Mary Meehan and David Stephenson were aware of many things that were going on in Dawn Nicole Smith’s life as they followed her through Drug Court. But not everything.
Not the incest. Not the continuing drug use.
There were long periods of time when Dawn was unavailable to them. She never told them she was still using drugs and getting around the drug tests. Nor did they know that her stepfather was paying her – sometimes with money, sometimes with drugs – for sex. Not until she reported it to police.
Drug court case workers didn’t know either.
If anything, Dawn’s story shows how even someone who is given every opportunity and who says she wants to get off drugs may still fail.
If someone were to sail through drug court, fulfilling all the requirements without complications, they could be out within 18 months. David and Mary were looking in on Dawn’s life for more than 3 1/2 years – through the birth of two children, allegations of abuse, and incest.
It was not easy for them to watch her self-destruct. They worried about her. They worried about her children. But their job was simply to tell her story.
Dawn never asked for anything from them.
Now, Dawn has lost her children, her home, virtually everything that has meaning in her life. Her story shows the absolutely unyielding nature of the drug problem our society faces. This story may make you feel that you want to turn away — or throw up your hands at the seeming hopelessness of ever making headway on the problem.
As you read it, Dawn’s story may seem extraordinary in its heartbreaking reality.
Sadly, it is not.
“It was not easy for them to watch her self-destruct. They worried about her. They worried about her children. But their job was simply to tell her story.” This quote is taken from your Behind The Scenes comments above.
I read a letter-to-the-editor this morning from a police officer, Matthew Silver, asking, basically, why a journalist and photojournalist did not help when they saw a couch on fire in a Lexington street after a ball game. I remember, too, when I was a teenager watching on television a man with a burning tire around him. I wanted the photographer to throw down his camera and help.
I think the role of journalism is a difficult one. The journalist might want to help immediately but in the end by sticking to the job of reporting, they might be helping more.
Again the repporters suggest that the stepfather paid for sex with his step daughter, but there is no evidence of any kind of monitary exchange beween the two. All that we know for sure is that the two of them had sex and a child resulted. I think its unfair for the stepfather to be accused of paying for sex when he has no way of definding himself as yet.
Why not send these reporters to get his side of the story!
MI reader
I read with interest your story on Dawn. seems like there are 2 sides to each coin, and 2 sides to each story. Why not look for the truth in this story. Can this person be trusted to tell the truth. I have seen a lot of lies which originated with her. Yet no one looks for the truth.
sign me a skeptic from MI
Substance abuse is a nightmare few people can even fathom. Treatment is the only answer and drug court is, perhaps, one of the best things to offer hope for substance abusers that has been tried in decades. It is easy to marginalize people who advocate treatment because of the intolerance rampant in society today. Treatment doesn’t always take root on the first try and almost everyone familiar with treatment will tell you sometimes it takes years and numerous attempts to succeed, even then sometimes it fails. I for one do not ever want to devalue a human being or hope and I’m glad you are reporting on this issue.