A  federal judge ruled today the mother of Kelsey Smith-Briggs will get nothing from the settlement of a lawsuit over her daughter’s death.

Raye Dawn Smith is seen in a Creek County sheriff’s patrol car in this 2007 photo by Jim Beckel.

Raye Dawn Smith wanted half of the $345,097 leftover from the settlement. She is in prison for enabling her daughter’s abuse.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Timothy DeGiusti means that money will go to Kelsey’s father.

Kelsey died from abuse Oct. 11, 2005, at her home near Meeker. The case was one of the most highly publicized murder cases in Oklahoma for the next two years.

Smith testified in January she wanted half to repay her family for her legal expenses. She said she would give anything left after that to an infant crisis center in Oklahoma City and a children’s hospital.

She is appealing her conviction.

Lance Briggs filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the state Department of Human Services and others.

Last year, the state paid $525,000 to settle the lawsuit, and a private agency paid $100,000. Attorneys got 40 percent of the settlement plus expenses.

No one was convicted of murder in the child’s death.

Kelsey’s stepfather, Michael Lee Porter, was charged with first-degree murder and child sexual abuse but pleaded guilty instead to enabling child abuse. He is serving a 30-year prison sentence. He blamed the girl’s mother for her death.

The mother was never charged with murder. She was convicted at a 2007 trial of enabling of child abuse and is serving a 27-year prison sentence. She blames Porter for Kelsey’s death.

Kelsey died even though DHS workers, a private child-welfare worker and a judge were overseeing her care because of the child’s injuries. Her death came four months after the judge returned Kelsey to her mother, despite accusations the mother was the abuser.

Kelsey’s father was returning to Oklahoma from military duty when she died. Relatives said Friday he has never recovered from the death. He and Kelsey’s mother divorced before she was born.