PONTIAC, Mich. – The mother accused of abandoning three of her children and leaving them to live alone for years inside a filthy Oakland County home had two court hearings during the week.
Kelli Marie Bryant, 34, of Pontiac, is facing three counts of first-degree child abuse after police went to a home and found her 15-year-old son, 13-year-old daughter, and 12-year-old daughter living in deplorable conditions.
Click here to see all of our previous coverage of this case
Police said the conditions inside the home were deplorable: trash piled four feet high, the toilet overflowing, and feces in the bathtub and throughout the home.
Bryant faces the possibility of life in prison, if she’s convicted.
Bryant appeared in court twice this week: a preliminary examination on Wednesday and a bond motion hearing on Friday. Here’s what happened during those proceedings:
Wednesday’s preliminary examination
The majority of Wednesday’s proceedings centered around two motions filed by defense attorney Cecilia Quirindongo-Baunsoe.
First, Quirindongo-Baunsoe requested a “gag order” to limit the media exposure of the case. She argued to Judge Cynthia Thomas Walker that extensive coverage could affect a jury’s ability to be impartial.
Quirindongo-Baunsoe accused the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office of disseminating information that they made her sign a protective order to receive.
She said she was asked to sign an agreement to not share anything related to the case — a request she declined — and that she was told not to talk about the case.
“But at the same time, saying that this is in the public interest,” Quirindongo-Baunsoe said. “I don’t think it’s in the public interest to disseminate evidence that hasn’t been admitted into court. And I don’t think it’s in the children’s interest to disseminate any of that.”
“We live in a social media era and information and misinformation spreads very quickly,” said Assistant Prosecutor Kanika Ferency.
In the end, Walker agreed with the prosecution, saying it’s important that misinformation can be shot down through the trial. The motion was denied.
The defense’s second motion centered around the $250 million bond that Bryant received during her Feb. 20 arraignment.
Oakland County Judge Ronda M. Fowlkes Gross said the bond was set because Bryant could be a flight risk or could try to reach out to the three children.
Quirindongo-Baunsoe is pushing for a personal bond with conditions.
Walker said the court was willing to evaluate “appropriate pretrial release conditions,” so the two sides agreed to reconvene Friday to discuss bond.
The motion was approved, and that’s why all parties returned to the courtroom (virtually) on Friday afternoon.
Here’s video from Wednesday’s proceedings before we get into what happened Friday:
Here are the entire proceedings:
Friday’s motion hearing
During Friday’s hearing about bond, Walker listened to arguments from the defense and prosecution before reducing Bryant’s bond from $250 million to $50,000.
Walker said the purpose of bond is to ensure a defendant returns to court and to protect the community and the victims.
“At this point, I have reviewed all of the factors that the court is to take into consideration in determining the proper bail,” Walker said.
“I am still not satisfied that the court can at this point say that there is a guarantee of a return to court. The defendant has not been a flight risk in the past, however, the potential penalty in this case is quite high, given the nature of the charge. The protection of the public and the victims is also a concern.”
Walker said she shares some of the concerns mentioned by the arraigning judge about Bryant possibly reaching out to the children in the case to try to influence testimony.
“I realize that there may be a need to do further review of the bond, but I do find that the court has an obligation to set a reasonable bond, and the current bond amounts to a denial of bond,” Walker said. “So what I’m going to do is modify, based on the information that we have that is verified.”
Walker reduced the bond to a $50,000 cash bond, no surety, with the following conditions:
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Bryant will be on pretrial services supervision.
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No alcohol or illegal drug use.
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No possession of a weapon.
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No assaultive conduct of any sort while the case is pending.
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No contact with any child under the age of 18 years old.
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Absolutely no contact with the victims in the case, including personal contact, phone calls, text messages, and reaching out to parties who have control of the children.
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A home confinement electronic monitoring device.
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Bryant can only leave home for medical emergencies, court appearances, court-ordered testing, and employment if it can be verified (it is not verified at this point).
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Any other travel requires permission from the court.
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No returning to the address where the children were found by police.
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No returning to the address of the victims.
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Any changes of address would have to be provided to court within 24 hours.
“I will note that Ms. Bryant be aware that if you violate any condition of release, you would be subject to arrest without a warrant and may have your bond forfeited, revoked, new conditions imposed, in addition to any other penalties if you are found in contempt of court,” Walker said.
The next court date is scheduled for 2 p.m. April 15, via Zoom.
Here are the entire proceedings:
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