Keith Smith, 55, who was convicted of killing his wife three years ago and blaming the murder on a panhandler, will be sentenced on Monday.
Smith is due in court at 9:30 a.m. for a sentencing hearing in the murder of his wife, Jacquelyn Smith, who was stabbed to death in 2018. Smith will face the maximum sentence of life in prison and an additional three years.
In December, Keith Smith was convicted of first-degree murder and deadly weapon with the intent to injure, which followed a week-long trial where his daughter testified against him.
Jacquelyn Smith, who was an Aberdeen Proving Ground engineer, was fatally stabbed on Dec. 1, 2018. Her husband, Keith Smith dialed 911 that night, claiming that a panhandler stabbed his wife.
Keith Smith and his daughter left town after his wife’s murder. Three months later, they were arrested near the U.S.-Mexico border, which is roughly 1,700 miles from Maryland.
The couples’ daughter Valeria Smith pleaded guilty in September 2019 to accessory after the fact to first-degree murder.
While testifying against her Father, Valeria Smith mentioned how the family was celebrating a belated birthday the night of the murder, when her father took a detour to Druid Hill Park. She testified that her father began to slow down and stabbed her mother, Jacquelyn Smith. She stated that her father was calm afterward, but was the opposite when he called 911.
Valeria Smith told the court that once her father discarded the murder weapon in the woods, which was a knife, he told her to lie to the police and say a panhandler stabbed his wife. She then stated that a day or two later, her father went to his wife’s workplace to get paperwork for her life insurance policy, in which he was the beneficiary.
A Maryland FBI Agent also testified that Google and cellphone data showed that both Keith Smith and his daughter were at Druid Hill the night of the murder.