Delaware County man gets life in killing
William F. Smithson was sentenced yesterday to life in prison without parole for the murder of Jason Shephard, a young coworker found strangled in Smithson's Thornbury Township basement.
William F. Smithson was sentenced yesterday to life in prison without parole for the murder of Jason Shephard, a young coworker found strangled in Smithson's Thornbury Township basement.
Delaware County Court Judge Barry C. Dozer tacked on an additional 104 to 223 months to be served after Smithson's life sentence, granting the wishes of Shephard's family, who asked that Smithson receive the maximum penalty.
"He had no reason to fear you," Shephard's father, Kyle, said in court yesterday, looking directly at Smithson. "You were his boss, his contact."
Shephard, 23, of Cavalier, N.D., worked as an intern for Daktronics, a South Dakota scoreboard manufacturer. Smithson, 43, was a regional manager. Police found Shephard dead in Smithson's basement in September 2006.
Prosecutors said Smithson had given Shephard the date-rape drug GHB and later strangled the intern when he tried to fight off Smithson's sexual advances.
A jury convicted Smithson in November of first-degree murder, but spared him the death penalty. The jury also convicted him of aggravated assault, attempted rape, kidnapping, and drug and other offenses.
Smithson will appeal, said his attorney, G. Guy Smith. At least one appeal will focus on a man who lied to police before he admitted that he was at Smithson's home at the time of Shephard's killing.
Fen Bruce Covington, 58, of State College, Pa., a former St. Joseph's University administrator, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during the trial. Covington faces charges of lying to police and drug offenses.
Yesterday, prosecutor Thomas Lawrie described Smithson as "a pathetic excuse of humanity" who had no sympathy or remorse for the death of Shephard.
"This is a psychopath," he said.
When given a chance to speak, Smithson, shackled and flanked by four sheriff's deputies, quoted the poet Aeschylus:
" 'Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.' "
Smithson added: "A young man has lost his life. My heart lies heavy with pain from the minute I wake up to the minute I go to bed."
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