Keith Smith, 55, sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder Monday
A Baltimore man who tried to cover up his wife’s piercing death in 2018 with a story accusing a fraud was sentenced to life in prison.
Keith Smith, 55, was convicted in December of first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Jacqueline Smith, a 54-year-old electrical engineer at the U.S. military’s Aberdeen test site.
On Monday, he was sentenced to life in prison for murder, plus three years to serve simultaneously for the use of a deadly weapon.
Appearing in a prison video, Smith apologized to Jacqueline’s family, but continued to insist on his innocence, even after his tearful story fell apart in the face of vast evidence.
His lawyer, Natalie Finegar, asked the judge for a sentence lower than the maximum, focusing on his faith and participation in his church before his arrest.
But District Judge Jennifer Schiffer said she had never seen facts that “showed more intent, arbitrariness and intent.”
Keith told police and the media that Jacqueline had been stabbed by a fraudster she was trying to give money to. The couple is pictured here on their wedding day
Smith’s version of his wife’s murder garnered national attention as he and his daughter Valeria gave tearful interviews (above), claiming that gangsters killed her after she gave them $ 10.
“The crime for which the defendant was convicted was the reason for the maximum sentence for murder,” Schiffer added.
“The victim had no way of knowing that her husband would stab her again and again. The victim was defined as defenseless and vulnerable. She was sleeping. He accused vulnerable people: fraudsters, “the judge said.
Jacqueline Smith’s family issued a statement praising the harsh sentence, saying: “It did not bring her back, but we are thrilled and believe that justice has definitely been done.”
Keith Smith initially told police his wife was stabbed by a man after giving $ 10 to a woman who appeared to be holding a baby.
Smith’s version of his wife’s murder attracted national attention as he and his daughter Valeria gave tearful interviews.
Oprah Winfrey, a former Baltimore news anchor, tweeted that the case would make her rethink gangster money.
But the story fell apart when detectives failed to find evidence of the fraudsters, and surveillance videos and cell phone data did not show Smith’s car on the route he claimed to have taken.
Court documents say police believe Jacqueline (pictured with Keith) was about to divorce Keith and that he once asked his brother to kill Jacqueline.
Police later said Keith’s story about the scammer was untrue and suspected Keith (pictured with Jacqueline) was responsible for his wife’s death four years ago.
Keith Smith and his daughter were arrested in March 2019 in Texas during an escape attempt in Mexico, according to police.
Valeria Smith, who pleaded guilty in 2019 to acting as an assistant after her stepmother’s murder, admitted to dropping her stepmother’s bag at a bus stop to support her stepmother’s story.
She testified that her father drove them to a park while his wife dozed, then stabbed her. Keith Smith then trains his daughter on what to tell the police.
“The story had to be that a homeless man or two homeless people had a baby and Mrs. Jacqueline had to feel sorry for them,” Valeria Smith told the jury. When she gave them the money, they stabbed her.
Keith Smith’s lawyer told the jury that inconsistencies in her client’s story did not prove that he had killed his wife.
Keith and his daughter Valeria (pictured) were arrested in Texas in March 2019 after allegedly fleeing an attempt to escape to Mexico after police detained them.
Valeria was initially charged with first-degree murder, but was later charged with one count of complicity in the crime. She is shown on the left of her photo and on the right in an undated image
Valeria pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting aid in September 2019, 10 days before the trial for her father’s murder was originally expected to begin
Valeria Smith was sentenced in December to five years in prison under a guilty plea agreement in which she agreed to testify against her father.
After the arrest of Keith Smith, Jacqueline’s mother, Anna Triswain, said the coffin story did not connect from the beginning because Jacqueline was a cautious woman who would not give money to a man on the street the way her husband was. claimed.
“Everything was fake.” I knew it wasn’t real. I suspected he had something to do with it, “she said WBALTV in March 2019
“She was too careful.” She does not like such things. She would say to herself, “No, this is fake,” Triswayne added.
Keith Smith had previously been arrested for three bank robberies in 1999 and 2000.