I am LATE getting to this case.. the guy already convicted, but PENALTY phase (DP) started last Wednesday and is still underway. It continues today...
Jury finds Smith guilty of 1st-degree murder in North Hills trialBy Anne Blythe
February 16, 2016 3:48 PM
- Travion Smith jury to begin death penalty phase on Wednesday
- Six men and six women returned verdicts for first-degree and felony murder
- Defense: Only witness to put Smith inside apartment had credibility issues
RALEIGH Wake County Assistant District Attorney Jason Waller pounded his fist on a courtroom table 18 times during his closing arguments in the Travion Smith trial on Tuesday.
Each loud thud against the wood represented the number of blows that Melissa Huggins-Jones, the mother of two, suffered on May 13, 2013, when she was bludgeoned to death inside her North Hills apartment.
“Eighteen times, that knife or that fist went to her head, neck or torso,” Waller said.
Then the prosecutor went silent for one minute in front of the six men and six women tasked with deciding the fate of Smith, the 23-year-old man on trial for first-degree murder.
[....]
Following closing arguments, the jury deliberated for just over an hour before finding Smith guilty of first-degree and felony murder.
Smith, who was forced out of his home when he was 15 years old, faces a possible death sentence. The jury of 11 whites and one Asian will return Wednesday morning to hear witnesses talk about any aggravating or mitigating factors the jury should consider in the punishment phase. A Wake jury has not sentenced anyone to death since 2007.
...more at linkhttp://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/ ... 73096.html