I don't know which one
of my many posts made it to the "other" site as I
NEVER
go there. I would imagine it has to do with the thought that
some believe Raye
could be guilty of murder.
If I took a poll she would win hands down over Mike Porter.
I am not saying I think Raye Dawn is guilty
of murder.
I have actually defended her numerous times in our small
town. I personally don't know which one killed Kelsey. I do
find it strange that Raye Dawn's family has flyers that
state Lance was due home on October 12th (which wasn't true)
and Raye Dawn was upset about him seeing Kelsey. Then the
day before and after she made calls to her attorney and
Kelsey's attorney this baby is murdered.
The timeline allows for either Raye Dawn or Mike to be
guilty
of this crime. The day after Kelsey has died Raye Dawn is
out visiting and filing EPO's so Kelsey's father and I
cannot attend the funeral. Her own cousin testified to that
fact in court. Before the funeral Raye Dawn knows Kelsey's death
was ruled a homicide.
If she knows she did not commit the murder
then it would have to be Mike. Does she ban him from the
funeral? NO, he is allowed to attend. Not only that, Raye
Dawn's cousin and sister stay in the home with him. Why
would you do this if you thought this man murdered Kelsey?
Did her
own family suspect it was Raye Dawn?
I can tell you we have been contacted by members of her
family and they do believe that. Were they there because
they were afraid Mike would tell what really happened? I
don't know....it is a question we will never have answered.
The biggest question I get is why would you put a
two-year-old to nap on your own bed without a pull up? It
makes no sense to me either. Another one is if you pop up
out of bed and you are running late to pick up one of the
children from school what do you do? Do you want Mike to
come out to the porch and look at a turtle? A turtle that
was on the porch hours ago and was not put in a box? Or do
you get in the truck and go so that child does not have to
wait?
After the trial the big question is why would
Gayla
Smith not
report Mike for taping Kelsey's eyes shut? She knew the past
history and stated she was "watchin" him. She could have
saved that baby's life right then and there. If her daughter
was a victim of circumstance she could have saved her from
years in prison. Instead she seemed to add years to the
sentence. At the same time she made herself look
guilty of
enabling child abuse
or at the very least
guilty of
failure to report.
When Gayla Smith
was asked about
Kelsey's weight loss, her reply "she was taller." Okay, just
a little common sense here, if you are taller and healthy
wouldn't you weigh more or at the very least the same? The
medical reports shows Kelsey consistently weighed 24 pounds
while in our home. She weighed less after returning to her
mother's home.
Another note: Kelsey was enrolled in gymnastics at her
father's request. We did not put her in dance because I knew
Raye would probably want to do that herself. I spoke to Raye
Dawn about it and she was not happy. I asked her to come
watch the practice. I told her there were two rooms for
observation and I would stay in the other room so she would
be more comfortable.
She
NEVER
showed up to watch her child. Two weeks later, Kelsey
mysteriously has two broken legs. Coinsidence...hmmmm!!
Kelsey absolutely loved gymnastics. She would be
excited all day waiting for practice. You should have heard
how she tried to say "gymnastics". She thought she was a big
girl and looked adorable in her practice clothes. She was
the youngest and smallest and got all of the attention. It
was sad when this little piece of enjoyment was taken from
her.
Then you are given one last chance to express remorse, the
presentencing report. Raye Dawn never states I wish I had
done more, I made a terrible mistake, I should have
listened, I should have seen the red flags, or Kelsey should
never have suffered that way. Instead she states no one
cared about what she (Raye Dawn) was going through. What
about what Kelsey was going through Raye Dawn? She doesn't
say she wants to do public speaking about the signs of child
abuse. She wants to speak about not marrying a bad man
twice. It still isn't about Kelsey and never was. She wants
to get out so she can have supervised visits with her son.
Doesn't she want to prove herself as a mother so she can
raise her son? Or is it more convenient to let someone else
do it? Now that she has been found guilty of enabling child
abuse doesn't
that option go away? If she was only allowed supervised
visits then why did her boyfriend have a picture of himself
and Blaine on his website taken at Crest?
I don't want this to
appear as bashing. It is just the facts as I
see them. If Raye is innocent of all of the above why didn't
she help her child? Why didn't Gayla help Kelsey? Why didn't
the many close family members that saw Kelsey on a regular
basis help Kelsey? Why didn't they want us at her funeral?
Why wouldn't she admit she was blindsided and work with us
for justice? Why does she forget Kelsey is the victim? I
have yet to hear any of them say they wish they had done
more, they were wrong, they were sorry, and they want to
make it right by helping others see their mistakes? All they
do is point blame. In their eyes we are the guilty ones
because
Raye Dawn failed.
We know we should have done more. We we were doing
everything we knew to do at the time. How would one ever
imagine Raye Dawn Smith,
the mother of my grandchild, would sit there and
watch her
child die?
She says Mike Porter fooled her. I think she is the one that
fooled everyone. She fooled them into believing she was a
mother. Yes, she gave birth to Kelsey, but that does not
make her a mother.
I am sure you will see this post on the "other" site. I hope
they do read it. One of their family members contacted my
daughter recently asking her how we could be so cruel. She
recently asked me why we only allow one side of this story
to be told. The fact is there is only one side and it is
Kelsey's side. Our version never changes, theirs does on a
regular basis. It is rarely about Kelsey, only about how the
Briggs family failed this baby. Poor Kelsey, she never had a
chance in the maternal family. No wonder the pre-sentencing
report recommends Raye never have another child in her care.
She didn't have Kelsey in her "care".
This post was last modified:
09-03-2007 12:40 PM by
kjbriggs.
The tears a mother
has as a defendant in a child abuse case are generally not
for the child. The tears are for themselves. It was reported
Kelsey's mother bursted out in tears and the jury had to be
sent their room. Several witnesses stated those tears
stopped as if she had a switch as soon the jury door shut. I
personally was not in the courtroom at this time, but
several people made the same claim including several
reporters.
I cannot imagine what it is like to wait so many years for
justice. Trials are mentally exhausting for families to
endure. You hear things you had never heard before. Pictures
of the victim are hard for most to see. In Kelsey's case our
DA kept the autopsy pictures away from our eyes.
I had never heard of putting tape on a child's eyes prior to
Kelsey's trial. This act is sick and to think in
Logan's case the
mother did it herself. Then we have Kelsey's case where the
mother and maternal grandmother knew about it and did
nothing to help her. I cannot tell you how shocked our
family was when Gayla Smith made that admission in court.
How can you live with yourself knowing you could have saved
her life?
Please do keep us posted on this trial.
This post was last modified:
08-30-2007 04:27 PM by
kjbriggs.
I have to wonder how
many mothers
Oklahoma houses
in prison for murdering or allowing murder of their
children. Their children are dead and they get
to sit in prison living with their sins. How simple would it
have been to simply place their child with a loving family
and walk away? If they did not want to care for them they
should have found someone that would. Murder is not the
answer. Allowing murder is not the answer. How many of their
family members are now paying for their crimes? This is an
epidemic and it needs to stop.
Rest in peace,
Logan. This has
been a long time coming. Think what these children could
have done with their lives if they had been given a chance.
Britten
Follett is planning a story tonight on Fox at 9:00.
As most of you
already know we are under a gag order. I
cannot answer most of the questions that have been presented
to me. The fact is there are things we still do not know in
this case. We are pleased with the amended charge and hope
it will lead to more answers and possibly the truth.
You learn a lot about how the justice system works when you
are in our shoes and I would not wish this on anyone. You
watch murder shows with a new insight into what they are
doing. You learn to keep secrets like never before. You
search your brain over and over to remember things that were
said in the past that now have new meaning. You are able to
ignore comments from those that think they know more. Then
you are able to laugh along the way when people are critical
over things you do when they have no idea what it is like to
be us. You learn to do what feels right, to make decisions
based on personal reasons and not public perception, you
learn to live with a new life that you never asked for.
On a positive note....you learn most people are very
supportive and kind hearted. You have friends that you would
never have met and will always treasure. You learn a new
appreciation for the little things in life. You know God
will lead you along the way and keep you strong so you can
deal with this on a daily basis now and forever.
The above was posted 3-17-2007
- Kathie was supposedly under the gag order and still maintained the
forum and posted articles that were all based on the Briggs' version
of events.
Finally,
a Grandmother that cares enough about a baby to protect him
over her granddaughter. This is the natural thing to do
opposed to what others have done that cost an innocent life.
Most of the high
profile news shows have been contacted. We encourage anyone
to send this story to anyone you feel would take an
interest. A magazine would be a great place to get some
interest started. Please keep us posted on your progress. We
have several members that continue to work on this.
RE: 2yr. old's death becomes part of judicial
campaign
I wonder if our
District Attorney does not get a conviction if this will be
an issue in his next election? I wonder if Logan Tucker's
case will be an issue in Woodward if that case is not
handled properly? I know David Prater is using
cases against
Wes Lane
in his campaign.
Using someone's past cases in a campaign is not out of the
ordinary during a campaign. It brings public awareness to
the candidates performance on the job.
Negative campaigning is spreading flyers around town that
have nothing to do with the campaign. Yes, this is what the
Key supporters have been doing. Negative campaigning is
having others sign their names to letters that have been
written for them.
Judge Craig Key has called the paternal grandmother's of a
dead child some choice names and we have the tape. Doesn't
sound like the type of thing a fine Christian man would do,
does it?
If Sheila Kirk really wanted a nasty campaign I can assure
you she has the ammunition. She may get up on
November 8th and wish she had, but I really don't think so.
Win, Lose, or Draw she will be proud of what she has done in
her efforts to bring ethics back to the courthouse.
This post was last modified:
11-04-2006 11:38 AM by
kjbriggs.
We have a mother
charged with Neglect and Enabling Child Abuse and her child
is dead after nine months of warning and she was released on
a $2,500 bond.
Then we have a couple facing the same exact charges and the
little girl is not dead and their bond is set at $250,000.
Am I the only one who finds this wrong?
4-17-2006 Kathie lied in
court. She perjured herself. Why wasn't she charged?
My opinion is if she
was lying in court when she testified, she should also be
charged with perjury. When she stated this to
me on the day I picked Kelsey up from her daycare with a
court order she tried to blame Lance.
I
told her at that time if she suspected abuse on Kelsey, I
didn't care if she did think it was Lance she should have by
law reported it.
This same worker is now soliciting donations from family and
friends of cash or things to sell on ebay to help with Raye
and Gayla's expenses.
I think her testimony changes depending on the situation.
One thing she never changes is her belief that we caused all
of these problems by getting DHS involved.
If only she and all others involved with Kelsey had fought
this hard for her she would still be alive. At least they
can still ask God for forgiveness for failing that precious
child.
This post was last modified:
04-17-2006 09:51 PM by
kjbriggs.
This was posted 11/27/2007
after it was made public that Kathie took her kids to the DA and
said, "If you don't take them, I'll kill them." Then it took her two
years to get them back.
How many mothers and their
significant others are in prison for making bad
choices? Since Kelsey's death I am more aware of
child abuse and it seems to be growing into a major
epidemic. What can we do to make these parents realize
they have choices? If they cannot
properly care for their children they need to
ask for help. They can either find a
family member to step in and help or take them to DHS and
ask for help. Many people are willing to
step in and help out a child and ask nothing in return. A
simple choice could save a child's life
and keep more so called parents out of prison. Do they
honestly think they will get by with this?
We have safe havens for newborn babies. Mothers can drop
their newborns off to a designated place with no questions
asked. Maybe we need a program where older children can
also be dropped off. Most of these children have other
family members that would love and protect these children.
The problem is many of these parents use their child as a
tool against the other family and the child is the one who
pays.
I always refer back to Kelsey's case. How much pain could
both families have avoided if a different choice
had been made? It was more important to hurt our family
and Kelsey's Daddy than it was to keep her safe. It
appeared to be a big game of keep away and that game
turned into murder. No one won this game,
Kelsey is dead, her mother and stepfather are in prison,
her Daddy still struggles, and the other family members
are left to pick up the pieces. All of this could have
been prevented by making a choice. A
choice to make Kelsey the priority and
keep her safe. Mothers need to swallow their pride and ask
for help. In the long run their children will respect them
for making the tough choice.
Do these people sit in prison and continue to blame
everyone but themselves for their actions? Or do they
realize how much simpler it would have been to make their
child a priority? Do they really think they will get away
with beating a child? I realize some do, but it seems the
abuse is getting worse and ends with death more often. I
can't begin to imagine the thoughts these monsters have.
It is all so evil and sick.
This post was last modified: Today 01:24
AM by
kjbriggs
Again, it's all about the
fame and attention for Kathie.
The first edition of a
series of articles on Kelsey's life has started today. She
is leading the way to make child abuse an issue that
should not go away or be ignored. I cannot tell you how
hard it is to walk past the news stand and see your
grandchild's picture on the front with the word murder
connected to it.
Yet, I am pleased to know Kelsey's story has gained the
attention of so many willing to listen and help make
changes. Now, I must also
say I will be the first to make fun of the goofy looking
picture of myself. No, I will be the second,
my dear sweet husband beat me to it. Yes, I gave it to
them, knowing it was one of the best of the bad. What can
I say, photogenic I am not!
Having seen you interviewed on the news, there is no way
anyone can speak of how you look in a picture. Everything
I have seen and read that has come from you has been so
well put and so wonderful and so truthful. If I had to
face this myself, I would only hope to have half of what
it that you have. It's a presence that is hard to
describe.
I know you read others
blogs and respond. Today Pam
and Terry were here and Pam and I spent hours infront of
this computer reading blogs. I can't say how impressed I
am by you. For the four short years I have known you I
have been impressed. Kelsey could not have a better
spokesman than what she has in you. There are others out
that fighting for her and they impress me to. But you
stand out!!!.
