The Kaitlyn Hunt sex crime case was featured on NBC’s ‘Today’ show, May 23
Below, you will find the full text of a 1,500-word appeal by Kelley Hunt Smith, mother of accused sex offender Kaitlyn Ashley Hunt. This is the original May 17 Facebook message that started the “Free Kate” firestorm. I’d seen it quoted elsewhere, but never saw the whole thing until Jeanette Runyon linked it today. I apologize that it has no paragraph returns, other than the ones created by my own interruptions:
What I’m about to share with you is extremely private and difficult on myself and my family, but mostly my daughter Kaitlyn. However im at a point where I don’t know what else to do. Sharing personal family matters with anyone, let alone total strangers is extremely scary but my daughters life is at risk, so im willing to do whatever it takes, no matter how difficult. Anyone who knows me, even a little, knows what kind of person I am. Anyone who knows my daughter Kate, knows how wonderful she is. Kate is an 18 year old senior about to graduate from SRHS. She has an exemplary record at school and home. She has always been a wonderful student, respected and well liked. She has cheered on the varsity cheer team all throughout high school, shes sung in chorus and was voted most school spirited. She has never been in trouble, ever, she truly is the model student and child.
(We can call this the set-up: She’s telling you how wonderful her child is and, if you don’t know either her or her child, you have no reason to doubt this glowing testimonial.)
At the beginning of this school year, she started dating a fellow student, who happened to be another female. This girl also played varsity sports, was in the IB program, so she was in classes with upperclassman. There was an age difference between my daughter and the other girl, of 3 years, my daughter was older, however you would have thought it was the opposite by just looking at the girls. My daughter is tiny, looks very young, and the other girl looks much older and is much taller, either way there was a 3 year age gap.
(Were I the prosecutor and this were offered as testimony by the defense, I’d stand up and object: “Irrelevant, your honor. Who cares how tall they are? If Kaitlyn were a midget and the younger girl were a giant, this would have no bearing on the law as regards the difference in their ages. And the prosecution does not dispute the fact that 18-year-old young adults attend the same schools as minors below the age of consent, or play together on the same sports teams. It’s not the school or the sports that are at issue in this case, it’s the sex. And, in point of fact, the age difference is 44 months — the younger girl was 14 and Kaitlyn was 18 throughout the sexual involvement.”)
They were both students in the same high school, it was a mutual consenting relationship on both parts.
(The Florida law specifically states that “consent” is not a defense when an adult has sex with someone 15 or younger.)
This was unusual for Kate, she has always dated boys, but being the kind of mother I am, I didn’t want to make it a big deal. I talked to her about it, and figured it was just a social thing, times have changed and a lot of kids are experimenting, so I didn’t make much of it.
(The phrase “being the kind of mother I am” raises the question, “What kind of mother are you?” The answer would not be flattering.)
This girl came to my home, hang out with our family before sporting events at the school, etc. The girls would hang out together at after school activities, I was there, I saw the other girls father there several times, he saw them together as well, so I assumed her family was aware of it and didn’t have any issues either.
(Did Kaitlyn’s mom just admit that she knew her 18-year-old daughter was sexually involved with a freshman? And did she really assume that the 14-year-old’s parents also realized the relationship between two basketball teammates was more than friendship?)
On Saturday February 16th our families world was shattered and our daughters nightmare begun. The police came to our home and arrested my daughter, put her in hand cuffs and we had no idea why. They refused to tell us anything at first because she had turned 18. Kate was ripped out of our arms, terrified, crying hysterically. My younger daughter was there at the time, my husband and myself, we were mortified. They finally told us she was being arrested on “probable cause”. I asked them probable cause of what, they said sexual battery on a person 12-16 years old.
(“Police brutality! My daughter is a victim!”)
My heart dropped, I knew then that it had to have been her girlfriend’s parents, James and Laurie Smith.
(Yes: In this Facebook message, Kaitlyn’s mother named the parents of the younger girl, deliberately exposing them to harassment.)
These people never came to us as parents, never tried to speak to us, didn’t try to get the school involved to speak to us and tell us they had a problem with the girls dating, not one single word. Instead, they set out their vengeance and had my child arrested on FELONY charges. The nightmare continued. Kate was bailed out and sat in front of a Judge. He told her she could continue going to school, but was to have no contact with her girlfriend. I went to the school and spoke to them, let them know what was going on, I wanted to make sure there was no issues or problems. It is Kate’s senior year, she only had a few months until graduation and we wanted her to finish. The school was very supportive, they all know and loved Kate. They told us that the other girls parents had already come in and wanted Kate to be expelled, they told them no, they wouldn’t do that. James and Laurie Smith didn’t like that, so that petitioned the court and asked the judge to remove Kate from school, even though the Judge already ruled Kate could continue school. We sat in front of the Judge again, and the judge ruled yet again that Kate could continue going to school, he didn’t feel like Kate was any threat at all.
(The nature of the crimes alleged — which Kaitlyn’s mother never describes except with the euphemisms “relationship” and “dating” — is conveniently omitted from her narrative. Anyone can read the arrest affidavit and discover, however, that the sexual activity between the girls began in a school toilet stall. If expulsion from school is not warranted in such a circumstance, when can it ever be justified?)
James and Laurie Smith wouldn’t give up. They were out to destroy my daughter, they feel like my daughter “made” their daughter gay. They are bigoted, religious [zealots] that see being gay as a sin and wrong, and they blame my daughter. Of course I see it 100% different. I don’t see or label these girls as gay. They are teenagers in high school experimenting with their sexuality, all teens do it in one form or another. They are teens, its healthy and normal. And even if their daughter is gay, who cares, she is still their daughter.
(Catch the nuance: Kelley Hunt Smith has previously said her daughter was heterosexual until this “relationship,” whereas for this other family, “their daughter is gay.” And we are offered a contrast between two value systems: Bad parents — “bigoted, religious zealots” — are those who object to “relationships” for their 14-year-olds; whereas good parents are those who consider their 18-year-old senior having sex with a 14-year-old in a school restroom “healthy and normal.”)
But, the fight continued. James and Laurie Smith fought dirty, we pushed back and tried everything we could. I went to the school board with not one but two orders from Indian River County Judges saying Kate could continue going to school, but the school board sided with James and Laurie Smith, and expelled my daughter. Kate was forced to go to the alternative school. The school board made one concession and allowed Kate to attend her senior events like grad bash, and senior fun day at the school and she will be able to walk at her graduation at the high school and actually graduate from SRHS. But her senior year was ruined . . .
(What a pathetic claim: Her senior year was ruined! Notice also that Kaitlyn’s mom repeatedly names the 14-year-old’s parents.)
. . . she was taken away from her normal life, her friends and her school activities because of James and Laurie Smith. It was still blantenlty wrong, and discriminative. James and Laurie Smith have forced the State Attorneys office to go thru with felony charges and are trying to ruin my daughters life. This is insane. This should have never been a legal matter, it is a family matter.
(A family matter: Montagues and Capulets! Sword fights in the streets of Verona! Also, the Hatfields and McCoys, Hutus and Tutsis.)
They are trying to send an innocent young girl to prison because they are full of hate and bigotry.
(This “innocent young girl” claim crumbles to dust the minute you see the video of Kaitlyn shouting obscenities as she incites her younger sister in a fight at the beach with another girl. And when did it become “hate and bigotry” to enforce statutory rape laws?)
These girls are teenagers in high school, who had ONE mutual consenting sexual experience.
(More than one, according to the arrest affidavit.)
My daughter isn’t a criminal, she isn’t a predator. James and Laurie Smith’s daughter has said from day one, she cares about my daughter, she never wanted her parents to do this, she was 100% consenting and it was by her own choice that she was with my daughter. She doesn’t want Kate to be punished at all, and feels like they did nothing wrong.
(And really, shouldn’t we defer to the judgment of a 14-year-old?)
Unfortunately by the letter of the law, this girl has NO voice. Her parents can play the “victims” and ruin my daughters life. We have written letters through our attorneys trying to appeal to these people as parents, talk through it and come to some agreement or understanding but James and Laurie Smith refuse. These people’s delusional stand, their hate and bigotry is tearing our daughter apart.
(How many times does she need to name-check the other girl’s parents and repeat this accusation of “hate and bigotry”?)
Kate is having night terrors, she is in depression, its horrible to watch. Kate was the happiest child, always smiling, always happy and uplifting and now she has to push through the tears to get through every day.
(Kaitlyn Ashley Hunt — Booking #2013-00000708 — was “always smiling, always happy and uplifting” as long as she was at liberty to finger 14-year-olds in the school restroom without anybody bothering to call the cops. Bigots! Haters!)
I need the communities help. I need people to stand and fight with me for my daughters life. Should the girls have made better choices, YES. I agree, but is this criminal, no. Does my daughter deserve to lose her life for 15 years, or 3 years, or to have no life, because of one choice she made in high school, absolutely not!! The state attorney, Brian Workman needs to use taxpayers money to prosecute REAL criminals, not a high school student who has never been in trouble a day in her young life, all because she had a mutual consenting relationship with someone who has bigoted parents.
(Again, it’s the “bigoted parents” who are the problem, you see.)
I had bracelets made that say STOP THE HATE, FREE KATE. I want everyone in Indian River county to wear one in support of my daughter. I need people to come forward and show the state that this is totally ridiculous and wrong. I will fight till im dead for my children. Kate is such a beautiful person this is just so incredible wrong. This is a mothers nightmare. No one could possibly fully understand how painful this is, we feel powerless. The letter of the law, vs. reality in this situation is horrifying. I cant lose my child, I just cant. We as a community cant allow this to happen.
(“We as a community” must defend the right to underage toilet sex!)
We have until next Friday to either agree with an outrageous plea offer, or start trial. The state offered a plea of two years house arrest and one year probation. Kate wont be able to get a job, start her life, ever leave the house for an entire two years, then another year on probation. That is absolutely ludicrous. We need justice in this situation, not to feed into these parents hates and insanity. Will you help support Kate? Will you write a letter to the state attorney, will you come sit in the court room and show your support, will you wear Kate’s bracelet in support of her? Will you pray, will you speak your mind to these other parents in regards to their actions? Will you help our family?
Translation: Help the Hunt family get revenge on Jim and Laurie Smith.
If you lived in Indian River County, wouldn’t you instead demand that the state’s attorney launch an immediate investigation of Kaitlyn’s family as pathologically dysfunctional?
Having read through this demented woman’s tangled mess of a narrative, I am shocked that anyone could have been persuaded by it. And even if someone were naive enough to have been persuaded at first — some idiots believe everything they read on the Internet — shouldn’t they have been outraged when they learned the actual facts of the case, when the arrest affidavit was made public?
People have accused me of hostility to Kaitlyn Hunt, of fighting to have her sent to prison, but that’s not my point at all. Instead, I’m angry at all the idiots who let themselves be played for suckers in turning this case into a civil-rights crusade, based on the say-so of this girl’s horribly irresponsible and dishonest parents. What decent, honest or intelligent person could support such a cheap hustle as this?
Everyone who has been bamboozled by these liars should be ashamed.
UPDATE: The latest news about the case:
The lawyers for Kaitlyn Hunt have now hired a public relations firm to handle all of the media surrounding the case.
Attorney Julia Graves, based in downtown Vero Beach, is defending Kaitlyn.
CBS 12 News has learned that she is now contracting with a Jupiter-based public relations company called the Bella Group.
This is what lawyers do when, rather than seeking justice in the court room, they intend to try the case in the media. And anyone in the media cooperating with that agenda should be ashamed, too.
