Posted on 06/17/2002 8:00:01 PM PDT by JZoback
SANFORD -- Calling it the most malicious crime he's seen in 25 years on the bench, a judge on Friday sentenced a former TV repairman to life in prison for shooting his estranged wife twice and pouring acid on her face.
Stephen Herrick Smith, 53, said he did it because he suspected she had begun a romance with someone else.
When rescuers got to Teresa Peterson the day she was attacked, Nov. 11, 1998, she was on the floor of the couple's home near Casselberry, bleeding from the gunshot wounds and blind from the acid. Deputies said smoke was rising from her skin.
Smith had shot her with a handgun in a bedroom, Peterson said. He then poured hydrochloric acid on her face and upper body, and shot her again as she tried to feel her way to an outside door to wash off with a garden hose.
"I wasn't trying to kill her," Smith told investigators who went to the house after the couple's 11-year-old daughter crawled out a window and ran for help.
"I'm an expert shot. I was trying to scare her," he said.
He then complained to them that she was trying to take all his money, largely veterans and Social Security disability benefits worth about $3,000 a month.
"The acid was just to teach her a lesson," he said, according to court records.
Peterson, 37, who has since remarried, testified Friday that she has undergone surgery, is blind in one eye and has permanent leg, spinal cord and internal injuries.
Scars to her face and upper arm were clearly visible as she limped to the witness stand.
Smith showed no emotion as he was sentenced Friday.
He had pleaded no contest to attempted murder and aggravated battery March 28, after months of debate about his sanity and a six-month stay in a state mental hospital.
Psychiatrists agreed he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder from his tour of duty in Vietnam from 1967 to 1969, where he was wounded, but they were split over whether he was insane.
Medical personnel at the state hospital concluded he was faking insanity and had concocted a story about hearing voices and believing that his wife was possessed by demons.
Defense attorney Eric Barker asked that Smith be placed on house arrest.
Instead, Circuit Judge Alan Dickey gave him the maximum, life in prison.
"The bottom line is that Mr. Smith, for whatever reason, whether it's his fault or someone else's fault, is dangerous and cannot be in society," Dickey said. "In 25 years on the bench, this is the worst crime I've ever been involved with."
"I'm an expert shot. I was trying to scare her," he said.
Ahem, why can't this scum die?
This is such a low and disgusting crime that your comment is well placed.
The law should be altered to allow execution in these types of crimes.
House arrest???
Betcha, the attorney doesn't live nearby
Filled With some hydrochloric acid would make it about right
Gee, no wonder girls marry at eleven years old.
< / sarcasm >
And house arrest? Oh, right. That'd allow this animal to get out of the house, track her down and kill her--and do so before the cops got there. As the cops tell victims of these kinds of slimeballs, "we can't protected you 24 hours a day," and there's no doubt in my mind that killing her is his ultimate goal. <
Can't kill them unless they are guilty of murder. Or in the paraphrased words of Johnney Cochran, " Since the wife did not die, he can not fry. "
Correct. The Supreme Court already covered this ground in a case called Furman vs. Georgia, back in 1973. Not only must the crime be first degree murder, but there must also be aggravating circumstances: killing of a prison guard while already serving life without parole, or killing the victim with great cruelty, or killing more than one victim. Otherwise, the Supreme Court has ruled the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment.
There are already enough problems with the death penalty and it doesn't need to be extended to cases that do not involve the taking of a life. In my opinion, life without parole is severe enough. I'd have been severely annoyed if he got any less, but as far as outrage goes, it's really hard for me to get outraged about our legal system any more.
Let's face it. The victim can still lead a productive life, one that is worth living. She has a daughter and a new husband who love her. Executing her assailant sends an official message to her from the government: "We, as the representatives of the people of your state, are treating this exactly the same as a murder. Your life is not worth living and you would be better off dead."
#1. It was November 18, 1998; not the 11th.
#2. This article neglects several facts pertinent to this case, such as:
•Smith pretended to have a heart attack in the courtroom during his arraignment in an attempt to afford his legal team more time to build a defense.
•Smith’s attorney was Mark NeJame, one of the most prominent and expensive
criminal defense lawyers in Central Florida.
•Smith petitioned the court to declare him indigent, that he might receive legal aid (taxpayer dollars) to pay the bills he created by pretending to be insane for almost a year. All while receiving $3000/month in Veteran Benefits income (which should have stopped after his 61st day of incarceration due to his felony charges, but didn’t) and refusing to tell two different court systems where he was hiding the funds. Yet, Smith had no difficulty paying his defense team.
•Smith has an extensive pattern of violent offenses. Examining only his marital and paternal past:
-Smith incessantly verbally, mentally, emotionally, financially, and physically abused his first wife and eldest 2 children for over a decade after their divorce was finalized.
-Smith kicked his eldest daughter through a wall. She was 4 years old at the time.
-Smith would pin his first wife to the floor or put her in a headlock, forcing her to listen to their son scream from hunger until Smith was satisfied that HIS wants were fulfilled. If Smith’s food wasn’t on the table, the boy didn’t eat. If Smith’s laundry wasn’t finished, the boy didn’t eat. Their son was an infant at the time.
-Smith raped his first wife on more than one occasion.
-Smith, twice, broke wife#1’s nose so badly she had to have reconstructive surgery.
-Because of Smith’s physical abuse, his first wife had her jaw wired shut 3 times, several broken ribs, lost teeth, and a lost an eardrum, just to name a few.
-Every time wife#1 would leave him- and she left many, MANY times- Smith’s VA doctors would call her and tell her she wasn’t trying hard enough to help Smith “process his past traumas,” that her behavior was “causing unnecessary stress,” hindering Smith’s progress in treatment, she needed to just “let the marriage work,” and that she was breaking the law by taking his children without telling him where they were going.
-If his first wife didn’t go back on her own, Smith would go to wherever she was staying and “retrieve” her by any means. More than once, he dragged her out of her sister’s home by her hair while punching and kicking her.
-When wife#1 finally left him for good, Smith, mysteriously, arrived home from work early. He proceeded to headbutt the windows of the vehicle until they cracked, jumped onto the hood of the truck, smashed his face against the windshield, said “I AM going to get in this truck and when I do I am going to kill you,” while wrenching the wipers off of the vehicle.
-When his first wife returned with 2 police officers as escort to retrieve the rest of the children’s belongs, they found Smith had burned the children’s baby pictures, toys, wife#1’s family photos and personal affects, and most of the children’s clothes.
-Smith stalked and harassed his first wife for several years after she divorced him.
-Smith refused any and all contact or visitation with his eldest 2 children until their mother petitioned for full custody.
-Smith owed his eldest 2 children almost $200,000 in child support arrearages (12 years worth of support). He hadn’t laid eyes on nor spoken to his eldest daughter since she was 4; she was nearly an adult. He had neither seen nor spoken to his son since the boy was a baby of less than 1 year old; he was a teenager by then.
-When wife#1 sued for full custody, the judge gave Smith a choice between A.) Surrendering his souped-up Camaro to the court as partial repayment of his arrearages with scheduled garnishments to follow or, B.) surrendering all of his parental and custodial rights to the mother... Smith chose to keep the car, without hesitation.
-A mere 3 years after vehemently denying paternity and gleefully relinquishing his rights, Smith (married to his second wife, Teresa, whom he would-in 4 years time- savagely shoot and maim with their 11 year old daughter present to bear witness) attempted to kidnap the son he fathered with his first wife.
#3. When officers arrived on scene, Smith told police he was a “good shot” and wasn’t trying to kill Teresa; he just “wanted to scare her” because she was trying to steal his money. Obviously, he knew exactly what he was doing and the insanity plea was total bull.
#4. Smith was a lot more than just “a tv repairman.”
I highly doubt Smith had never laid a hand on Teresa prior to this attack. If that were the case, what explanation exists for the presence of cameras, equipped with night vision, mounted in every corner of every room in the house? Why did Smith count the ice cubes (yes, you read that correctly), keep a record of the daily average used, and accuse her of infidelity if more ice cubes were used on any particular day than was usual? I wonder what justification was given for the sudden appearance of the son Smith had previously signed away? Teresa seemed neither surprised nor confused when the boy’s mother showed up with the calvary to take him the 1,200 miles back home to safety. Seems like a lot of denial floating around.
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