11-10-2014 Florida:Jury selection is underway this afternoon for Anita Smithey, an Oviedo woman accused of murdering her estranged husband, a man she says she shot while he was raping her.
Smithey, 46, is charged with second-degree murder. She's accused of killing Robert Cline III, May 4, 2010. She says she shot him in self-defense while he was raping her in her bed. He had put a knife to her throat, she said, and punched her.
But prosecutors say there was no rape. They contend the couple was having consensual sex, that Smithey got tired then angry when Cline would not go home, so she shot him twice.
Although Smithey had moved out three months before, the couple still got together on Monday nights for sex, she told Oviedo police. Cline was shot in the early morning hours of a Tuesday, a few hours after he had come over to her house with a bottle on tequila.
Forty potential jurors were called to the courtroom this morning. Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. and attorneys need a panel of six.
After questioning began, the judge dismissed a half dozen potential jurors. One was a woman who is undergoing chemotherapy. Another is a man who's facing a misdemeanor criminal case and has his own court date later this week. A third was a woman who has a child with special needs.
Still among the possible jurors is a man whose 16-year-old son was murdered, an airline pilot, a male nurse, a retired corrections officer, a private investigator, a woman who served five years in prison on a marijuana charge, a woman who cares for greyhounds and a woman who sued her bosses over a slip-and-fall.
Defense attorney Rick Jancha asked potential jurors: "Do you think it's possible for a husband to rape a wife?"
The answer he got: Yes.
"Is there anyone here who thinks the victims of domestic violence bring it on themselves?" he asked a few moments earlier.
The answer that time: No.
Smithey contends Cline was a sex-obsessed abuser. She had called police six months before, accusing him of flying into a rage, damaging a bathroom shower head then grabbing away a phone to keep her from calling for help.
Assistant State Attorney Stacey Straub Salmons asked jurors about whether they had ever been raped or been involved in a rape case; whether they owned guns; whether they had ever separated from a spouse or had ever heard of the phrase "stand your ground."
That's a reference to the much-debated Florida law that allows someone to use deadly force if he or she has a reasonable fear of imminent death or great bodily injury.
Two years ago, the judge rejected Smithey's stand-your-ground claim. She had asked him for immunity, claiming that she had acted in self-defense.
Jancha told potential jurors, "This is not the Trayvon Martin case. This is not the George Zimmerman case."
Since the Smithey's stand-your-ground hearing, both sides have gathered more evidence. For prosecutors that includes recorded jail phone calls and cell phone records.
Salmons warned potential jurors that they'd hear details about specific sex acts and asked if they'd have trouble sitting through that. None indicated he or she would.
Smithey has been free on $100,000 bail since shortly after the homicide.
Tomorrow is an off day – Veterans Day. Attorneys are expected to give their opening statements Wednesday.
The trial is scheduled to last two weeks. ..Source.. by Rene Stutzman
Smithey murder trial: Jury picked, court to resume on Wednesday
11-10-2014:
Attorneys on Monday chose a jury to decide the murder case of Anita Smithey, an Oviedo woman who says she killed her estranged husband while he was raping her.
Smithey, 46, is charged with second-degree murder. She killed Robert Cline III, May 4, 2010. She says she shot him in self-defense in her bed after he had put a knife to her throat and punched her.
But prosecutors say there was no rape. They contend the couple was having consensual sex, that Smithey got tired, then angry, when Cline would not go home, so she shot him twice.
Although Smithey had moved out three months before, the couple still got together on Monday nights for sex, she told Oviedo police. Cline was shot in the early morning,a few hours after he had come over to her house with a bottle on tequila.
Shortly after 4 p.m. attorneys finished picking a six-member jury plus four alternates.
The panel includes a woman who served five years in prison on a marijuana charge; a pilot who was arrested, accused by his girlfriend of domestic violence; a woman who served as a juror in a North Carolina rape trial several years ago; a registered nurse who is not licensed in Florida; a janitor; and a golf marketing manager at Walt Disney World.
They were culled from 40 potential jurors who were called to the courtroom.
Defense attorney Rick Jancha asked potential jurors: "Do you think it's possible for a husband to rape a wife?"
The answer he got: Yes.
"Is there anyone here who thinks the victims of domestic violence bring it on themselves?" he asked a few moments earlier.
The answer that time: No.
Tuesday is an off day — Veterans Day. Attorneys are expected to give their opening statements Wednesday.
The trial is scheduled to last two weeks. ..Source.. by Rene Stutzman
Anita Smithey gets 40 years for fatally shooting estranged husband
2-2-15:
SANFORD -- A judge today handed down a 40-year prison sentence to the Oviedo woman who says she killed her estranged husband while he was raping her in her bed.
Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. could have sentenced Anita Smithey to as little as 25 years or as much as life.
Instead, he chose something in between for the 46-year-old data analyst.
Smithey shot Robert Cline III five years ago in her bed. She told authorities he was an abusive man who was raping her, but prosecutors convinced a Seminole County jury in November that there was no rape, that Smithey and Cline were having consensual sex when she got angry.
She shot him twice, Assistant State Attorney Kelly Jo Hines pointed out again today. The first shot wasn't lethal but was from near point blank range, she said.
"He had absolutely no way of escaping the path of any bullet," Hines said.
Then instead of helping him, Hines said, Smithey shot him again, and in order to make herself appear the victim, stabbed herself in the side with a knife.
Jurors deliberated 2 1/2 hours on Nov. 20 before finding her guilty of second-degree murder. Moments after the verdict was read Smithey collapsed in court and began wailing.
Today, she remained composed. She was dressed in a blue Seminole County Jail jumpsuit, handcuffs and chains.
Just before announcing his decision, the judge asked her what she had to say.
Defense attorney Whitney Boan answered on her behalf: There would be no statement. Defense attorneys plan to appeal her conviction later today, Boan said.
A few moments earlier Boan asked for the shortest prison term possible: 25 years. At that, Boan pointed out, Smithey would be locked up until age 71.
Smithey will remain in the Seminole County Jail until at least March 9, when she will return to court and ask to be freed on bond while appealing.
That's something the state will oppose, Hines said.
It was clear when the day started that Smithey, who has no prior criminal record, would get at least 25 years, something required under state law.
Hines had asked for a life sentence.
Witnesses for both sides tried to convince the judge to rule in their favor. State witnesses, including the victim's two children, called him a hero and a loving single father who baked cupcakes and fixed his daughter's hair.
Defense witnesses described Smithey as a generous person who loved her children, made food for the sick and did laundry for a pregnant friend who could not get out of bed.
The night of the homicide, Smithey told police that she shot Cline after he pulled a knife, slashed her neck and hit her in the face, chipping a tooth.
She also said he stabbed her in the side but later told police an ever-changing version of events, including that she did that to herself.
At her trial, Hines told the six-member jury that Smithey's injuries were not from an attack, that the couple sometimes played "date rape" and sometimes used a knife. That's what happened the night of the homicide, Hines said.
The couple had been separated for three months, but Smithey told police they routinely got together for sex and had the night of the homicide, May 3, 2010.
She agreed to the sex reluctantly, she told police. She had moved out because he was physically abusive, she said.
The courtroom was full today, the north half with Cline's family members, the south side with Smithey's.
The defendant's father, brother and 18-year-old son testified on her behalf.
"She's not this monster, this terrible, uncaring, savage person that others are trying to make her out to be," said her son, Andrew Smithey, a student at the University of Florida.
Said her brother Audie Andry, "She is, lifelong, a good person. Regardless of where she is, she will continue to try to help people." ..Source.. by Rene Stutzman
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