Witness Testimony Begins Dissecting Defendant’s Story of Wife Allegedly Killed by Panhandlers in 2018

By Andrew Michaels - December 2, 2021
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Suspects | Victims |

A day after the three-year anniversary of Jacquelyn Smith’s murder, her husband, Keith Smith, sat as a defendant before a 12-person jury on Dec. 2 and listened as witness testimony began dissecting his story about panhandlers who allegedly stabbed his wife five times in the chest during an act of charity.

Smith’s daughter, 31-year-old daughter Valeria Smith, told a different story months after her stepmother’s death—a story that accused her father of the murder.

Keith Smith is currently charged with first-degree murder and use of a deadly weapon with the intent to injure.

On Dec. 1, 2018, Smith called 911 sometime after midnight to report that his wife had been stabbed by a couple of panhandlers on the 1000 block of Valley Street, the prosecutor and several witnesses said on Thursday. He told Baltimore Police Department officers that he, Jacquelyn, and Valeria were driving back from the American Legion after celebrating his daughter’s birthday.

Sitting in the car at a stop sign on Valley Street, Smith said Jacquelyn handed $10 to a woman who was standing outside and holding a baby. During the 911 call that was played before the jury, Smith is heard frantically telling police that a man approached the car asking to thank Jacquelyn but, instead, stabbed her several times and ran off.

“One of the most sacred vows one can say are marriage vows,” the prosecutor told the jury during opening statements Thursday morning. “When Jacquelyn married her husband, she could’ve never imagined her death would come at the hands of her husband.”

As the story of Jacquelyn’s death became national news, Smith and his daughter grieved before their community, raising concerns of panhandling, a well-known issue in Baltimore City. However, on the first day of trial, a patrol officer and a homicide detective testified that the homicide investigation wasn’t aligning with Smith’s telling of events.

Not soon after his wife’s death, the 55-year-old former Aberdeen resident moved to Winter Haven, Florida, as the search for Jacquelyn’s killer continued. Then, in March 2019, police sent out an alert on Smith and his daughter, who were later apprehended in Texas while attempting to flee to Mexico.

In September 2019, Smith’s daughter admitted to her role in her stepmother’s murder and pleaded guilty to accessory to first-degree murder after the fact. Under the plea, she is expected to testify against her father and will be sentenced on Dec. 13 when his trial is expected to conclude.

On Thursday morning, defense attorney Natalie Finegar told the jury that “the criminal justice system is based on foundational principles,” or evidence—something she said is lacking in the case against her client.

Opening statements were followed by testimony from a former sergeant in the police department’s homicide unit who said he was given the location of the alleged incident on Valley Street the night of the incident but first responded to Johns Hopkins where Smith took his wife for treatment.

After speaking with the primary patrol officer, who also testified, the former sergeant said he attempted to find the crime scene in the Valley Street area sometime between 1:30 a.m. and 2 a.m. but found no evidence, including that of panhandlers.

Smith’s description of the suspects to police was of a man with a medium build, a goatee, a blue jacket and jeans, the former sergeant said, as well as a short woman with a hooded jacket who holding a baby and a sign that said, “Please help me.”

The prosecutor later played a video for the jury of a press conference that was held two days after Jacquelyn’s death that showed Smith and his daughter sobbing as he publicly shared his story.

The former sergeant testified that homicide detectives were attempting to verify Smith’s story but were unsuccessful after reviewing 28 video surveillance cameras, which never revealed any evidence of individuals matching Smith’s description. He said he returned to the scene later that day and several more times throughout the investigation, including a drive with another detective, Smith, and Valeria along the same route Smith allegedly took that night.

The prosecutor clarified that Smith never told the sergeant that he stopped the car between the American Legion and Valley Street—a contradiction to cellphone evidence that placed Smith’s car in Druid Hill Park for approximately 15 minutes around the time of the incident.

The primary patrol officer, who arrived first at Johns Hopkins the night of the murder, filled in the details from the former sergeant’s testimony, adding that Valeria was “emotional” and of few words.

During both the former sergeant’s and the officer’s testimony, Finegar questioned whether there was any sign Valeria was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the hospital to which both disagreed.

Additional testimony came from the assistant medical examiner for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, two crime lab technicians, a latent print examiner, and a forensic scientist specializing in the analysis of body fluids.

One of the crime lab technicians testified that she was the first to process Smith’s vehicle, a 2012 Audi A7, around 2:20 a.m., and took photos of suspected blood in several areas—specifically in the front passenger seat where Jacquelyn was sitting— and also swabbed for fingerprints on the front passenger door.

She informed the jury that during her review of the vehicle, she saw a towel and suspected blood on the front passenger floor and obtained three fingerprints from the exterior front passenger door and door frame.

The latent print examiner later testified that one of the fingerprints retrieved was from the vehicle matched Smith’s left palm.

During the examiner’s testimony, she said spent three to five hours performing an autopsy on Jacquelyn’s body, identifying five stab wounds to the chest and a cut on the victim’s right forearm. Several of the stab wounds punctured the victim’s left lung and heart, she said, causing the body cavity to fill with blood.

The wounds were deemed “rapidly fatal,” she added, meaning Jacquelyn died within minutes.

When asked by Finegar if the doctor’s autopsy could determine whether the assailant was inside or outside of the vehicle, the doctor said no.

Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Jennifer B. Schiffer is presiding over the trial, which will continue at 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 3.