Smart Family Hires Entertainment Lawyer

CBS News ^

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Smart Family Hires Entertainment Lawyer

SALT LAKE CITY, April 5, 2003

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Elizabeth Smart with her father, Ed (AP/Deseret News, Tom Smart) Elizabeth with her parents Lois and Ed (AP Photo/Deseret News, Tom Smart)

(AP) Elizabeth Smart's family has hired a Los Angeles entertainment attorney to help them screen movie and book proposals about Elizabeth's abduction and remarkable return.

Kelly Crabb, who reportedly has negotiated contracts for Paul McCartney, Dave Matthews and Muhammad Ali, was hired a week ago, said Chris Thomas, the family's spokesman.

According to his firm's Web site, Crabb's areas of practice include motion picture, television and other programming production and financing; composer agreements, personal appearances and motion picture distribution.

"These kind of contracts are very specialized," Thomas said.

Crabb received bachelor's and master's degrees from Brigham Young University before earning a law degree from Columbia University in 1984. He also worked for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.

Elizabeth, now 15, was abducted from her bedroom on the night of June 5. On March 12, she was found in a Salt Lake suburb with her alleged kidnappers.

[Hildy]

I know. Just wanted you to see the pic!

[FITZ]

Just when I'd begun to pity the Smarts they go and do this.

I'd begun to forget them ----there are other children who have been kidnapped, some escaped but are now pretty much forgotten. People have short attention spans, the only reason this case will stay in the public mind is because they want it to --- I suppose if anyone is entitled to the profits of a movie, it would be the Smarts but I think most of us would prefer to slip into forgotness.

[lakey]

Ricci was a convenient suspect when LE needed a suspect.

This stuff of substituting one criminal, simply because he has committed other crimes, all for the lack of knowing who the actual perp was, did far more harm than some of you realize.

While everybody was concentrating on Ricci, as I have said before, the real perp was loose, having "his way" with Elizabeth.

Did it ever occur to any of you Ricci-bashers that all the news touting Ricci as the culprit was a reason the public was not more on the lookout for Elizabeth?

The Smarts made a particularly stupid mistake in pointing fingers at Ricci.

[lakey]

Ricci was a convenient suspect when LE needed a suspect.

This stuff of substituting one criminal, simply because he has committed other crimes, all for the lack of knowing who the actual perp was, did far more harm than some of you realize.

While everybody was concentrating on Ricci, as I have said before, the real perp was loose, having "his way" with Elizabeth.

Did it ever occur to any of you Ricci-bashers that all the news touting Ricci as the culprit was a reason the public was not more on the lookout for Elizabeth?

The Smarts made a particularly stupid mistake in pointing fingers at Ricci.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

You know the movie " I know my name is Steve"? That was about Steve Stayner. No one would have known who he was, but since there was a movie of him, it's the main thing people talk about when they think of him.

He's dead now. Killed in a motorcycle accident.

[FITZ]

I guess it were me and my kid, I'd try to stay away from publicity and even if movies got made, I'd make a statement saying as we had no input into the movie, it could only be seen as fiction. It would seem that trying to get back to a normal life would be hard enough. There were a couple young girls recently kidnapped who escaped ---I don't know if any movies are going to be made but by now most people couldn't think of their names. Either way the Smart movie goes ---if they gloss over her ordeal to protect her, she'll still know it much worse ---if they bring out the gruesome details, she'll have to face that and the loss of any privacy she might have liked to have. I just don't see what they hope to gain.

[Hildy]

The Smart's were OUT OF THEIR MINDS with worry. He seemed like the most natural suspect. However, after awhile, even they knew that maybe he wasn't the one and begged the police to follow other leads. I mean really, do you blame them? They were only trying to find their little girl.

[lakey]

Plenty of other people have been "out of their minds with worry" but they didn't take the path that the Smarts took. Wiser people know their limitations.

If they didn't trust LE to find the perp, they certainly could have hired private detectives, or taken on Dr. Henry Lee much earlier than they did. (and btw, where is the esteemed doctor?) They could have allowed a composite drawing. Uncle Tom nixed that idea, pronto.

We'll never know the entire truth in this case.

[Hildy]

And do you know how you'd act in a similar situation? God help you if you're under a microscope during the biggest crisis of your life.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Actually, now people think about Steven Stayner's older brother, the confessed murderer of three women in Yosemite.

Strange coincidence.

[lakey]

That's a lame rebuttal, Hildy.

But let's put the blame where it belongs. On law enforcement. The Smarts were vulnerable. When LE came up with Ricci as a possible suspect, when his MO did not indicate that he was a child molester, & LE failed to produce evidence & the Grand Jury failed to indict Ricci, THERE was the clue to SLCPD's proof. They had none.

How LE managed to get a statement on the Jeep from Neth Moul has been a subject of debate. In the end, though, we know he was full of it!!!

Whatever, LE used inuendo, marking time. LE thought she was dead & a body would turn up sooner or later.

SLCPD made everything even more suspicious was when they said the Watch Commander had entered the 911 call in error, that it had been corrected. Dinse said that.

911 calls are recorded on a computer.

There are other "careless" spots in the investigation. And we've all read them before.

[Conservative4Ever]

Wow....somebody that has the same thought I did. I stated this very thought sometime ago and was flamed big time. Now I know there are two of us out there.

Red

[lakey]

Actually, make that 3, 4, 5 & 6 + you two. That's about how many of us on these threads believe Ed Smart is a liar. Could be the profession he's in, though, $$$$$$s.

[Conservative4Ever]

Thanks for the support...nice to know I am not along in my thoughts. I have always felt this is one weird family.

Red

[lakey]

Have you digested #531?

Then, let's take this from another angle. The mystery of the 911 call. It was first reported that Ed made the call at about 2 a.m., LE later changing the time to 4:01 a.m. -- that Mary Katherine had lain in her bed for about 2 hours before waking her parents at 3:58 a.m.

Could it be possible that LE thought Elizabeth was a runaway, that being the reason for the sloppy investigation?

The Smart family immediately took to t.v. Did Ed & his brothers trip up LE by calling the disappearance a kidnapping - that they felt their plea needed to sound dramatic? I mean, LOL, you don't get up before scores of reporters, nationwide cameras & say, "Hey, my daughter ran away - we want her back."

Was Dinse going to stand up & call them delusional, say they are liars? 'nite

[lakey]

Right on! Keep reading.

[so_real]

My "rant" as you call it was against that brutal, uncaring and hateful creation that you call "god." Not against the REAL God. ~ Illbay It must be nice being the FR pet where you can insult us and attack the Lord all day long without any worry that we will respond. Woody.

Hi Woody, Pleased to meet you. Out of curiousity, what brutal, uncaring, and hateful creation do you call "god" that is not "God". Seems like only a Satanist would have that ambition. So are you evil or is someone here bearing false witness? What's the skinny? Thanks, 'Real

[Spirited]

My comment, ADDRESSED TO HILDY, never used the word "good".

HER assertion was that the Smarts were “good, religious”.
Since “there is none good” (Jesus, the Christ) and the religious were numbered among his detractors and killers and not necessarily on His admired side in any event, all one can do is be willing to believe what Hildy proposed (that the Smarts would give away the monetary gain).

In fact it was Hildy’s virulent assertion that they would give the monetary gain away so long as they were enabled to control the way the story is told.

The results of the tested assertion will be obvious in due time Will the monetary gain be given away in entirety as vehemently asserted? The tax deduction for that would result in enormous gain itself.

Somewhere in all this you made an assumption, defended your opinion of the contention and ended with a characterization of the effect of your interpretation of my post on the board . “No wonder there are so many Clintonoids around “ The whole constitutes a remarkable occurrence!

Viewed in the context that God is not a respecter of persons and those who are His are enjoined to be like Him, one wonders what difference would have obtained had I been known as a Mormon.

Mizpah

[Risa]

>>I actually made a vow not to post anymore on this topic- shouldn't have done so today...However, since you ask...<<

I understand -- your opinion is based on your observations of the father's behavior and your direct experience with lots of duplicitous people. I consider your opinion a reasoned one, much more so than mine, since I never saw the father (barely followed the case), and even if I had, I've been known not to detect human duplicity as easily as the next guy. (actually my intution is on target--I just refuse to believe my intuition, at times.)

As for Westerfield, never did it occur to me to connect your assessment of the Smarts with him. He's an entirely different case, and I'd be a fool to make such a judgement.

I am really astonished at some of the reaction to your opinion. If we all had the same one, what would be the use of being on the Free Republic forum? How would anyone learn anything new?

Thanks for your thoughtful response.

regards,
risa

[Risa]

>>I disagree with the statements of opinion from Nicholas di Genova. In his opinion, the U.S. military should suffer "a million Mogadishus." I think he should SHUT UP.
Any further questions? <<

You've lost me, Illbay. How is the seditious, evil behavior of Nicholas di Genova to be compared to someone expressing an opinion on the contribution of the Smart parents to the Smart child's plight?

regards,
risa