The Smith family has been deeply saddened by the way former Judge Craig Key was attacked and blamed for Kelsey's death. Kathie Briggs called voters and left messages on their machines stating the judge gave Kelsey her death sentence. Why has Kathie never attacked Mike Porter the way she's attacked everyone else??
Kathie Briggs led an assault against Judge Key and still claims he "knew what was happening to Kelsey and saw the pictures." This is a lie. The Confidential OCCY report validates what Brandon Watkins said and that the court did not receive information about any concerns in the home before the September 8, 2005 hearing and with the absence of the paternal family, the court was told that Kelsey was doing so well that all charges should be dropped and all services should be removed.
"10. The DHS did not submit a court report addressing the child's current injuries and placement issues for September 8, 2005. Hearing. Information documented in the CHBS critical incident reports were not provided to the court. DSH Police 340:75-6-40.5 (d) states: Form CWS-KIDS-11, CWS-KIDS-25, CWS-KIDS-25A, CWS-KIDS-25B is prepared and submitted according to judicial procedure in the county of jurisdiction no later than three judicial days prior to each hearing and a copy is provided to and discussed with the child’s parent(s). Reports, correspondence, and information provided by other professionals working within the families, including the foster-parents are attached or incorporated into the applicable report to the court."
Sounds like the CASA worker lied to the Briggs.
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Yesterday 11:08 AM
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This is an excerpt from former Judge Craig Key's book, "A Deadly Game of Tug of War: The Kelsey Smith-Briggs Story." It's on page 112 and gives insight as to what really happened from the legal standpoint of Kelsey's return to her mom, Raye Dawn.
During this time, newspaper ads, ran by Sheila Kirk, were distorting
the facts of Kelsey’s case. The attorney for Kelsey decided to set
the record straight, and sent the following letter on September 21,
2006, to the editors of both the
“To the Editor,
As the attorney for Kelsey Smith-Briggs, I am writing this letter to set the record straight regarding several issues pertaining to Kelsey’s case. Unfortunately, her death has become a political football and it concerns me that some are pointing fingers without having full knowledge of the facts.
Whether
you support Judge Craig Key or his opponent, Sheila Kirk, I would
encourage everyone to base their decision on the truth rather than
emotion. To do otherwise would not serve the voters and citizens of this
county. The truth is Judge Key had the legal obligation to return Kelsey
to her mother. The Court, as well as myself, were advised that the
mother had completed the Individualized Service Plan created for her by
the Department of Human Services (DHS), and there were no additional
requirements of her. The
The truth is that Kelsey’s placement with her mother in June of last year was conditioned upon the stipulation and Court order that there would be significant monitoring by various child welfare agencies. That is exactly what happened. The truth is that during the four months that Kelsey was in the care of her mother, none of those responsible for overseeing Kelsey’s well-being ever reported to me or the Court that there were any problems with the care she was receiving. The truth is no one ever objected to or appealed Judge Key’s ruling to return Kelsey to her mother.
Based upon the evidence presented to the Court, and the monitoring and oversight requirement that was put in place on behalf of Kelsey, I do not believe that at that point in time any of the parties involved in the case feared for her safety, much less, her life.
No one
has a crystal ball or can foretell the future. Judges and lawyers rely
on the law and evidence. Everyone knows this. The more Kelsey’s tragic
situation is exploited and politicized, we will only move farther from
the truth of what really happened to Kelsey. The people of
Another excerpt:
From the beginning of the campaign, to its end, the woman Sheila Kirk called “white trash” that day in my office joined forces with her as political allies. The pair would go door-to-door across the county, as well as to senior citizen centers and other events, telling people that I was the one responsible for the death of Kelsey Smith-Briggs...
To add to the turmoil that was erupting, Kathie Briggs’ website and forum asked for help to ensure that I was not re-elected. On her forum, in the comments section, her supporters wrote things like, “A lot of us do not live in Lincoln County but we can still help campaign. I don’t care what she (Sheila Kirk) stands for. I would be campaigning against Judge Key. We know what he stands for and you couldn’t vote in a worse judge than that. I can’t believe he has the guts to get out there and campaign. He has been in hiding since October 11, 2005.” and “So Kathie, I have never had anything to do with a political campaign before so I know nothing about them. Please tell me what I need to do, when and where.”
I went to Richard Smothermon, the District Attorney, and asked him to explain my vision for the children of Lincoln County to Kathie Briggs. My goal was to create a courtroom in Kelsey’s honor, and to be progressive in our approach to juveniles. Smothermon informed me that Kathie Briggs did not wish to discuss any improvements to our facilities in Lincoln County if it meant dealing with me.
I have read where Kathie stated that I never contacted her. However, every time I attempted to reach out to her, it was met with a negative response...
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Another excerpt from Judge Key's book:
In late October, Sheila did a direct mailing, showing Lance Briggs in his military uniform, looking down on Kelsey. It proclaimed that Kelsey was killed while Lance fought for our freedom. The mail-out also described how Lance walked off the military transport plane to learn that Kelsey had died that day, and proclaiming that I should not be re-elected because of my failure to protect Kelsey.
Finally, when Sheila Kirk had Kathie Briggs call every voter in the county several times with the following pre-recorded message, it was a new low. The message left by Kathie Briggs was as follows:
“My name is Kathie Briggs, and I am the paternal grandmother of Kelsey Briggs, who died after months of documented abuse. Judge Craig Key returned her (Kelsey) to an abusive home against the recommendation of DHS and the DA's office. Judge Key also broke Oklahoma law, which requires DHS, not him, to make those decisions. I promised Kelsey I would seek to hold those who failed her accountable. I ask you to help me, to keep that promise. Please vote for Sheila Kirk, Associate District Judge on November 7th. If you have any questions, please contact Sheila Kirk at 405-258-2300. Thank you and God bless.”
These phone messages attempted to emotionally inflame the voters, without providing a positive reason to elect Sheila Kirk.
Voters in Lincoln County received a mailer with the following contents:
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kjbriggs Kelsey's Grandma
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From Judge Key's book:
On November 7, 2006, I lost my bid for re-election.
"A Deadly Game
Of Tug Of War"
Thursday, June 21, 2007; Posted: 4:42 p.m. (CDT)
Craig Key was the judge who ruled that Kelsey Smith-Briggs be returned to her mother's custody. It was just four months later that two-year-old Kelsey died, a victim of child abuse.
Thursday Key spoke to the public for the first time about the trial. He also announced the release of his new book "A Deadly Game of Tug of War: The Kelsey Smith-Briggs Story."
Key says, "I want to give people a chance to know the truth, because at this point there are so many misconceptions regarding this case."
The book is Key's view of the child abuse hearings involving Kelsey Smith-Briggs.
Many people gathered at the press conference in hopes that Key would reveal more about his decision.
David Randall, who supports Craig Key, says, "I think it's very important to get the truth and understand what really went on."
Teri Sigman, one of Kelsey's paternal grandparents, says, "I do hope there are answers in the book that we didn't get today."
Key says he wrote the book because he thinks records on cases like this should be released.
He says, "It's extremely important that no other judge ever goes through what I've gone through."
He wants readers to decide for themselves if his decision was right.
Key says, "I simply provide you with the truth and you can decide where to put the blame."
He says after Kelsey was released to her mother DHS continued to visit the home. There were 33 recorded visits between the end of the hearings in June and Kelsey's death in October. One of those visits was on the day Kelsey died.
Key says, "I would say this was the most checked child during that four month period ever, no doubt about it."
He also thinks people should know the pictures seen on television were not all shown to him.
Key says, "The pictures of Kelsey with broken legs, I never saw them. They were never shown."
But Sigman disagrees.
She says, "The video was presented in court and it was from the maternal side."
What she agrees the judge might not have seen were pictures of bruises covering Kelsey's face.
Key says he stands by his ruling, based on the evidence he had. However, he does regret what's happened.
He says, "I would have done anything to have Kelsey alive."
He's asking the public not to blame him. He says the family did have a choice after his decision was made.
Key says, "All they had to do was stand up and object and that child would not have been returned until another judge reviewed the records. No one did that."
Sigman says, "We never, the paternal side, we never were trying to rip Kelsey away from Rae Dawn. We never wanted to get full custody because we knew that Rae Dawn was her mother and that Kelsey loved her mother."
She says the family just wanted Rae Dawn to get the help she needed so Kelsey could be returned to her.
As for the book, she does plan to read it so she can form her own opinion about what Key has to say.
The book is only available online at this time. It will be available on store shelves after Rae Dawn Smith's trial has concluded. (The book was available to order online but was not mailed out until after Raye Dawn's trial. I complained about having to wait for my copy.)
The book can be found on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and JudgeKey.com.
Teri Sigman stated those pictures were shown in court. But she stated that she wasn't allowed in the courtroom. A relative said Teri was at every hearing. So which of her statements is true?
Posted by
Teri:(Teri Sigman, the mother of Lance's ex-wife Ashley)Monday,
August 6th 2007 @ 6:48 PM
Posted by Teri:
I will be one of the first to stand up and say, I should have done
more. People have ask, why I didn't go to court in September and my
response is this, I honestly can't say why I didn't go to court in
September and show Judge Key the pictures of Kelsey's condition when
Ashley had her visitation with Kelsey. I've ask myself that question
over and over. Maybe it was because I believed in our judicial
system. I believed in DHS. Maybe it was because, neither, Ashley,
myself or Jay was ever allowed in the court room during any of the
court hearings. Step-grandparents or step parents aren't considered
as family when it comes to court hearings, visitation with DHS or
anything else, and I assumed that they wouldn't allow me to speak or
voice my concern in September. But I was on the phone immediately to
the CASA worker as soon as I left Ashley's house the 27th and I was
on the phone to DHS the first thing Monday morning. I gave the CASA
worker the pictures of Kelsey, and I also gave them to DHS. Unless
you have been sitting in our place, please don't judge us. We have
fought for Kelsey just as hard as anyone else. Could we have done
more? Looking back, yes we could have, we should have, do we take
part blame for not doing enough? Yes we do...
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Another excerpt from Judge Key's book:
What remains puzzling to me to this very day is the fact that the photographs and home movies shown on television, in newspapers, and other sources of Kelsey’s bruises and broken legs were never presented to me in court. None of those pictures or videos were presented as evidence. The first time I saw them was on the news. If I’m going to be judged by these photographs, I should have been allowed to see them before the decision was made to return Kelsey to her mother.
I made the decision based on what was provided to me through testimony of 13 witnesses and evidence presented in the courtroom.
After I returned Kelsey, there were three critical incident reports done by a CHBS worker. These reports are over the worker’s concerns about something that was occurring in the home. They sent the information to DHS for further investigation. I found out after Kelsey’s death that these reports were in existence, but for some reason they were never presented to me.
Prior to the June hearing, the DHS workers even started to question what was going on because of several key factors: 1) Kelsey’s reaction to Kathie Briggs during supervised visits, 2) Kathie’s constant accusations against Raye Dawn, 3) Kathie’s failure to comply with a court order, and 4) Kathie’s refusal to cooperate in helping DHS contact Lance Briggs.
Find out more by visiting judgekey.com.
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