A Bucks County man was convicted of murdering his longtime girlfriend during a drug-fueled fight

A Bucks County man was convicted Wednesday of murdering his longtime girlfriend, strangling her during the kind of alcohol- and drug-fueled fight that punctuated their tumultuous, violent relationship.

Evan Smith, 38, was found guilty of third-degree murder, aggravated assault, strangulation, and related offenses in the death of Jamie Beighley, the mother of his three sons. County Judge Raymond McHugh handed down the verdict after a two-day bench trial, during which the final days of Smith and Beighley’s chaotic romance were laid bare.

» READ MORE: Morrisville man is charged with murder for strangling his girlfriend at a Bucks County motel, police say

Prosecutors argued that Smith killed Beighley because he was furious she wanted to end their relationship after suffering years of abuse.

Smith’s attorney, Niels Eriksen, described Beighley’s death as almost inescapable, given the chaotic lives they led.

“What happened in this case was inevitable, not because Evan Smith wanted to kill Jamie Beighley ... but because when you have 18 years of a toxic relationship, it leads to dysfunctional behavior,” he said.

Beighley, 39, was found unresponsive inside a room in the New Falls Motel in Falls Township in July 2021. A medical examiner later ruled that she had been strangled, with deep bruising around her neck. It appeared unlikely, according to testimony during the trial, that her death was accidental, as Smith initially told police.

Eriksen asserted that Smith lacked the premeditated intent to kill Beighley that comes with first-degree murder — and a life sentence in prison. Instead, Eriksen argued for either third-degree murder or involuntary manslaughter, saying Smith was so drunk and high on various substances, including methamphetamine, he didn’t realize what he had done until it was too late.

“I’m not saying he’s a saint. He’s not,” Eriksen said. “And I’m not saying he isn’t responsible for what happened. He is. But this is not a man who wanted to kill Jamie Beighley.”

“When you have 18 years of a toxic relationship, it leads to dysfunctional behavior.”

Deputy District Attorney Mary Kate Kohler disputed that and said Beighley wanted to end their relationship after “18 years of torture and abuse.” It was not, as Smith told police, an accident during sex.

“You cannot consent to being choked into unconsciousness, you can’t consent to black eyes or a bloody nose, and you don’t consent to being killed,” Kohler said.

In a 911 call, played in court Tuesday, Smith frantically orders dispatchers to send an ambulance to the motel, saying that he and Beighley had been drinking, doing drugs, and fighting.

When officers arrived, they found Smith trying to perform CPR on her. He screamed at them to save her, and admitted that he had “gone too far,” according to Officer Alex Sansone, one of the first to arrive at the room.

Smith continued to act erratically, pacing around the room and trying to assist the officers, which made the attempt to resuscitate Beighley more difficult, Sansone said. Smith eventually fled the motel, getting into his car parked nearby and speeding off.

He peeled out of the parking lot, narrowly missing the ambulance arriving to take Beighley to Jefferson Bucks Hospital, Sansone said. Another officer testified that he began to chase Smith, but soon broke the pursuit off for his, and Smith’s, safety.

“You cannot consent to being choked into unconsciousness, you can’t consent to black eyes or a bloody nose, and you don’t consent to being killed.”

Officers later caught up with Smith as he sat parked in his car outside Beighley’s house in Morrisville and took him into custody. Beighley died days later at the hospital.

While awaiting trial at the Bucks County Correctional Facility, Smith talked openly about the killing, according to a prison guard who watched over him, and another inmate incarcerated with him.

That fellow inmate testified that Smith told him he strangled Beighley when she came to visit him at the New Falls Motel, and showed him the scars left on his neck and chest by Beighley as she fought for her life. He said Smith almost seemed to be proud of the killing.

Smith and Beighley’s relationship had long been unstable, prosecutors said. The couple’s 15-year-old son, Evan Smith Jr., testified at length about overhearing his parents arguing inside their Morrisville home six months before the murder. His mother emerged from her room that night, the teen said, bruised and battered.

After that, the elder Smith was barred from the home by Beighley, said Smith Jr., who fixed a powerful stare at his father during his testimony. But Smith came back weeks later, locking himself inside and starting a fire on the stove.

Despite their estrangement, the couple kept in close contact. Over text messages, read by investigators during the trial, Smith argued with Beighley about their relationship, accusing her of dating other men. In many messages, including one sent two days before her death, he threatened to kill her.

But Beighley also apologized to Smith in some of their correspondence, admitting that she had been using online dating websites. Shortly before the murder Smith asked Beighley to come see him at the motel, saying he was strung out on drugs and needed her help.

Judge McHugh deferred Smith’s sentencing for 90 days.