Robert Smith was executed by the State of Indiana for a prison murder
According to court documents Robert Smith was serving a 38 year sentence when he and another inmate at the Wabash Correctional Institution would stab to death Michael Wedmore
Robert Smith would be convicted and sentenced to death
Robert Smith would be executed by lethal injection on January 29 1998
Robert Smith Photos
Robert Smith Case
On June 30, 1995, Robert Smith, Ronald Lunsford, and Michael Wedmore were inmates in the Wabash Valley Correctional Institution in Carlisle, Indiana. Early that morning a correctional officer heard noise coming from Smith’s cell. Upon opening the cell door he found Smith and Lunsford repeatedly stabbing Wedmore, Smith with a honed putty knife and Lunsford with one blade of a dismantled pair of scissors. Wedmore died from the thirty-seven stab wounds he received, two of which pierced his heart. An autopsy revealed that the two heart wounds did not come from the same instrument.
The State charged Smith and Lunsford with murder and conspiracy to commit murder. At the initial hearing on July 12, 1995, the court appointed Thomas H. Hicks as Smith’s attorney and set trial for September 11, 1995. On July 23, 1995, Smith mailed a letter to Sullivan Daily Times:
Editor – I’m one of the men charged with the murder at [the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility] i understand the county is having aruff time figuring out where there gonna get the money to take this case to *1266 trial. they dont have to on my account if they file the death penalty on me i will pled guilty & wont appeal, if by chance they take the case to trial & find me guilty & give me 50 or 60 more years, if they do that it would be awaste of taxpayers money, my earliest out date in Indiana is 2028, then i have a 15 year parole hold to do in Michigan. i’m 45 years old. as it stands right now ill be in my 90s when i get out. 50-60 more years would be–meaning-less, aslap on the hand, a Joke. Let me tell you just where im coming from if they dont give me the death penalty for the murder of the Baby Killer the next one to die will be a tax payer–The only tax payers in here “work here”. I don’t say things i dont mean. Robert A Smith # 30636
On July 28, the State requested the death penalty. Accordingly, the court permitted Hicks to withdraw, as he was not qualified under Indiana Criminal Rule 24 to try a capital case, and appointed William G. Smock and Joseph K. Etling. From July to November, Smith’s lawyers filed three requests for speedy trial and eventually withdrew all three.
With a trial date of January 22nd looming, on December 27, 1995, the court issued an order requiring Smith to produce handwriting samples for determining whether the letter sent to the Daily Times was in fact written by Smith. On January 4, 1996, the court granted the State a continuance to the State under Criminal Rule 4(B)(1) and set trial for March 11, over Smith’s objection, finding that an emergency existed due to the State Police Laboratory’s inability to provide a crucial piece of evidence by the January 22 trial date. This upset Smith greatly, as he had desired a speedy trial since July. (See R. 529, 540, 601-02, 606.) Thus, when the prosecutor appeared at the prison on January 12 to obtain the handwriting sample, Smith refused to cooperate, leading to his being brought before the court on January 30 for contempt. At the hearing, Smith agreed to comply with the court’s order. The court also addressed a letter Smith sent on January 15 requesting dismissal of his counsel and seeking to proceed pro se, which Smith orally withdrew at the hearing.
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/in-supreme-court/1200388.html