Inside the courthouse are various offices and only one other courtroom aside from the one where the above proceedings took place. The Briggs family, along with their friends, took over this second courtroom. Just outside this second courtroom is the front entrance to the building, which is located on the west end of the block. The Briggs family used this front entrance, lobby area and the second courtroom as their staging area.
Each morning one had to pass through both the news media and the Briggs camp to get to the courtroom where Raye Dawn's trial was being held. There was only one public restroom in the entire courthouse, and it was located across the hall from the main courtroom. When court would recess, there was no choice and everyone had to walk through members of the news media and the Briggs family.
The first day of trial metal detectors were set up at the door. As the trial progressed, the sheriff's deputies became much more relaxed with security.
Lance, the biological father of Kelsey, was cited for misconduct and removed from the courtroom, Lance spent his time lounging in a lawn chair under the big shaded oak tree on the front lawn of the courthouse with members of the television and print media.
Jay Sigman, the spokesperson for the Briggs camp and also relative, sat on the right side of the courtroom on the front row just a few feet from the jury. Jay made several inflammatory comments directed at Raye Dawn and the defense while trial was in progress. Many of these comments were audible for me to hear, and I was sitting on the opposite side of the courtroom in a position where I could observe everything that was going on. Certainly, the jury that was only a few feet from where Jay was sitting could hear his comments. After a few days of this, someone wearing a bade, possibly an officer of the court or someone with the prosecution, moved near Jay and then Jay moved to the second row after that, sitting behind the man, and refrained from making statements aloud in the courtroom from then on out.
Jay did not refrain from speaking with the news media outside. None of the Briggs family did for that matter.
There were between 50 to 100 people present inside the courtroom each day. The number grew as the trial progressed. The Briggs camp sat on the right side of the courtroom, the side closest to the jury. The Smith family sat on the left side. The first two rows on the left side of the courtroom were full of news reporters. The last day of trial, the courtroom was packed with several people standing up in the back.
Throughout the trial, members of the Briggs family would pass notes to the district attorney. During every break, the district attorney would speak with the Briggs family in the other courtroom. It was a regular event for the district attorney to be seen speaking with the Briggs family.
Several of the jurors appeared to be watching the trial as if they were seated in their own living rooms. I observed at least nine of the jurors nodding off or dozing during the trial at different times. One female juror, Michelle Reeves, sat slouched in her seat and wore a NASCAR fleece blanket draped over her body from head to toe. I observed her sleeping several times. The judge admonished the jury over and over again about paying attention, keeping their eyelids open, not to speak about the case with anyone and not to watch television, listen to the radio, or read the newspaper. The judge cautioned the jurors at the beginning of each day and at the end of each day.
The jurors were not sequestered during the trials and were free to roam inside outside of the courthouse along with trial witnesses, lawyers, family members from both the Smith and Briggs family, news media, and the public at large. During the eight-day trial, the jurors were allowed to return to their homes at night and were permitted to go home over the intervening weekend. Jurors shared the same restrooms as everyone else and took their breaks at the same time as everyone else. The jurors parked in the same parking lot as everyone else.
At break time, several jurors would sit outside on the benches at the front entrance, both smokers and nonsmokers alike. Once Lance was removed from the courtroom, he would sit here, as well. The Briggs family would camp out at the front entrance with the news media also.
The media camped out in lawn chairs every day on the front lawn of the courthouse just a few feet from the front entrance to the courthouse, which is on the west side, and only a few feet from the jurors. The news media would interview trial witnesses and members of the Briggs family right therre in front of the jury, and these jurors had to hear everything that was said. Jay Sigman gave statements to the press on a regular basis. His wife, Teri, was also interviewed. Kathie, Lance and Ashley were interviewed as well. The media tried to interview just about everyone that testified at trial.
At lunch time, the jurors ate at the same restaurants as the news media, trial witnesses, and members of the Briggs family. I had lunch at a burger place one day, and I observed one male juror sitting at a table right next to the Briggs family. The same male juror was also watching the noon news, which broadcast details of the trial. This was just minutes after the jury had been cautioned by the judge not to watch television.
The number of jurors that sat outside at the front entrance varied each day. It seemed taht about ten of the jurors would rotate outside in the spot. The jurors would sit, smoke and visit less than ten feet from where the news media was conducting interviews.
One morning when I arrived, I observed two female members of the jury conversing like old friends in the parking lot. One of the female jurors I recognized as Michelle Reeves and the other had tight, curly permed hair. They were talking over a car and one cameraman pointed his camera on them, but abruptly turned the camera away.
It was apparent that one femal juror, Michelle Reeves, received information from an outside source. She was interviewed by FOX 25 out of Oklahoma City within 48 hours after the verdict was returned. I watched this interview, and Michelle discussed evidence in this interview that was not presented at trial. Again, she was one of the jurors that would congregate at the benches at the front entrance with the Briggs family and news media. In her interview with FOX 25, Michelle claimed that the evidence at trial showed that the child was in the process of dying before Raye Dawn ever left the house that day. Michelle further claimed that Raye Dawn set Mike Porter up to take the fall. I was present throughout the entire trial and contrary to Michelle's assertions, it was never in dispute that Mike Porter was the perpetrator. The evidence at trial was that Mike Porter murdered and sexually assaulted Kelsey. The district attorney himself said that he did not believe Mike Porter and that Mike Porter was the murderer.
Jury selection was short. It only took a half a day. Each juror claimed not to have heard about the case prior to trial, while some said they only heard about it on the news that morning.
The news media was well represented. Television News Channels KFOR News Channel 4, KOCO News Channel 5, KWTV News Channel 9 and FOX 25 all out of Oklahoma City were present throughout the entirety of the trial. Channel 2 from Tulsa was also present. Reporters from The Oklahoman, U.S. Observer Oklahoma and Shawnee News-Star were there as well. The parking lot across the street from the courthouse was filled with media vehicles. There were at least three live satellite trucks parked there. At any given time, there were at least four cameras set up at the front door. The last day, there were a dozen cameras. Many of the cameramen would use their long telephoto lenses through the windows and glass doors to capture pictures and video of the Smith family inside the courtroom.
This was a highly publicized case before trial and during trial. It received so much publicity in the news media that the judge granted a change of venue. In spite of the inordinate amount of pre-trial publicity, jury selection only took a half a day. In my opinion, Creek County was not far enough away.
Each morning, Raye Dawn would arrive with her mother. The car they were riding in would drive under the covered awning on the east side of the courthouse where the Sheriff deputies would meet them. They had to be escorted inside due to reported threats from the Briggs family. The news media soon became aware that Raye Dawn was using the other entrance in the mornings and they would run from the west end of the courthouse to the east end just to capture video footage. The reporters tried every day to get a statement from Raye Dawn, but she continuously refused.
The news media would chase Raye Dawn and her mother inside the courthouse each morning. The news media would take pictures of Raye Dawn and her mother as they got out of the car each morning. I observed several news reporters, Cherokee Ballard and Britton Follet, yelling out very inflammatory statements toward Raye Dawn, including, "Why did you kill your baby?" They would ask Raye Dawn how she thought the trial was going.
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