I stood in the clerk’s office on the seventh floor of the Sedgwick County Courthouse with Denise Hnytka, a reporter for KWCH-TV, Channel 12, in Wichita, waiting for the formal charging documents for Chris L. Newberry.
“Oh!” Denise said, looking at the criminal complaint.
“Yeah,” I said. As I read the charges, I knew exactly which part she was reacting to.
The complaint charged Newberry with dousing his 10-year-old stepdaughter, Caitlyn Johnson, with lighter fluid and setting her on fire as she slept in her bed last March.
Newberry had just made his first court appearance. There hasn’t been any evidence presented that he’s done anything, and he’s presumed not guilty by law.
But as details unfold, these are the kinds of cases that tend to linger long after you leave work.
People who follow my coverages of trials on Twitter often ask me if I have nightmares from the cases I follow.
This is the second consecutive case I’ve covered of someone accused of harming a child. As a parent, it’s one I’m expecting to lose a little sleep over.
4 Comments
Ron, I thought of you and what you have to endure to report these court stories for us, when I stumbled across an ad-laden blog titled “Parents Behaving Badly” with the tagline “Parenting so bad, it’s criminal”. The blogger gets so many tips that she created another blog, “Bad Breeders”, for links to news stories she doesn’t have time to blog about.
I landed on the site because I’d heard that a woman had recently been sentenced for murder; she had microwaved her baby. I thought that must be an urban myth. No way would anyone do such a thing. Sure enough, that blog confirmed it had happened.
I flipped through a few posts, enough to see that it’s an active blog with plenty of comments from regular readers. I clicked away. I get enough of these stories right here in Wichita. I don’t really want to hear about how these terrible crimes occur in communities across the country.
Ron, I am grateful that our community has professional journalists who write about these terrible crimes with respect for the victims and without adding speculation, sarcasm, or personal views of a crass nature.
I don’t know a lot about journalism, but I know that the way you write a story makes a difference to me because of what’s left inside after I finish reading. Rather than simply disgust for the crime & despair for humanity, my feelings are more complex. While sad, I’m also left believing somehow I can make a difference, and I have hope that good will triumph over evil.
This is my wordy way of saying thanks, Ron. And if my gratitude helps you sleep better… bonus!
Additionally horrifying is that it was almost not known that this child was doused with lighter fluid.
Knowing people appreciate the information makes it worthwhile.
Raining now. Here’s hoping for some thunder!