Video I took at the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping trial --- After verdict was reached

I have been covering the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping trial since it began in November, right around the time I came on board at the Salt Lake Tribune. 


It has been a wild ride. I have really enjoyed getting involved in coverage of this case. I have learned more than I ever wanted to know about psychiatry and mental health, but have really enjoyed the opportunity it provided to learn more about the federal court process as I cover crime and justice.


On December 10, 2010 Elizabeth Smart and her family commented after a guilty verdict is handed down by the jury for Brian David Mitchell for the 2002 kidnapping of Smart. Eight years after the event, closure comes for the family.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF9lGSYOJkg

Friend of Brian David Mitchell testifies

On Tuesday, Doug Larsen testified he was a good friend of Brian David Mitchell's back in the late '80s while working at OC Tanner in the tool-and-die department. See what he said about how close their religious views were to each other at the time, and what lead to the decline. http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50687031-76/mitchell-larsen-west-didn.html.csp

Follow up to the minute ongoing coverage of the Elizabeth Smart Trial

The Salt Lake Tribune will be covering the Elizabeth Smart trial with the most updated and in-depth coverage of any local news media in the Salt Lake City area. Keep up to date with today's coverage by reading the transcript from today on the link below.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50678780-76/backman-colianni-ogilvie-viti.html.csp

Reporting from a Federal courtroom

This was an interesting opportunity. I woke up that morning like it was Christmas. I was excited, not for hearing the gruesome details of the Elizabeth Smart nine-month ordeal, but to learn the process of how a jury was selected. It was my first opportunity to report from a Federal courtroom on such a high-profile crime case.
This story was one my colleague Sheena and I reported on about the process of selecting jurors in the case. It was interesting to see what caused the judge to dismiss or keep certain jurors, even when the defense or prosecution felt the individual showed cause to be removed from the pool. An educational experience about the courts and our justice system.
Read the below story we wrote about how some of the jurors were chosen.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50588638-76/juror-defense-mitchell-insanity.html.csp

Ongoing assignment: Elizabeth Smart trial coverage

As a new reporter to the crime desk at the Salt Lake Tribune, I have been given the priviledge of assisting with the ongoing coverage of the Brian David Mitchell trial, a.k.a. Elizabeth Smart trail (when she was allegedly abducted at age 14 from her Federal Heights home in June 2002). It wasn't until nine months later she was found. The mass public assumed she had surely been killed and would never be seen again. It was a case that captured the attention of international media.
Once again the exposure of the case is being made manifest as national media outlets camp outside the court house in Salt Lake City during the trial that is slated to last until mid-December. I will be helping with coverage for the trial in one of many ways, which include cleaning up transcript sent by reporters, or actually going to the courthouse and typing up a transcript of what was discussed during the witness testimony.
It has been a privilege and an honor to assist in reporting a case that has this much magnitude.
The link below explains how the Salt Lake Tribune's recent coverage with nearly verbatim testimony from the court room is offering a new element of access and transparency for the regular public to be a part of. 
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50670291-76/coverage-jury-trial-public.html.csp

Oct. 18: First day as a Salt Lake Tribune crime reporter and mobile journalist

Well, I am now officially a full-time crime reporter for the Salt Lake Tribune. After spending 3 1/2 months in Southern Utah as a beat reporter for The Spectrum and Daily News, I got a job offer to work back up north. Here is a link to my first byline as a Trib reporter.

 

Fall Colors on Cedar Mountain in Southern Utah --Photo Credit: Cimaron Neugebauer

Took a drive yesterday and took these pictures. I thought I would share. Utah truly has some of the most diverse gorgeous scenery and great fall colors.