever touch you ina way you didn’t like?” Assistant DistrictAttorney Judy Shipway asked.“No,” Christina replied.“Did Fran ever touch you [in] a way youdidn’t like?” Shipway asked.“No,” the girl replied.Shipway tried a different approach. DidChristina tell anyone else that Danny had hurther? She did not reply. Shipway asked if Christinawould like to “whisper to me” her answer.“No,” she said.“Christy, when you say no, do you meanyou don’t want to talk about it, or do youmean, no, it didn’t happen?” Shipway asked.“No, it didn’t happen,” Christina repliedonce and then again. “No, it didn’t happen.”“But did you tell somebody it happened?”Shipway asked.“Yes, yes, yes,” she answered.Fran held her head in her hands; all theemotion of the last year and a half welled up.Finally, she thought, everyone in the courtroomhad heard the truth: Nothing had happened.Fran felt a measure of relief – certainly,this whole ordeal would soon be over.But that’s not what happened. Instead, Franand Danny Keller were each convicted of sexuallyassaulting Christina Chaviers, and each“Christy, when you say no, do you mean youdon’t want to talk about it, or do you mean,no, it didn’t happen?” prosecutor Shipwayasked. “No, it didn’t happen,” ChristinaChaviers replied once and then again.“No, it didn’t happen.”was sentenced to 48 years in prison. For theKellers, now 58 and 68, respectively, it waseffectively a life sentence. They’ve since comeup for parole, but neither will acknowledgethe remorse that is a requirement of release –after 17 years, the Kellers still fiercely maintaintheir innocence.And in fact, the Chronicle’s reinvestigationof the Fran’s Day Care case has revealed seriousproblems with the state’s case against theKellers – including questions about the qualityand reliability of the state’s medical evidenceand forensic interviews. Moreover, the sensationalnature of the charges themselves, in aperiod of hysterical national rumors aboutsupposed “satanic ritual abuse” at day carecenters, made it virtually impossible for theKellers to receive a fair or even rational trial.Finally, our investigation has uncovered potentiallyexculpatory evidence that the Kellers’defense attorneys say they were not aware of atthe time of the 1992 trial.In light of the problems with the originalprosecution and this additional evidence,there remain substantive doubts about theKellers’ guilt. Indeed, it’s an open questionnot only whether the Kellers were rightly convicted– but more fundamentally, whether anycrime ever happened at Fran’sDay Care at all.Taking Care of KidsFrances was devastated by thecharges, which she and Dannyvociferously denied. She lovedchildren. She had three of herown, already grown, and shemissed having little ones aroundthe house. In late 1989, Francesdecided to quit her job in the deli at the OakHill H-E-B and to open a day care in herhome just off Highway 71. “My boss was havinga baby, and I told her I was just gettingtired of working, and she asked, if I was goingto quit, would I watch her baby? Well, I’vewatched children … all my life,” Frances, orFran, as the kids called her, told the Chroniclein an interview at the Sycamore Unit of thewomen’s prison in Gatesville.“Even when my kids were little I watchedchildren. And … it just started with her [baby]and then with a couple more. I was in heaven,you know, staying home and taking care ofkids. I just loved it.” She insists consistently tothis day that she would never even think ofhurting a child – and that neither she nor herhusband ever abused Christina Chaviers.Yet following a half-day at the Kellers onAug. 15, 1991, Christina told her mother thatshe didn’t like Danny, because he’d spankedher – just “like daddy” used to, Guinne said incourt. (At the time, Guinne and her husband,Rick Chaviers, were engaged in a bitter divorce.)Mother and daughter were en route to a scheduledappointment with therapist Donna David-Campbell, who had been seeing Christina forseveral months to work on the toddler’s ongoingbehavior problems. By the time Christina’shalf-hour appointment was finished, however,the allegation that Danny had spanked her hadgrown in severity and scope. According to aTravis County Sheriff’s Office report, Guinneand David-Campbell told investigators thatduring the therapy session, Christina toldthem that Danny had penetrated her vaginawith an ink pen on numerous occasions andthat he “‘pee[s] and poops’ on her and itcomes out of his bottom.”In the following weeks, Christina’s allegationsagainst the Kellers became more disturbing andconfounding. By the end of the year, Christinahad said not only that Fran and Danny hadmolested her but that two other people – a darkhairedwoman and a man that looked like countrysinger Kenny Rogers – had also come to theday care to partake in the abuse. She said thatshe’d been poked with needles by the Kellersand that Danny had dug a hole in the back yardand put her in it. She related tales of the Kellerstorturing and killing animals and said that theKellers had murdered, decapitated, and disemboweleda baby. According to case records,all these horrific actions had occurred duringthe 13 times Christina had attended the daycare, without any parent or other adult noticinganything amiss.By the end of 1991, two other childrenbegan to tell similar stories. Vijay Staelin, whowas also seeing therapist David-Campbell, toldDaniel Keller22 T H E A U S T I N C H R O N I C L E MARCH 27, 2009 a u s t i n c h r o n i c l e . c o m