Analysis: Jayci Yaeger's last wish a national story

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BY KENDRA WALTKE / Lincoln Journal Star

A Lincoln family’s quest to unite an imprisoned father with his dying daughter drew national attention for the past two weeks.

The Yaeger family’s story was first told in local media, often presented as “Jayci’s Last Wish.”

It spread quickly through mass e-mails. Bloggers weighed in.

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Jayci Yaeger (Courtesy Photo)

Jayci Yaeger (Courtesy Photo)

Within a day or two, national news networks were calling.

But why and how did the story spread so far so fast?

What would have happened if those first headlines instead had read, “Inmate Requests Special Treatment?”

The story of Jayci Yaeger’s last wish cut to the heart of many people’s notions of justice and mercy.

Readers, viewers and listeners raised questions about equal treatment under the law.

Others broached the subject of collateral damage — the effect a sentence can have on a criminal’s family or the victims of a crime.

From Lincoln and across the nation, e-mails and letters were sent — to the media and government officials — weighing in on the prison system’s requirement for and definition of “exceptional” and “extraordinary” circumstances.

And pressing hardest on the thoughts of most observers was not the legal quandary but the reported final wishes of a dying child, a 10-year-old girl who had been living with cancer since she was 2 and wanted her father at her side one more time.

Mixed feelings exploded all over the Web. Within minutes of an update on Jayci’s condition this past week, literally hundreds of viewers were reading the story on JournalStar.com. The number of “hits” quickly grew to thousands.

Some commenters said a child was bearing unfairly the pain of her father’s actions. Others said giving special consideration to one prisoner would create a slippery slope. Some comments couldn’t be printed.

“It’s a very difficult conflict of the principles of punishment,” said Robert Schopp, professor of law, psychology and philosophy, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “There’s a lot of questions, but not a whole lot of good, clear principles to apply.”

“If you adjust sentences for third parties ... the sentences will deviate remarkably, depending on the circumstances.”

It’s not a subject people talk about often. Yet, “when it suddenly becomes visible in a case like this, it elicits a strong response. Of course, when you involve a suffering child, it will elicit a strong response.”

It’s a gut feeling, he said.

“The more you  think about it, the more difficult it becomes.”

Twenty years ago, the Jayci story likely would have touched many who read, saw or heard the story in and near Lincoln.

But what would have been a local story spread across the globe within hours via the Internet.

One online petition to grant Jason Yaeger a furlough to visit Jayci drew 865 names, from as far away as Switzerland, Spain, Germany and Venezuela.

A Journal Star reporter counted eight Facebook groups dealing with the Jayci story.

The story was told nationwide by CNN, CBS, ABC and other media outlets.

One abc.news.com story had  1,117 comments.

The Internet can give a local story steam because people, not news agencies, pass the story along by e-mail and blogs.

“It’s hard to know what causes a story to catch on,” said John Bender, associate professor of news editorial at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

“Certainly the fact that in this case you have a little girl dying, which is in itself tragic. And it appears people were very able to empathize with her feelings, and even with her father’s feelings.”

The ability or instinct of the family working with the media can help or hurt a lot, he said.

In this case, those who sympathized with the  Yaegers’ plight put a full-court press on federal officials, possibly causing them to relent Wednesday and allow Jason Yaeger’s final visit with Jayci.

“When you get people talking about a story, you build an acceptable interpretation,” Bender said.

Years ago, people would have discussed the Yaegers’ story over the backyard fence, at the barbershop or salon or at church.

“With the Internet, you have that continued beyond the very local level,” he said.

Reach Kendra Waltke at (402) 473-7303 or kwaltke@journalstar.com.