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. <
#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.