Watts Island

No Public Trial

The Sixth Amendment gives anyone accused of a criminal offense the right to a public trial, but defendants also have the right to waive a public trial. The general public and media have a First Amendment interest in open court proceedings, but these rights are secondary to the interests of the parties to the case.

Chris Watts confessed and is serving a life sentence in prison, but many people feel unsettled from a lack of a public trail. Why is that? Why is a public trial so important? U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brandeis summed it up when he said, "Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants." By keeping legal proceedings in the public eye, it promotes accountability in maintaining a fair and just criminal justice system and brings closure to the community.

A Community Divided

A trial explains the "Why, When, and How" so when Chris plead guilty, waived his right to a trial and signed the plea agreement, an opportunity was missed for those questions to be answered. Weld County District Attorney, Michael Rourke, released the redacted 2,000-page discovery and the public quickly read every page. They watched all of the body cam footage, the drone searches and the FBI interviews. Shanann's Facebook posts and videos were studied. The call logs, and GPS data locations were mapped out, but discrepancies surfaced, and more questions arose. It quickly became evident that the official narrative was full of holes and people speculated if misinformation was deliberately being released to the public and why would they do it? Are they trying to cover something up? Are they lying about something? Are they intentionally trying to confuse the public? Everyone had an opinion; people became angry and bullied anyone who disagreed with them. Creators inserted themselves into other creators’ private lives, publicly exposed private information, harassed family members and contacted employers to get them fired! Creators who were once friends turned on each other and no one knew what to think or who to trust. Fighting ensued and the true crime community took sides, and 'Watts Island' was formed. The island is small but if you don't agree with someone's theory you will be intimidated, disgraced and eventually banished off of the island.