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Local Reporter Served Up Small-Town Justice

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By WALT BELCHER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 22, 2009

It was a story that begged for an investigation.

In a small Florida town, a well-known mother and her 8-year-old daughter are killed in an accident on a narrow, two-lane country road.

The driver of a truck loaded with tomatoes lost control. His truck crossed the center line and rolled over a van the mother was driving. The trucker is a Haitian immigrant from Tennessee.

He told police that he swerved to avoid an oncoming car, but no one can find the car. Blood tests showed that the trucker was not drinking, nor was he on drugs. There was no evidence that he was speeding and no evidence that he fell asleep.

However, he was charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter. An all-white jury convicts him in less than an hour. He is sentenced to 15 years in prison.

WTVT, Channel 13, investigative reporter Doug Smith says getting justice was the goal during nearly three years and more than two dozen reports that led to freedom for Jean Claude Meus, who was released in April.

But there have been other rewards. Smith, producer Lisa Blegen and photographer Craig Davisson have won an Emmy, an Edward R. Murrow Award, and tonight in New York they are among the 13 recipients of the Alfred I. DuPont Awards presented by Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
CBS anchor Katie Couric is the host.

Other recipients for outstanding investigative work include ABC News' "Nightline," for reporting on the war in Afghanistan, and CNN's global documentation of the rise of religious fundamentalism.

Dogged Work

"When we first heard about the Meus case, the sentence alone was enough to get our interest," Smith says. "And even the victims' family thought justice hadn't been served here."

The accident in rural Wauchula that claimed the lives of Nona Moore, 40, and her 8-year-old daughter, Lindsey, happened in 2001. And Meus, now 45, was already behind bars when WTVT's investigative unit got involved.

"It appeared that those involved with the investigation in this small town knew and loved the Moore family and Jean Claude Meus didn't have a chance," Smith says.

Moore's sisters and Meus' fiancee, Rebecca Chenoweth, were campaigning for his release and turned to WTVT. Moore's sister, Dana Christenson of Tampa, told Smith that Meus' deep sorrow over the accident was punishment enough.

Also instrumental in helping clear Meus was Largo lawyer John Trevena, who worked on the case for free.

A Witness, A New Diagram

Smith and Blegen uncovered an eyewitness to the accident who came forward after the first televised report. They also found a traffic reconstruction expert who showed that the hand-drawn diagrams of the accident presented to the jury were flawed.

Through it all, Smith and Blegen were impressed by Meus' humble nature and his faith that he would get justice. It happened when a judge overturned the convictions last year.

Hardee County prosecutors have appealed and Meus has been allowed to leave the state while awaiting a 2nd District Court of Appeal ruling.

"We saw him at Christmas when he came to town for a visit," Smith says. "He and his fiancee are living in Tennessee and he's enjoying his life."

"This case could have been easily overlooked because Wauchula is out in the middle of the state and it didn't generate a lot of media attention," Smith says.

It also serves as a reminder of the value of investigative journalism, which might be in jeopardy as newspapers and TV stations cut staff in the wake of a crippled economy.

TUNE IN TONIGHT

"Grey's Anatomy," 9 p.m., ABC

Eric Stoltz guest stars as a creepy, terminally ill death row inmate who wants to donate an organ to save the life of a young patient.

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