Kelsey Smith Briggs

Help Free Raye Dawn


Dear Friend:

 

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor."

 (Archbishop Desmond Tutu)

 

According to a Columbia Law School study, at least 100,000 prisoners have been wrongly convicted. Raye Dawn Smith was convicted of enabling child abuse on July 18, 2007. Fortunately, we are here in time to help Raye Dawn with her appeals process. She is now relying on the hope that her story will be known and that justice will reach her as she awaits her appeal.

 

Kelsey Shelton Smith-Briggs, at only two-and-a-half years old, died on October 11, 2005 from blunt force trauma to the abdomen at the hand of her step-father. Four months later, Raye Dawn Smith was charged with enabling and neglect by Lincoln County prosecutor Richard Smothermon because of pressure from the media and public opinion. Raye Dawn, a young mother unable to grieve the loss of her daughter, has since been dragged relentlessly through the legal system and the media. In July of 2007, several months after her ex-husband plea-bargained from first-degree murder and sexual abuse charges to enabling child abuse and accepted a thirty-year sentence, Raye Dawn was finally tried in neighboring Creek County for child abuse or, in the alternative, enabling child abuse.

 

Nearly all of Raye Dawn’s friends and family members, as well as many neutral people unrelated to this case, believe she will be exonerated because she IS innocent. She is a victim of prosecutorial abuse in which she was used as a pawn for political and financial gain. The media, in various forms, had exploited her case during the year-and-a-half leading up to her trial, airing stories and printing articles based on biased opinions and not facts. During her trial, the jury was not sequestered, and even if they had been, there is no way they did not hear about this case.  Throughout the eight-day trial, daily news reports continued to exploit Raye Dawn with sensational headlines and biased reporting.  Clearly, the media had already convicted her, even though the prosecution seemed to be grasping for real evidence. Because of this high-profile, state-wide media coverage, and also because of the emotional and sensitive nature of the trial, there couldn’t have been any “impartial” jurors; a fair trial was impossible for Raye Dawn.

 

Today, you can make an immediate difference in this young woman’s life. Her family needs to raise more funds to process her appeal. Raye Dawn’s mother and grandmother, now both widows, have sold homes, vehicles, and have had many yard sales to help pay for her defense through her trial. All the resources for her defense through the trial have been exhausted, and sadly, in our legal system, justice is expensive. Your generous donation will help Raye Dawn Smith’s Defense Fund make a profound difference in the outcome of her appeal.   

 

Attorney Carl E. Person states “The consequences for the overzealous prosecutor are too often the sought-after fame, fortune, power and political position, but the victims are left to pay the bill for wrongful incarceration, excessive criminal proceedings, destroyed families, and wrongfully-confiscated property depriving a newly-accused defendant of the funds to defend himself/herself…

 

Your donation will help right this terrific wrong and provide a FAIR trial for Raye Dawn Smith; every American has the right to at least that. We cannot let Raye Dawn become another statistic by allowing her to be wrongly incarcerated. I hope we can count on you to help. Please send the most generous gift you can so it can make the greatest impact. Thank you in advance for you kind support!

 

With grateful appreciation,

 

Raye Dawn’s Family and Friends:

 

P.S. – For more information on this case, please refer to: The US Observer and its website at www.usobserver.com and Former Judge Craig Key’s book A Deadly Game of Tug of War: The Kelsey Smith-Briggs Story and his website at www.judgekey.com.

 

Contact information:    

Sherri  Heath, P.O. Box 94, Meeker, OK  74855

 

To send payment directly to the Fund’s bank

 

 account, please make check out to:

 

Raye Dawn Smith Defense Fund,

 

acct# 11448869, Bancfirst, P.O. Box 1608,

 

 Shawnee, OK 74802.

 

Or you can make your donation via Paypal by clicking the button below the amount you wish to donate. Paypal is a secure site and you don't need a Paypal account to donate through them.

 

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Contact us at truthseeker@thetruthaboutkelsey.com.

* Please note that your donation is not tax deductible, as we are not a registered non-profit organization.