"City Beat - August 1, 2002
Innocent Until ?
A lack of kidnapping charges against Richard Ricci hasn't cleared his name.
by Scott Lewis
SLC Weekly
It may have seemed a little surprising that Bret Michael Edmunds? first appearance in a Utah court July 23 attracted so little attention. After all, for a few days in June, he was one of the most hunted men in the country even if he was just wanted for questioning.
But it's surprising only if you had missed the virtual passing of the villain baton from Edmunds to Richard Ricci in late June. More than five weeks have passed since Fox 13 television reporters broke the story that replaced Edmunds mug with Ricci's in newspapers and on television around the world.
Later, Salt Lake Police Chief Rick Dinse confirmed the fresh news for the rest of the anxious journalists gathered at a daily press conference: Ricci had, indeed, reached the top of the list of people we are looking at in the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping.
But five weeks later, he still hasn't made the leap to suspect. No charges against him related to the 14-year-old's disappearance have been filed and police refuse to implicate him any more than they already have. Nevertheless, a daily drumbeat of stories and appeals from the Smart family have boldly implied that Ricci is more than just at the top of a vague list.
That is not altogether a fair thing to do to the man, said local civil rights attorney Brian
Barnard, who made a similar appeal for caution during the rabid manhunt for Edmunds. Police keep saying that he's not a suspect, but that he's on the top of the list of potential suspects. What is he, if he's not a suspect? All of this publicity is tainting any kind of a potential jury pool. And they haven't even charged him with it yet.
Police spokesman Dwayne Baird said that even if prosecutors had charged Ricci with the abduction five weeks ago, they still wouldn't be close to selecting a jury for trial if the jury pool is tainted now, it would have been regardless of their reluctance to file charges. The media wants us to be in a hurry, but that doesn't make for a good case.
Salt Lake County District Attorney David Yocom said he is prevented from talking about any potential case against Ricci as that would create pre-trial publicity. But, he said, no matter how much attention a case has received, Utah has been successful in the past ensuring that due process works well. There's no reason to think this is any different, he said. We won't be able to find anybody who hasn't heard of certain cases, but we seek out people who will be able to set aside what they've heard and put together the facts.
Facts that are still largely secret from the public. But police are not trying to lay blame on Ricci in the eyes of the public without actually prosecuting him, Baird said. If we were trying to pin it on him, we would have done that five weeks ago. We are looking at dozens of leads and many other people. It is a very methodical process that is necessary in order to ensure that if we ever do file charges against anyone, it is a good, solid case.
That sort of patience isn't something that comes easy to the Smart family. After all, they have lost a daughter swift justice and closure is a priority. On July 22, Elizabeth?s father, Ed Smart, appealed to the public to provide information from anyone who might have had anything to do with Ricci in the last two years. In daily press briefings, Smart has even addressed Ricci directly, accusing him of lying and not answering important questions about his whereabouts after Elizabeth's disappearance June 5. Potential sightings of the former handyman and the requests for information about him have become virtually the only fodder for the daily news briefings to which media attendance has dwindled in the last month.
Ricci's attorney, David K. Smith, however, found himself so overwhelmed by all of the media attention that he hired a public relations firm to handle the inquiries into Ricci's case. His spokeswoman, Nancy Pomeroy, told City Weekly Ricci believes he has cooperated fully and answered all questions about the Smart abduction openly. He just hasn't answered them the way they would want, she said.
But the daily press conferences and the family's lack of patience are reasonable, she said. I totally understand it. I would do the same thing if it had been my daughter. It hardly affects Richard he's in jail, cut off from everything. But like everyone else, he would like Elizabeth to be found.
Fox 13's Scott McKane first broke the Ricci story June 22. Ricci had been in jail for a little over a week on a parole violation. After confirming McKane's story, police released photos of the various cars Ricci owns in an attempt to solicit information about his movements around the time of the kidnapping. A truck driver later reported that he had seen a Jeep Cherokee similar to Ricci's in Eastern Utah. The Smart family then called for volunteers to search for Elizabeth in the massive area around the possible sighting. An action that one might consider indicative of their beliefs that Ricci was involved.
Police spokesman Baird said the media has been running its own justice proceedings with regard to the abduction. And that in many ways it has nothing to do with what's really going on in the investigation, which, of course, is top secret. In the meantime, he said, the family's determination to hold daily press conferences may be fueling that frenzy. They are running out of things to say every day. Talking about Ricci is as good as anything else, so they do it. It's almost as if they are wondering out loud."
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