Steve Smith, Convicted for the murder of his girlfriend’s 6 month old daughter is to be executed tomorrow by lethal injection. Steve Smith has exhausted all appeals and was denied clemency by Ohio Governor John Kasich earlier this month. The 46 year old who admitted he intended to rape the infant but did not mean to cause her death.
Smith’s defense team Joseph Wilhelm and Tyson Fleming strived in opposition that their client should not be executed as Ohio law specifies that a death sentence requires an intent to kill the victim. They said the 6 month old
Autumn’s death was a horrible accident, as their client passed out on
top of the infant, suffocating her to death. The defense further argued
that Smith suffered a difficult childhood, which led to his deviant
behavior. They also argue that Smith was too drunk to realize what he
was doing.
The parole board rejected the argument, stating that the ferociousness
of the assault was proof of his intent to kill the victim. They called
the child’s death a “virtual certainty” based on the nature of Smith’s
attack.
Smith’s family maintains that he is innocent of the murder charge.
No comments:
Post a Comment