Thursday, August 12, 1999
Man convicted in second trial
BY DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Three years and two trials after his arrest, Edward Smith is headed to prison for the murder of former Lincoln Heights Mayor Eugene Jenkins.
Mr. Smith was convicted Wednesday of shooting Mr. Jenkins during a dispute over a construction contract.
A jury found Mr. Smith guilty of the same charge in 1997, but the conviction was thrown out when an appeals court ruled that prosecutors had behaved improperly.
The second trial went smoothly, however, and even Mr. Smith's attorney said prosecutors did nothing wrong.
“Not this time,” said the attorney, John Burlew.
Mr. Smith, 44, will face 18 years to life in prison when he returns to Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Sept. 1 for sentencing before Judge Ann Marie Tracey.
Throughout the trial, which began last week, prosecutors told jurors Mr. Smith shot Mr. Jenkins twice with a revolver while arguing with him Dec. 27, 1996.
They said Mr. Smith — who did maintenance work on buildings owned by Mr. Jenkins — was angry because he thought he was being underpaid for his work.
Mr. Smith has said he was nowhere near Mr. Jenkins when he was shot on Van Buren Street.
Prosecutors argued that an audio tape and a set of keys belonging to Mr. Smith were found near Mr. Jenkins' body.
They also noted gun powder residue was detected on some clothing Mr. Smith had packed in the days after the shooting.
Mr. Burlew, however, questioned the reliability of witnesses who claimed to see a man who looked like Mr. Smith fleeing the murder scene.
He said one witness was shown a police lineup of six men, including Mr. Smith, that was intended to implicate his client.
Although witnesses had said a man in his 40s with a graying beard was a suspect, Mr. Burlew said the lineup included only one man who came close to that description — Mr. Smith.
“If they had put me in that lineup,” Mr. Burlew told jurors, “I would have been arrested.”
The jurors deliberated for more than six hours before returning with the verdict.
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