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Kirstin
Lobato blogspot | Previous
Kirstin Lobato
2006
Defendants plead their
cases on Internet
By Erica D. Johnson, LAS
VEGAS SUN
Supporters of a 20-year-old
woman convicted of first-degree murder have taken their fight
to prove her innocence to cyberspace, a phenomenon that is becoming
more common in high-profile criminal cases.
Kirstin Lobato, a Panaca resident,
was sentenced to 40 to 100 years in prison after jurors convicted
her of first-degree murder in the July 2001 slaying and mutilation
of Duran Bailey, a 44-year-old homeless man.
Prosecutors said the slaying
came as Lobato was on a methamphetamine binge. Lobato's attorney
argued she wasn't even in town when Bailey was killed.
As her case is on appeal her
supporters have taken to the Internet, urging visitors to sign
a petition saying they believe Lobato's conviction should be
overturned. The website also asks for donations to Lobato's legal
defense fund.
"Public opinion carries
a lot of weight and the Internet is such a great avenue to reach
a lot of people," said Michelle Ravell, a friend of Lobato
who helped create the site.
Ravell, an accountant who lives
in Las Vegas, said she perused dozens of sites that were created
in support of people who had been convicted of crimes.
"There are hundreds of
sites out there, maybe thousands," she said.
The Lobato site is one of a
few that have sprouted up in local high-profile cases. Franklyn
Perry, who pleaded guilty to fraud in a multimillion-dollar case,
used a website to plead his case to the public and take pot shots
at the prosecutors.
Jessica Williams was convicted
of having drugs in her system when she plowed the van she was
driving into a group of teens who were cleaning Interstate 15.
Her case was overturned on appeal and, as she waits for a new
trial, her supporters have gone to the web to try to raise money
for bail and for her defense.
Joel Lieberman, chairman of
the criminal justice department at the University of Nevada,
Las Vegas, said he predicts more websites created by defendants
or supporters of defendants will spring up in high-profile cases.
"It's a pretty new phenomenon,"
he said. "This creates a way of directly communicating with
the defendant's team. It creates an interesting new form of publicity."
He noted pop icon Michael Jackson's
recent creation of a website to communicate with his supporters
and proclaim his innocence of child molestation charges filed
against him.
Lieberman said most defendants
find it refreshing to be able to control their message to the
public. Until now, defendants traditionally relied on traditional
media outlets or "simple sound-bites on the evening news,"
he said.
"It's a lot easier to
control information going out over the Internet. It's relatively
free and you can put whatever you want on the Internet. You don't
have that filter."
The site supporting Lobato,
which contains details that Lobato's supporters claim prove she
is innocent, has received more than 5,000 hits since its creation
in August, Ravell said.
Ravell declined to say how
much money had been raised through the Internet site, www.justice4kirstin.com.
Ravell said the Internet was
an ideal way to help create a public outcry regarding Lobato's
case.
Jessica Williams' friends and
family members created a similar website in October called www.jessicawilliams.org.
Organizers of that site created the Jessica Williams Defense
and Bail fund through which they hope to raise enough money to
post Williams' $2.5 million bail.
Williams, 23, is awaiting a
second trial on charges that she had drugs in her system when
she plowed her van into a group of teenagers who were cleaning
up along Interstate 15.
A judge overturned her initial
conviction, saying the marijuana metabolite found in Williams'
system was not included in state law regulating illegal drugs.
Williams' supporters say she should be released from prison until
the new trial.
Perry's website, which is no
longer working, took shots at his attorney and the prosecution,
and had messages for his investors, the people prosecutors say
Perry defrauded. Perry used the website to proclaim his innocence
and argue that he was taking care of his investors.
At the time a prosecutor called
it "more shinola."
Lieberman said defendants'
websites can also be dangerous, however, because they can allow
a potential jury pool to access information on the case that
could be inaccurate or biased.
Clark County District Attorney
David Roger said he did not think websites created by defendants
were harmful to the criminal justice process.
"Cases are decided in
courtrooms, not on websites," he said.
Roger said the criminal justice
system is designed so that any so-called pretrial media coverage
that could be created by mediums such as the Internet would not
taint a potential jury pool.
Jurors are generally exposed
to many different sources of information before sitting on a
jury panel, he said.
"All jurors commit to
deciding cases based on only the facts presented in court,"
Roger said.
On Lobato's website, dozens
of people nationwide have logged onto the site and left words
of encouragement and support in Lobato's guest book.
Many of the visitors praised
Lobato's courage and said they hoped she would be exonerated.
Visitors to the site are also urged to donate money to the Lobato
campaign. The site says all donations will be used for Lobato's
defense fund.
Lobato's site urges visitors
to send letters of support to Lobato at the Southern Nevada Women's
Correctional Facility in North Las Vegas. Visitors are also asked
to submit poetry and art.
"It gives her hope that
there are other people out there that see there is a problem
with (her conviction)," Ravell said.
Prosecutors said Lobato was
on a methamphetamine binge when she beat and stabbed Bailey to
death after he demanded sex in exchange for drugs. They said
Lobato mutilated the man after his death.
Lobato was arrested after she
allegedly told friends that she had mutilated the man after he
raped her. Lobato later said Bailey did not attack her and she
denied that she was even in Las Vegas when the slaying occurred.
Lobato was a friend of Ravell's
24-year-old son when Ravell met her about five months after the
slaying. Ravell has since developed a friendship with Lobato
and visits her at the prison about once a week.
Ravell said she still does
not buy the state's theory that Lobato could kill and mutilate
Bailey without leaving any significant physical evidence. She
is convinced that the young woman is innocent.
Ravell said she hopes the website
will help educate the public about the realities of the criminal
justice system. She also has a loftier goal in mind, she said.
"My dream, my vision is
that (Lobato) will be exonerated," Ravell said. "I
want to see her walk out of that prison a free woman."
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