NEW TRIALS ORDERED IN DAY CARE ABUSE CASE

The North Carolina state Court of Appeals ordered a new trial for Robert Kelly Jr., the owner of the Little Rascals day care center who was convicted in 1992 of sexually abusing children there. In a unanimous opinion, the court ruled that the testimony of parents of the alleged victims in the case was inadmissible. The court also threw out the conviction of Kathryn Dawn Wilson, the cook for the center. Chief Judge Gerald Arnold wrote in his decision that the testimony by some parents should not have been allowed because the parents were not experts on symptoms of sex abuse in children.