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The Beating Death Of a Child

Michael Porter was arrested Thursday for the death of his two year old stepdaughter. He is accused of striking the little girl in the abdomen earlier in the week causing blunt force trauma and inflicting deadly wounds.
The little girl was described as having significant bleeding in her intestines and bruising on her ribs, the front of her chest, side and back. Records indicate that she had bruises in other areas of her body and medical examiners believe she suffered from possible kneeing, punching or squeezing.
Kelsey Smith Briggs dies hours before her father was due to return from serving in Iraq.
Port has recently filed divorce papers on Rae dawn Porter, the little girls mother.
The bond has been set for $1 million, after he plead not guilty in court Friday morning to charges that he killed the toddler, Kelsey Briggs. The judge in the case has issued a gag order for everyone in the case.

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Video, grandparents speak out, grandmother report the abuse without any results. Custody was had for a limited time been granted to the grandparents, who show evidence of the little girls abuse dating back months.

Video, History of abuse, child dies hours before her father returns home from Iraq. Death ruled homicide. Judge overruled DHS recommendations.

Video, mothers side of the family, reaction to stepfather, seemed like such a nice person. Home movies of the toddler, including one with her having two broken legs. Family wants to believe that Porter never meant to hurt her. Family puts blame on seizures- while admitting that they have never seen her have one.

**Update
For more posts on Kelsey as I follow the case:
#2
#3
#4

Comments

Anonymous said…
Here I go again...all I want is a bullet,a gun and immunity. The mom needs to be put somewhere for awhile,too.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I am starting to be pro forced sterilization
Anonymous said…
Well, I see that this blog is
against some good things, but
where is the topic that
should "really" be discussed ?
Where on this blog is the
cruel murdering of the innocent
unborn ? That should be at
the top of the page. It should
be on the nightly news, consuming
everybody's attention. Let's
make it so here, eh ? If you are
really concerned about the
atrocities committed here in
the USA, report on the genocide
of the innocent babies daily.

www.wnd.com
Anonymous said…
Huh? Now I'm really confused...
Anonymous said…
i personally know both the mother and real father as well as the stepfather. i think that there are more involed (like maybe the mom. i went to school with raye dawn and she thought the world revoled around her. maybe she was tired of sharing the spot light.also she turn into a druggie really bad. i just feel bad for her real father, becasue he ws sefending the country that should have been defending his daughter. there was clear evidence of abuse to kelsy, and i can't say that i think mike did this alone if he did this at all. thanks
Anonymous said…
Regarding DHS workers, I think the case points up the need for professionalization of DHS. That means specified training, credentialing, maybe even licensing, some kind of accountability. Perhaps they should even have to carry malpractice insurance since life and death result from their decisions and lack of them the same as for doctors, midlevels, and nurses.
I say this because of a report that Kelsey had a major facial bruise and was "timid" according to a DHS report from August. Her grandmother says she stopped talking about this time. Videos from around this time show a wandering left eye, a sign of a blowout fracture, which had not appeared in previous videos. She was more than just "timid," she was brain damaged, and if a health professional had accompanied the DHS worker on this visit, or if the DHS worker had been properly trained to recognize such injuries, perhaps Kelsey would still be alive.
Then there is the question of the judge, Lincoln County Associate District Judge Craig Key. Perhaps they too need to receive training in recognizing child abuse. It was a judge who returned Ryan Luke to his home in a body cast where he subsequently got murdered. It was a judge who returned Kelsey to the home of her mother against recommendation of several doctors and DHS. We all need to remember the name of this judge when it comes time for re-election!

Who should be charged with the murder? I think it isn't just Michael Porter who should be sitting in jail. Both Michael Porter and Rae Dawn had time alone with the child the day of her death. They are pointing fingers at each other, giving each other a perfect "reasonable doubt" alibi. I think they should be charged together. If Michael Porter were repeatedly abusing the child, the mother is responsible for staying with this monster. She should be charged with depraved indifference to human life (I'm not a legal expert, but I think that's Murder II on "Law and Order.")

Finally, what good is a law on the books, if public agencies can defy it and ignore it. DHS should be fined for every day they delay in producing records in accordance with the Ryan Luke law. And an outside party needs to be involved in supervising the "typing up" of the court records. And how long should that take actually? A day at the most. Get real. This is ridiculous.

The only truly innocent party in this case is the father who was off serving his country and came home to a dead child on the very day of his arrival! My heart and prayers go out to him that he keep his cool and let the justice system work and not take the law into his own hands.
Anonymous said…
I know Mike Porter and Rae Dawn and I don't believe for one second that Mike did this. He has two kids of his own and has never hurt them. The mother is crazy and always has been. I think she beat the child and thats why she was so insistent on picking Mike's daughter up that day. He always picked her up, she never did except for that day. I do believe that they both need to be punished because one of them allowed this to happen.
Anonymous said…
i think they both are at fault. raye dawn because she knew that this was happening. you can't tell me that she as a mother didn't give kelsey a bath? please. she deserves to be sitting in the cell with him in chandler. i know how raye dawn was and she did think that the world revolved around her!!
Anonymous said…
RAYE DAWN PORTER IS A SORRY EXCUSE FOR A MOTHER. FROM THE BEGINNING SHE DENIED LANCE OF HIS DAUGHTER TRYING TO SAY SHE WASNT HIS. HE HAD TO FIGHT TOOTH AND NAIL TO EVEN GET PARTIAL CUSTODY. THEN AS SOON AS HE LEAVES TO IRAQ TO FIGHT FOR HIS COUNTRY HIS LITTLE GIRL IS TORTURED. I WOULDNT BE SO SURE RAYE DAWN DIDNT KILL KELSEY AND LEAVE HER IN THE ROOM TO DIE ONLY TO TELL MIKE THAT SHE WAS ASLEEP AND THEN MIKE GO IN THERE THINKING SHE REALLY WAS HAVING A SIEZURE WHEN REALLY SHE WAS HAVING CONVULSIONS FROM BLEEDING INTERNALLY. HOW CONVIENENT FOR RAYE DAWN. SHE NEEDS TO BE BEHIND BARS. IF SHE DIDNT DO IT HERSELF SHE DIDNT STOP IT!!
Anonymous said…
I agree completely with the majority of the other comments made. Raye Dawn is not innocent! She is as much at fault, if not more, for letting this happen to her own child! My husband and I know both Raye Dawn and Lance from school. Raye Dawn has always thought that the world revolves around her. When she was married to Lance, she would go around town telling everyone that Lance was beating her, when he wasn't! That should tell you right there that she isn't right! I believe that she did beat Kelsey! I think that she beat Kelsey the day that she died and then left her there for Mike to take the wrap. I do not know Mike, but I know many people that went to school with him and know his family, and they all say that there is no way he did this! Raye Dawn should be locked up too!!! I am just waiting for someone else to figure that out! Someone that has the authority to put her away should take action before she does the same to her next baby or are we all going to sit around and let her do it again!
Anonymous said…
My gosh how I agree with everyone else! I too went to school with Raye and we actually were pretty good friends. I hate how all of this has turned out that poor baby suffered so much at the hands of the ones that were supposed to love and protect her. I also knew Lance and what a horrible chain of events for him. I am so sorry Lance and I pray for you and your family everyday. I think Raye had something to do with the death of this little girl and if not directly then indirectly because she did nothing to stop it. However as with several others on here the thought has crossed my mind about what if Raye did it and left her there for Mike to take the blame. How come we all can see this and the ones with the authority can not???? Raye was no mother of the year. I can still remember a day (this was before the Mike Porter days) I went to see her at a "boyfriends" house and her and the "boyfriend" were both drunk and Kelsey was crawiling around on the floor in a little shirt dirty. I was so mad at Raye not only for calling me over there but now how could I leave with this poor baby with them?????? I really did think a lot more of Raye but this has all played out to be a very ugly situation!!! And she seems to be the cause of it all. And now to be able to bring another into the world. How wonderful.......
Anonymous said…
I agree with everyone re Raye Dawn being guilty. Both she and Mike are guilty, we just don't know which one actually did it. I tend to lean towards Raye Dawn actually doing it. She doesn't have the motherly instinct about her. Everything has always been about Raye Dawn. Anything she wanted, she got. Now she's already saying that she doesn't want the baby she's pregnant with associated with the father, Mike Porter. How typical. The Smiths have always thought that they should have been able to raise Kelsey by themselves, they didn't need Lance, the father. Of course, not. They didn't want anyone to see how they raised their children/grandchildren. Raye Dawn's own dad was left alone in that big house and died in the same room that Kelsey was to die in. They didn't want anyone to try to put him in a nursing home, so they left him home alone and just checked on him periodically sometime during the day when he couldn't even get up out of bed. Everyone in town knew this, but no one turned them in to the authorities. It's not like they have money. They've just always lived above their means and tried to look like they did. Course everyone in their family has been in jail for DUI at one time or the other. Somehow they always got off easy on the charges.
This is Raye Dawn's 3rd pregnancy. She drank so heavily that she had a miscarriage on the first one before Kelsey. Raye Dawn was evidently trying to marry for money because she's now trying to get what Mike Porter had previously in their divorce. Good luck Raye Dawn, if you get anything you won't be able to spend it from jail or hell.
Anonymous said…
In response to Anonymous on 13/11/05:

>>and if a health professional had accompanied the DHS worker on this visit, or if the DHS worker had been properly trained to recognize such injuries, perhaps Kelsey would still be alive.<<

Who is going to pay for this? You DO know that DHS Child Welfare workers get paid less than School Teachers, don't you? And the position REQUIRES a Bachelor's degree.

>> DHS should be fined for every day they delay in producing records in accordance with the Ryan Luke law.<<

Are you talking about the records that showed how the Judge went against the DHS recommendation? Also, any Government agency like this is required to conduct an internal investigation on any worker involved in the case. There is also a Child Death Review Board that meets and reviews all the information. If they release that information before they know if the worker was at fault, they are condemning that worker to unwarranted public scrutiny. They also have to redact certain information from the files. Names and identifying information has to be scrubbed to satisfy the confidentiality laws.

Lastly, I was wondering how many people who were calling for DHS heads to roll have called their local office to ask how they can help. CASA volunteers, Post Adjudication Review Boards, Foster parents, Shelter homes; it all comes down to how much the individual is willing to do to help the system and those who work inside of it.
Anonymous said…
I have to agree that DHS, while sometimes seemingly blind, did not fail this child. The mother and stepfather failed her, the CASA worker (with her own questionable past) failed her, and most importantly, "Judge" Key, whom I hope is drummed off the bench by an army of angry voters. There is already a Ryan Luke Law in effect. Didn't help Kelsey, did it? So now, let's put Kelsey's Law right along side of it and see how many children it keeps alive. The system ain't working people! How many kids die before we do something right? And on that note, anyone know why Jessica's Law is not on the books in Oklahoma yet?
Anonymous said…
I think the DA in this case is only pressing "some" charges to help his re-election campaign...he is a sorry excuse for a DA and should never be re-elected in Oklahoma or any state for that matter....well maybe in Iraq or somewhere where they don't uphold laws!

Raye Dawn is guilty as sin, she did it, Mike Porter is taking the blame for something she did, if they don't take this baby away from her it is just another child that the system has failed...it will be abused and possibly killed as Kelsey was...

LANCE, KATHY & FAMILY OUR PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU...KELSEY IS WITH YOU!
WE HAVE TO KEEP FIGHTING RAYE DAWN AND PUT HER WHERE SHE BELONGS...Her and her family showed what low class people there were in court the other day...all Oklahomans seen what kind of people they are - it just backed up what we SUSPECTED all along!
Anonymous said…
What a disgusting miscarriage of justice!! that poor wee baby girl! her dad and his family must be devastated! may poor Kelseys soul be finally at rest.
I have two words for kelseys so called mother and step-father - Mandatory execution! - a life for a life, the judge who sent kelsey back to her pig mother should be shot! or at least have his license to practice revoked!

Im not from the U.S.A; but stumbled accross this site from another link.

Concerned New Zealander
Anonymous said…
Raye Dawn is at the mall today to have pictures taken of her 10 month old son. He has a black eye. Interesting. Have been on the phone, trying to get someone to listen, not much luck yet, but I'll keep trying.
Anonymous said…
You are correct - Raye Dawn was at the mall with him - I'm not sure about the black eye though.
Anonymous said…
i cannot understand why the people involved in this case can't pull their heads out and put two and two together. i don't know who did it, but there's no way in hell that the other didn't know about it.

secondly, mike porter's daughter whitney has been listed as a witness on behalf of the prosecution. supposedly whitney is going to testify that mike kicked kelsey off of the bed, and raye dawn yelled at him. so if raye saw this happen, and supposedly yelled at mike, then why is raye not just as guilty??!?! she obviously knew something was going on. surely she's smarter then an 8 year old. i know she'd like us all to think that she has a seat reserved right next to god in heaven...but freaking seriously!!

smotherman is a joke. kelsey deserves justice. kelsey's paternal family deserves justice. if smotherman lets raye off with a plea and mike doesn't get convicted of what he's been charged with...no one will pay for what happened! i pray that smotherman knows more then he's letting on and i pray he's not as dumb as i think he is. he just needs to remember that craig key was not re-elected. he lost by more then 1800 votes. smotherman...don't think it can't happen again.

raye dawn....don't get too comfortable. if we're lucky...you'll be in a cold jail cell soon enough.
Anonymous said…
whitney is gonna testify that mike kicked kelsey off a bed?? never heard that before.
Anonymous said…
whitney is going to testify that mike kicked kelsey off the bed? never heard that before.
Anonymous said…
There is new evidence about the paternal family circulating around!

See the article at usobserverok.com

Amazing how they have placed themselves next to God. Lance wasn't out protecting us he was too busy getting himself kicked out of the military for drugs and assault, and Kathie's been working hard trying to make money off of Kelsey's death. I knew there had to be a catch......

The Briggs want the mother convicted of something she didn't do so they can put $millions in their pockets
Anonymous said…
I have just read the OCCY secret report that was leaked on newsok.com. For those wanting to read it click on the Okahoman after you get to this site...the key word is DHS. There is a pattern of abuse listed in this report that clearly points to the mother. How could DHS let this happen? They should all be in prison.
Anonymous said…
no matter how insensitive this may sound, I believe that all American's should be licensed to have children. Besides the drugged up crack addicts that has children to sell to pimps. or just the parents who are not capable to fund the welfare of having children. Psychological testing should be done as well. If we have to do the most mundane things such as driving, drinking, buying smokes, then why not having children. I don't care no matter who you are, having children is a life altering phase of your life. If people don't understand that, do you think people should have children?
Anonymous said…
Death for death.. Take them out of this life, slowly.... "Raye Dawn" and "Mike Porter" ~ sexual abuse and physical abuse ~ A mother KNOWS when something horrific is hurting her child. No excuses, medical bullshit, Kelsey's mother KNEW Kelsey was being hurt. If Raye Dawn's disgusting hands did not kill Kelsey then Raye Dawn's defiance to save Kelsey killed her. And where the hell was Raye Dawn's doting family when abnormal bruising and broken bones were inflicted upon a two year old child???? Give up the bullshit about broken collar bones being the most likely broken bone in children. A two year old does not EASILY break her collar bone, gymnastics or not!!!! Die, Raye Dawn, die..... and don't even try to plead insanity because you were abused in the past. If you really were abused then you would KNOW IF YOUR CHILD WAS BEING TORTURED!!!!! MOTHERS KNOW IF SOMEONE IS HURTING THEIR CHILD!!!!!!
Anonymous said…
As for the DHS worker, what diff does it make how much you get paid, your salary has nothing to do with the State and citizens protecting children from abuse and murder, do I understand that if someone is beating a child on the sidewalk, you would have to check your pay scale to see if helping the child is covered? What a pitiful excuse of a human you are to even posted such garbage, I will say I was glad to see you are an EX DHS worker~ You give new meaning to the word "SORRY" This was a baby for the love of God~Shame on you!!!
Anonymous said…
I will not say justice was served on these two people, I will say The State needs to keep them both behind bars for the rest of their natural lives~A bullet in the head would of been to kind for both of them, maybe they will get lucky and meet with the right person in prison!
Anonymous said…
This story is absolutely HEART BREAKING and I hope it opens the eyes of everyone! Situations like this happen WAY too often and I am not the person to point the finger but I do hope the Judge who continued to give custody of this poor, innocent, defenseless child to those devils who derserve no better than to rot in hell sits back and realizes her poor judgement and it lingers with her for life. I am a loss for words other than the 'justice' system needs some work and I hope the father who was working abroad, giving us the freedom his daughter deserved gets his justice and God Bless!

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