Inside the #FreeKate Meltdown and Her Mother’s Self-Justifying Crazy-Talk Rant

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About two weeks ago, I started hearing rumors of a meltdown inside the “Free Kate” universe. What seems to have happened is that the Hunts and/or their lawyer became paranoid about their Facebook group, because things that were supposed to be private kept leaking out to the public (including me, of course). Kaitlyn Hunt’s family and their online supporters had become obsessed with “haters” (including me, of course) whose online activity they blamed for the waning support of their cause.

Failure and paranoia are necessary ingredients for an organizational meltdown, and it became one of those Hitler-in-the-bunker situations where the most loyal supporters of the cause were scapegoated.

When you invoke the principle of “Asking questions = Disloyalty,” you can expect bad things to happen. This toxic mixture of Fear and Loathing reached the combustible stage when administrators of the Facebook group were given a deadline to sign a confidentiality agreement and, reportedly, four of them quit in disgust, including Debi:

Debi joined up early, when it seemed that the “Free Kate” movement was going to be a popular successful cause. And then, after the unfortunate facts started coming out, Debi managed to hang in there for several weeks until one day she was presented with an ultimatum: “Sign this legally binding confidentiality agreement, or else.” No matter how loyal you were, would you sign this agreement?

Whoa! “Any breach of this confidentiality policy” by a volunteer Facebook group administrator could result in “damages and expenses including attorney fees”? These were volunteers, you understand — people who weren’t getting paid a dime, while the Hunt family reportedly raised more than $27,000 online in the first week or so after they launched the “Free Kate” campaign May 17. Yet those who were assisting them as volunteers were required to sign a document obligating them to pay “damages and expenses” if they failed to keep secret whatever they learned of the behind-the-scenes effort “working to get the charges dropped against Kaitlyn Hunt.”

At some point, amid the crisis which this provoked within the “Free Kate” group, Kaitlyn’s mother Kelley Hunt Smith went ballistic, unloading an angry rant against somebody who had expressed doubt about the version of the story that the Hunt family were telling. (Click to enlarge.)

While I don’t know who that was directed at, and I don’t feel like transcribing the whole thing, let’s examine a few highlights:

“You are sadly misinformed on pretty much everything you just said … and are basing your opinions on hearsay and media gossip. I have never once said ever that the girls started dating when Kate was 17.”

(In the original “Free Kate” petition that got more than 300,000 signatures, your ex-husband Steve Hunt wrote this: “My daughter Kaitlyn … is not guilty of anything other than a high school romance, but is being prosecuted … because she has a girlfriend who is 15. The two girls began dating while Kaitlyn was 17 but her girlfriend’s parents … waited until after Kaitlyn turned 18 and went to the police to have charges brought against her.” The wording of the petition was apparently revised after the actual facts became public, but these were the lies, repeated in the progressive media, which initially inspired so much misguided sympathy.)

“I made it clear the girls KNEW EACH [other] for quite some time. We live in a very small town and [the] girls went to the same middle school and in fact knew each other when Kate was 17.”

(This is certainly an interesting defense: “It wasn’t like my precious Kate waited for this girl to start ninth grade before she began scoping her out. Kate had had her eye on her future lesbian lover ever since she was still in middle school.” And is it such a “very small town”? The population of Indian River County is more than 140,000. Kaitlyn just graduated from Sebastian River High School, which has about 1,900 students. Why, it’s practically Mayberry!)

“The *facts* that were stated clearly in the arrest affidavit states that BOTH girls mutually and consensually kissed and touch each other in the bathroom, they did NOT have sex.”

(Anyone who can read the arrest affidavit knows that Kelley Hunt Smith is playing a game with the definition of “sex” here.)

“I have stated that it is in my opinion that the other girl’s family is against this and pushed this forward legally because do not agree with homosexuality. I have plenty of proof and facts to back up my opinion. …”

(Why does Kelley Hunt Smith keep bringing this up as if it were relevant? If an adult is illegally having sex with your 14-year-old, does it really matter why you report this to the police?)

“As far as admins, you clearly have been told lies. We had to let 4 admins go due to them having drama and being unable to move forward and work well with the other admins.”

(Notice the consistency with which Kelley Hunt Smith externalizes blame for any conflict she is involved in: Just as Kaitlyn Hunt’s arrest is blamed on those hateful parents who didn’t want their daughter involved with Kaitlyn, the administrators who didn’t want to sign the confidentiality agreement were “unable to move forward and work well with the other admins.” The minute anyone has a problem with Kelley, she decides that the conflict can’t be her fault, but is instead because there is something wrong with the other person.)

“The bottom line is this is a horrible misuse of power and the law. This is a family issue. It should have been handled 100% differently. They have not only destroyed my daughter and our family, but their own daughter as well.”

 (This argument — that Kaitlyn’s crime was “a family issue” that should not have been reported to law enforcement — supposes that the Hunt family would have handled the situation responsibly. Such a supposition is at odds with everything we know about the Hunt family.)

“[W]e are talking about 2 young truly good girls here, that had no idea they were doing anything criminal or wrong. How anyone can spew such vile lies and hate toward an innocent 18 year old teenager is beyond me. Calling her a predator, I mean really?”

Notice her mother’s use of the phrase “innocent 18 year old teenager.” According to Kelley Hunt Smith, her daughter Kaitlyn is such a naive and unworldly youth that it is “a horrible misuse of power and the law” to hold her legally accountable for her actions. On the other hand — also according to Kelley Hunt Smith — a 14-year-old is mature and responsible enough that she can consent to sex without any concern that she is being wrongfully exploited.

This illogical nonsense is accompanied by still more blame-shifting: According to Kelley, the problem is not Kaitlyn Hunt’s actions, or the attempt to invalidate Florida’s age-of-consent laws, but rather people who “spew such vile lies and hate” about Kaitlyn Hunt.

Hey, lady: Nobody outside Indian River County ever heard of your daughter until you decided to make her a cause célèbre of the gay-rights movement — America’s Most Famous Sex Offender™ — instead of letting her plead guilty to a lesser offense and avoid jail.

Featured on the Today show, May 23

But no, you made you choice, and for a while it looked like you were on your way to glory. You got interviewed on the Today show, you were featured on CNN, and your supporters sent you to New York City for the Gay Pride Parade. But your 15 minutes of fame probably won’t be much help to Kaitlyn in Judge Pegg’s courtroom.

Is it vile hate to say Kaitlyn Hunt should have taken the plea bargain?

 

81 comments

  1. “. . .it became one of those Hitler-in-the-bunker situations . . . ”
    We need a Downfall parody video, stat!

  2. And, BTW, no lawyer in his/her right mind is going to allow the parents of a criminal client to even KNOW legal strategy, much less share it with web site administrators. There is something very, very wrong here. I can see a lawyer bailing on these nutcases pretty quickly, unless s/he is in it only for the free publicity.

  5. Every time I read one of these articles, I just shake my head and feel just a little more pity for poor Kaitlyn Hunt because she has such dumb asses for parents. If her parents had had their daughter’s best interests at heart, they would have agreed to take the plea deal. But instead of getting fame for their daughter, they have given her infamy. What a graduation gift, eh?

  6. “…while the Hunt family reportedly raised more than $27,000 online in the
    first week or so after they launched the “Free Kate” campaign May 17.”

    WTEFFINF?!

    I thought gays were supposed to be smart?! Just ask them!

  8. Dump these clients and you’d have shrieking queens flocking around you like a scene from the Choephore…

  9. This is what “family values” look like, if your family is catastrophically dysfunctional.

  10. But they (gays) have a higher per cap than the rest of us so they have a lot of extra cash.

  12. There is a line of ambulance chasers a mile long drooling over getting their oily hides into this freak show !!

  13. I continue to wonder what part of “You have the right to remain silent” the Hunt family doesn’t understand. Every time they come out with a new rant against the victim’s parents and against Christians who don’t believe it’s perfectly natural and normal to have sex with a fourteen year old child – they dig their own legal graves.

    Indian River County is not comprised of large cities but it does have as many as at least five equally sized high schools as SRHS. Everyone does not know everyone.
    There is no way Kaitlyn Hunt went to middle school with the victim. Sebastian Middle School is 6-8 grade. I guess she could have been scoping out the school for lesbian conquests – which would fit with her stalking and preying behavior.

    Though the whole rant should be broken down to expose all the various lies, blame shifting, martyr complex tendencies – at least Kelley Hunt was honest in saying she “supports her daughter in experimenting” sexually.
    This is the thing that makes my blood boil the most about this entire case.

    How does anyone think it’s okay for an 18 year old to experiment sexually on a 14 year old child – gay or straight?
    That’s pure evil and the mother should be on trial for allowing this experimentation to take place in her home.

    With all due respect Mrs. Hunt – it is NOT hateful for any parent to go to the law when someone has been sexually experimenting on their minor child.
    You know what is hateful Mrs. Hunt? Allowing your daughter to do that with your full support.

    You Kelley Hunt are the Hater.

  14. Hunt family values…we never do anything wrong we are entitled and those who say otherwise are *haters*

  19. “I didn’t know how many of them it was gonna take to kick my ass, but I knew how many they was gonna use, and that’s an important number to have. Overkill…”

  20. Well, I’ve got until Sept. 9 and I honestly hope she’ll decide to plead guilty between now and then, but don’t let that discourage you from contributing!

  21. Arrogant HATERS those Hunts and their supporters. And arrogance has led to their utter idiocy in doing what is the best for their daughter. They are enjoying their fifteen minutes. Perhaps it will get them some B Rated laughing stock reality show. I predict they will all end up in jail for various crimes. They are well on their way!

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