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Konolus
Smith, right, and his lawyer, Jordan
Morgenstern, listen to the jury verdict in
Smith's trial in December. Smith, who was
convicted of spousal battery and making
criminal threats, has been sentenced to two
terms of 25 years to life in prison. |
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A
former Meyers resident accused of trying to kill
his wife by forcing her to swallow a combination
of pills as he threatened her with scissors was
sentenced Monday to two concurrent terms of 25
years to life in state prison.
In December, Konolus Smith was convicted of two
felonies: spousal battery and making criminal
threats. A mistrial was declared on charges of
attempted murder and false imprisonment because of
a juror's misconduct.
Sentencing for Smith fell
under California's three-strikes law.
In 1974, Smith also was convicted of murder and
attempted murder for his role in a grocery-store
robbery in which two men were shot, one fatally.
On Monday in El Dorado Superior Court, Judge James
Dawson denied a move by Smith's attorney, Jordan
Morgenstern, to strike the 1974 felonies from
consideration during sentencing.
The convictions were the result of a "robbery gone
bad," Morgenstern contended. Realizing he had made
a mistake, Smith left the store before the
shootings, the attorney said.
"He didn't even draw his gun,"
Morgenstern said. "When the shots were fired, he
wasn't even there."
Smith was paroled in 1981.
Morgenstern hinged his request for leniency on
Smith's many years without an arrest and his work
as a psychiatric technician, calling Smith a
"model citizen" several times.
Standing at a wooden railing, just feet behind her
shackled son, Smith's mother, Virginia Smith, was
one of four people who spoke on his behalf before
sentencing.
"He is not violent, and he has
never killed anyone," Virginia Smith said. "He
went to jail, he paid for what he did."
Deputy District Attorney Peter O'Hara disagreed
with the woman's assessment of her son, calling
Konolus Smith a "sociopath" during arguments
before sentencing.
Although Dawson praised the demeanor of Smith
during the trial, he described Konolus Smith's
attack on his wife as one of "extreme violence."
Morgenstern described the sentence as "essentially
a life term" for Smith, who is in his 50s. |
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