Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 11, 1993 TAG: 9312110059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"I cannot understand how a man could take the mother of his children in such a horrible way," Circuit Judge Roy Willett said in sentencing James T. Smith.
"May God have mercy on you and the people who were affected by your acts," he told Smith.
Smith, who testified he is an ordained minister, had pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of his ex-wife, Sandra Smith, and the malicious wounding of Edwin R. Hairston.
After finding Hairston visiting the home of Sandra Smith - who worked for the city as an animal control officer - the night of July 27, James Smith ran home and got his .357-Magnum.
But before returning to Sandra Smith's home on Andrews Road Northwest, Smith, 47, twice visited his pastor, the Rev. Robert Ingram of Bibleway Pentecostal Church.
"I felt I needed some sort of counseling or guidance at the time," he testified.
After telling Ingram that he was going to kill his ex-wife, Smith stormed out of the house and did just that.
Upon his return to Sandra Smith's home, Smith was further enraged when he saw Hairston had taken his shoes off and propped them on a coffee table.
Smith told Hairston to put his shoes back on. "He looked at me and turned his nose up and looked back at the television," Smith testified. "That's when everything went blank.
"I had the gun in my hand and I remember cocking it. The next thing I remember is hearing the gun click" as he continued to pull the trigger after it had been emptied, Smith said.
Sandra Smith was shot five times, and was found dead at the scene. Hairston was hit in the left side. He at first was not expected to live, and now must walk with the aid of a cane.
Chief Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Betty Jo Anthony had argued that Smith - who has a record of violent behavior - lost control when he found his ex-wife with another man.
As it turned out, Sandra Smith, 43, was just catching up on some old memories with Hairston, a former classmate she had seen at a recent reunion for the first time since they were in the eighth grade.
Anthony asked Smith about his history of allegedly assaulting his wife, his children, co-workers, even patients at a hospital where he once worked.
"It seems that people who are close to you always get hurt," Anthony told Smith.
"Things happen, yes," he responded.
Smith has never denied killing his wife. "Nothing said here today will be able to justify my acts," he testified. "It was totally wrong what I did."
Anthony had asked for the maximum sentence on all five charges against Smith, a total of life in prison plus 32 years.
Willett sentenced Smith to 75 years for murder, 20 years for malicious wounding, eight years for using a firearm in the offenses and four years for possessing a gun as a convicted felon.
Smith will be eligible for parole in 8 1/2 years, Anthony said.
But it is highly unlikely he will be released that soon. Assistant Public Defender Roger Dalton said his client is likely to be an elderly man before he is released from prison.
"Please, your honor, leave this man some hope," Dalton told Willett.
To which Anthony responded: "I dare say Sandra Wilson Smith hoped to die in her own bed some day. But the defendant took that hope away from her."
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