I received my Bachelor's Degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma in 1980, and began my consulting business in June, 1983, Since then, I have developed strategies for clients on hundreds of public affairs/political and litigation issues, with specific focus on media strategies in high-profile cases. I have consulted on some of the nation's highest profile regulatory, legislative political and litigation cases. In Oklahoma City, I serve often as a news analyst for both television and radio stations.
In 2001, I became among the first communications consultants in the United States to receive bar approval for Continuing Legal Education (CLE) ethics courses for legal counsel regarding their ethical responsibilities, specifically Rule 3.6 on trial publicity.
It is my professional opinion that the jury in Raye Dawn's case should have been sequestered. During trial, the media coverage was at its highest. There is simply no way to rule out that none of these 12 jurors watched the television, read the newspaper, listened to the radio or got online during the trial while at home at night or during the day on lunch breaks. Moreover, jury selection should have taken more than a half a day to conclude, given the enormous amount of publicity this case garnered in the three years prior to trial.
I reached those conclusions after interviewing hundreds of news accounts regarding this case. When reviewed in the light of high-profile criminal cases over the past decade, arguably this case achieved "celebrity" criminal case status, or in other words, a "media" trial long before the case came to trial.
Leaving aside the newspaper stories, during the trial alone and in the 48 hours that followed the verdict, there were 423 stories reported on Raye Dawn's trial on local television channels in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. This information gathered through transcripts of close captioning of local news provided by Newslink. Trial witnesses were interviewed by news reporters as they hurried to their automobiles following their testimony. Some of these witnesses can be seen on news video being escorted to their cars by sheriff's deputies while the news media were in tow, shouting out questions and comments. Members of the Briggs family were on the news daily throughout the eight-day trial.
Pre-trial publicity in this case was enormous. Prior to the change of venue, there were at least 910 stories reported on Kelsey on local television channels in Oklahoma City. Since the start of this case which began in the days following Kelsey's death in October, 2005 up until the filing for the change of venue, there were two stories a day ran about this case. This case spans a three-year time frame. In those three years, the news media has ran coverage on the legislation passed in Kelsey's name and the multi-million dollar lawsuits filed by Lance against the Department of Human Services, other state agencies and various doctors who treated Kelsey in the months prior to her death.
The newspaper and television is not the only negative image delivery system in the market. Rather, the public has received an inordinate amount of other negative media impressions of Raye Dawn through radio, alternative publications and web "bloggers." The blogging traffic on this case has been extreme. It seems that almost everyone has had a comment to make abou this case. Judge Key losing his re-election over this case has been played out in the media. Judge Key himself released his book, A Deadly Game of Tug of War: The Kelsey Smith-Briggs Story a little over a week before Raye Dawn's trial. His book was available online at http://www.judgekey.com/ as of June 27, 2007, just 12 days before Raye Dawn appeared for trial.
Kathie, the paternal grandmother, has been an active voice of the prosecution and the excessive hostility toward Raye Dawn, her family and defense in the media. Kathie established a website, Kelsey's Purpose, shortly after Kelsey passed away. The blogging traffic on this site is unreal.
It is my professional opinion that the change of venue in this case did nothing to alleviate the impact of the negative news coverage on Raye's case. The jury was not sequestered during the trial. They were allowed to eat wherever they chose to at lunch, and return to their homes at night and over the intervening weekend.
What is important about this media coverage is its one-sided nature. The media never inquired as to why Lance was only in Iraq for seven months.
The media never inquired into the Briggs family at all for that matter. It has has been reported that a prominent news reporter, Cherokee Ballard, from a local television station in Oklahoma City has spent holidays with the Briggs family. In essence, some of the news media have become publicists for the Briggs family.
No one can deny the negative impact that the media coverage had on Raye Dawn's trial. Even Richard Smothermon, the District Attorney admits that the news media was a detriment to the trial. Richard Smothermon was interviewed by KOKH FOX 25 within days after the verdict was returned, and in that interview, he admits that the media "was a detriment to the case."
The one certainty of a "media" trial is that the media will provide detailed coverage of the trial and will indeed influence the trial in ways researchers are only beginning to understand. It has been documented that in the O.J. Simpson case, the media's rush to file stories produced potential evidence and witnesses for the trial. Because of media influence, high profile cases are not typical cases, and Raye Dawn's case attracted extraordinary news coverage.
In Raye Dawn's case, prosecution witnesses "came to light" as the coverage of the case on the news increased.
Study after study emanating from high-profile cases indicates that media scrutiny has a profound effect on the attitudes and expectations of potential jurors, which is especially troublesome during the pre-trial period when reporting tends to be pro-prosecution oriented.
Most troublesome for the defense are the trends that normally exaist whenever the Fourth and Sixth Amendments collide. For example, media coverage often places emphasis on facts and evidence the jury may never hear. Additionally, jurors are instructed to not draw conclusions until all evidence is presented. In Raye Dawn's case, with such massive pre-trial publicity, virtually every negative item has been presented numerous times, and it appears that arguably many in the media concluded her guilt before she was tried and convicted.
Further, research indicates interpretive bias is magified in high-profile cases. In short, the difficulties for potential jurors to do an honest and fair job are greatly increased when pre-trial publicity like that with which Raye Dawn faced was present.
After careful study, it is my professional opinion that Raye Dawn did not receive a fair trial. The negative news media in her case was very widespread. The fact that jury selection took only a half a day is appalling. Clearly, there is no way, in just a half a day, it could be determined that the 12 jurors on the panel had no prior knowledge of the case.
Studies show that in high-profile cases, jurors will answer questions a certain way in an effort to get on the jury. Most persons want to serve as jurors in high-profile cases.
The face of Kelsey is everywhere. Hundreds of fliers and bumper stickers were passed out at numerous rallies held by organizers of "Kelsey's Purpose," in the months leading to Raye Dawn's trial. Driving down Interstate 40, there is a billboard with Kelsey's face. On Highway 18, there is a second billboard.
This story was appealing to the media because you had one family, i.e. the Briggs family, that was more than willing to speak with the news media on a regular basis; you had a child that died; you had two families that had been involved in tense relations for years; a so-called war hero who had allegedly returned from serving just a seven-month deployment in Iraq to find his daughter had died; a Judge losing his re-election over the case; effectively two defendants, the stepfather and the mother; a paternal grandmother who was instrumental in passing legislation in Kelsey's name; and multi-million dollar lawsuits filed against several state agencies and the Oklahoma Department of Human Services.
Sealed DHS records were leaked to the press. Pictures of Kelsey following an automobile accident in August, 2005 were given to the press and stories were run claiming her injuries from the automobile accident were abuse.
During the trial, the local television stations gave very detailed reports on the case, showing video and pictures of Kelsey's alleged injuries. Video of Kelsey in the pink and green casts saturated the news media market in the years following her death. During the trial, a few stations would talk about anticipated testimony in the days to follow before the witnesses even took the stand.
Following the trial, we have seen at least one juror who has not been the least bit hesitant to converse with television and print news media in Oklahoma.
Throughout the trial, there was at least one local television station, KOKH FOX 25, who provided notes form the trial on a daily basis on it's website.
I am not related to any of the parties in this case.
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