Michigan State Senator Virgil Smith's Ongoing Domestic Assault Criminal Case
According to a police report, on May 10, 2015 Michigan state senator Virgil Smith was arrested for assault with intent to commit murder and aggravated assault. During the domestic violence assault against his ex-wife, Anistia Thomas, Senator Smith shot off a firearm at Thomas and her vehicle. Senator Smith was criminally charged with felonious assault, malicious destruction of personal property $20,000 or more, domestic violence assault and battery and felony firearm.
According to the police investigation, evidence technicians found a total of ten bullets holes in the vehicle’s hood, driver’s side headlight, driver’s side front fender, driver’s side door, windshield, and rear driver’s door pillar.
During the ongoing investigation of Senator Virgil Smith, it was revealed that Smith [son of Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Virgil Smith Sr] had previously avoided felony drunk driving charges in 2010.
At Senator Smith's preliminary hearing in June 2015, Anistia Thomas testified to the assault she suffered on May 10th at the hands of Smith. Thomas testified that Smith wrestled her, punched her in the face, rammed her head into the floor, put his arm into the back of her neck with such force that he restricted her breathing, rammed her head into a wall and violently pushed her into a railing with such force that she fell and hit her face on the concrete. When Thomas ran outside the home, Smith grabbed his gun from under the bed and proceeded outside. Senator Smith fired the gun in the air, at Thomas as she ran from the house, and at Thomas' vehicle.
During Senator Smith's February 2016 plea agreement hearing, Smith agreed to resign from office as part of the plea agreement. In exchange, three charges were dismissed: felony assault with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and domestic violence charges.
The complete terms of the plea deal which Senator Smith accepted included: Five years probation with the first 10 months to be served in the Wayne County Jail; Must resign his position as a state senator; Could not hold elective office or appointed office during the full term of his probation; Submit to a mental health evaluation; Supply monthly documentation of alcohol and drug treatment, and surrender the weapon used in the crime and full restitution.
However, at Senator Smith's March 2016 sentencing hearing, Wayne County Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon claimed that it would be illegal for him to impose that Senator Smith resign from office and not hold public office during his probation. The Wayne County Prosecutor's office immediately filed a "motion to vacate plea". Judge Talon denied the prosecutor's office motion to pull Senator Smith's plea bargain. In response, the prosecutor's office filed an appeal with the Michigan Court of Appeals.
In January 2018, the Michigan Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the prosecutor's appeal of Senator Smith's plea agreement. In July 2018, the Michigan Supreme Court issued a seventy-three page decision. Majority of justices agreed that Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Talon erred when he voided provisions in Smith's plea agreement, yet refused to allow the prosecution to withdraw the plea agreement.
Senator Smith's case was sent back to the trial court. In November 2018, the prosecution was allowed to withdraw Smith's plea bargain and Smith was allowed to withdraw his guilty plea.
In April 2019, Virgil Smith accused the prosecutor Kym Worthy of retribution. In a May 2020 Supreme Court ruling, it was determined that Smith could call witnesses at a hearing in Wayne County Circuit Court on his allegations that Worthy was “vindictive” in her handling of his case. To date, the 2015 criminal domestic violence case against former Michigan State Senator Virgil Smith is ongoing.
Sen. Virgil Smith of Detroit could plead insanity in shooting case involving ex-wife
MLive
Aug 07, 2015
https://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/2015/08/sen_virgil_smith_of_detroit_co.html
DETROIT, MI -- Elisha Anderson of the Detroit Free Press first reported on a new filing in the case against Sen. Virgil Smith Jr. that indicates he might make enter an insanity plea.
Smith's ex-wife, Anistia Thomas, came to Smith's Detroit home about 1 a.m. May 10 planning to spend the night, but instead found another woman, Tatiana Grant, naked in her ex-husband's bed.
A physical altercation ensued. Smith is accused of assaulting his ex-wife and firing an AR-15 rifle at Thomas and her 2015 Mercedes.
Online Wayne County Circuit Court records show there was a criminal responsibility examination filing July 17 to determine if defendant was sane, and therefore culpable, at the time the alleged crimes were committed.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Smith's attorney, Godfrey Dillard, entered a motion that says "Smith will assert at the trial of this matter a substantial disorder of thought or mood significantly impaired his judgment, behavior, capacity to recognize reality, or ability to cope with ordinary demands of life."
Though Thomas and Smith are divorced, Thomas said at the preliminary hearing she and Smith reignited an intimate relationship and it was "routine" for her to spend the night at the Democratic state senator's Detroit home.
She said it was a surprise when she got into Smith's bedroom and found an unclothed Grant beneath Smith's sheets.
It was previously revealed in court Thomas sent a message to Smith before she arrived at his home that said, "Why are you (expletive) up."
Grant said she was asleep and awoke to hear Smith talking to someone through the window. Smith closed the window, put on clothes, and walked to the side door when Grant says the window flew open a second time.
The ex-wife said Smith told her another woman was over as she walked past him toward the bedroom. Grant said it sounded like Smith's ex-wife ran down the hall to the bedroom; "then the bedroom door burst open."
Grant said the ex-wife grabbed the sheets, yelling, "he doesn't care about you, he doesn't love you," as Smith grabbed his ex-wife from behind.
Grant said she had "no doubt" Thomas was trying to attack her and claims she never saw Smith punch or assault his ex-wife. He was "pulling her back" and, after they fell over a TV, carried her from the room.
Moments later, Grant saw flashes outside the window, "like lightning."
The ex-wife paints Smith has much more violent and aggressive. Thomas said she went to the bedroom and asked Grant if she was sleeping with Smith, to which Grant replied, no. Thomas said it was then she pulled off the sheets.
"From there, he pulled on me, we wrestled, he punches me in the face a few times," Thomas said at the preliminary hearing. "After falling into the TV, he rammed my head into the floor."
Thomas said Smith put his right arm into the back of her neck and she "basically stopped breathing."
"He kept punching me throughout my body at that point ... " Thomas said. "He literally rammed my head into the wall by the doorway ... I fall down."
She says Smith forced her to her feet, pushed her out the side door into a railing, causing her to fall and hit her face on the concrete.
"He comes out from the side door ... I see him holding a big gun," Thomas said.
Thomas said the gun was an AR-15 rifle Smith kept under his bed and previously told her could take off a person's limb.
"He starts shooting it in the air ... " Thomas said. "He turns it toward me and starts shooting at me."
Thomas's car was struck by multiple bullets.
She ran to the home of a neighbor, also a friend of Smith, and called 911, but the neighbor took the phone from her after hearing Smith's name. He kicked her out of his house and locked the door behind, Thomas said.
The neighbor testified that Thomas had "a busted lip."
Thomas says she then ran to another house where she found help.
Smith is charged with felonious assault, malicious destruction of personal property, misdemeanor domestic violence and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Although Smith remains a member of the state Legislature, he was stripped of his leadership roles and committee assignments after the shooting incident.
Smith served three years in the House of Representatives before being elected to the Senate in 2010. He was re-elected to the Senate in 2014 and represents the Fourth District, which includes portions of Allen Park, Detroit, Lincoln Park and Southgate.
Smith has received prior citations for impaired driving and operating while intoxicated in 2004, for which his license was revoked and reinstated to a restricted status in 2007, according to a statement issued by Secretary of State spokesman Fred Woodhams.
He was charged with operating a vehicle while being intoxicated in 2010, but the case was dropped for lack of evidence to prosecute.
Michigan is among about 10 states with a full-time Legislature. Senators begin at a starting annual pay of about $71,000.
Smith is currently scheduled to face a jury trial tentatively scheduled to begin Dec. 7.
Embattled senator's lawyer gives proposal to prosecutor
Detroit Free Press
Jan. 15, 2016
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/01/15/senator-lawyer-proposal-prosecutors/78843180/
State Sen. Virgil Smith, accused of assaulting his ex-wife and shooting at her vehicle, will be back in court for a hearing next month, as the defense works to resolve the case before it heads to trial.
Godfrey Dillard, one of Smith's attorneys, told Wayne County Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon during a hearing today that the defense "presented a written proposal" to the prosecution. Dillard previously said, during a court hearing in December, that both sides "think that we can work something out."
Smith's trial is scheduled to begin March 7, but the judge today set another hearing for Feb. 5..
Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Lisa Lindsey said the court could "leave the trial date as is and we'll continue to negotiate and if we come up with something, we'll bring it to the court's attention."
Smith, a Detroit Democrat, faces charges of felonious assault, malicious destruction of personal property $20,000 or more, possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony and a misdemeanor count of domestic violence in connection with the May 10 incident.
According to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, Smith, 36, allegedly assaulted his ex-wife after she came to his home and found another woman there and then shot at her Mercedes-Benz with a rifle.
State Sen. Virgil Smith is offering a Wayne County judge a plea deal in the case where he was accused of shooting at his ex-wife. The plea deal includes his resignation from office and jail time in exchange for a dismissal of several felony charges.
State senator accused of shooting at ex-wife will resign, spend 10 months in jail
MLive
Feb 11, 2016
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2016/02/state_senator_accused_of_shoot.html
DETROIT, MI -- State Sen. Virgil Smith, D-Detroit, has accepted a deal that requires him plead guilty to felony malicious destruction of property under $20,000, spend 10 months in jail and resign from office.
In exchange for his plea, charges of felony assault with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and domestic violence charges have been dismissed.
Smith, who was accused of firing a shotgun in the direction of his wife and at her car, was scheduled for trial March 7 in front of Wayne Circuit Judge Lawrence S. Talon.
Full terms of the plea deal issued by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's office Thursday:
Worthy's statement:
It is rare for the (Wayne County Prosecutor's Office) to dismiss a felony firearm charge when the weapon in question was discharged. In this case, however, after extensive review of the medical and psychiatric records of the defendant, I am convinced that there are extenuating circumstances to support dismissal of that charge. The following documented medical conditions contributed to the behavior of this defendant: 1. He suffers from bipolar depression, hypomanic; 2. He has a neurocognitive disorder related to a traumatic brain injury arising out of a documented rollover automobile accident that occurred on December 19, 2014, in Houston, Texas; and 3. He is presently in treatment for his alcohol dependency.
Talon will decide whether to accept the deal at a March 14 sentencing hearing.
Smith, who served three years in the state House of Representatives before being elected to the Senate in 2010 and re-elected in 2014, was accused of opening fire with an AR-15 in the direction of his ex-wife, Anistia Thomas, and her Mercedes about 1 a.m. May 10.
The altercation occurred after Thomas arrived at Smith's home and found another woman, Tatiana Grant, naked in her ex-husband's bed.
The versions of events presented by both women during the a preliminary examination last June were inconsistent.
Thomas testified that, although Smith is her ex-husband, they'd reignited an intimate relationship. She drove to Smith's home the morning of May 10 with the intent of spending the night.
Before heading there, she sent a text that said, "you are (expletive) up," according to evidence presented at a prior hearing.
After parking in the street, Thomas walked to an open side window and said, "Kai," Smith's middle name.
Smith opened the side door and told Thomas, "Tatiana is here," the ex-wife testified.
Thomas claims she walked to the bedroom, stripped the sheets off the naked woman and asked her if she was sleeping with Smith.
Grant claims Thomas was yelling, "He doesn't care about you, he doesn't love you," as Smith grabbed his ex-wife from behind.
Thomas denies forcing her way into Smith's home or attacking Grant.
"From there, he pulled on me, we wrestled, he punches me in the face a few times," Thomas said at the preliminary examination. "After falling into the TV, he rammed my head into the floor."
Thomas said Smith put his right arm into the back of her neck and she "basically stopped breathing."
"He kept punching me throughout my body at that point ... " Thomas testified. "He literally rammed my head into the wall by the doorway ... I fall down."
Grant said Smith never punched Thomas and never slammed her head into the floor or wall. Grant saw Smith pulling the ex-wife from behind and carrying her in an attempt to remove her from the bedroom.
"No," Grant said when asked if she ever saw Smith assault Thomas.
Thomas claims Smith forced her to her feet and pushed her out the side door into a railing, causing her to fall and hit her face on the concrete.
"He comes out from the side door ... I see him holding a big gun," Thomas said.
She said the gun was an AR-15 rifle Smith kept under his bed and previously told her could take off a person's limb.
"He starts shooting it in the air ... " Thomas said. "He turns it toward me and starts shooting at me."
Thomas ran to the home of a neighbor, also a friend of Smith's. The ex-wife called 911, but the neighbor took the phone from her after hearing her giving police Smith's name. The neighbor forced her to leave and locked the door behind her, Thomas previously testified.
Thomas said she then ran to another house where she found help.
Despite being embroiled in criminal proceedings, Smith hadn't stepped down or been expelled from his senate seat, although he was stripped of his leadership roles and committee assignments after the shooting incident.
He represented the Fourth District, which includes portions of Allen Park, Detroit, Lincoln Park and Southgate.
Smith has received prior citations for impaired driving and operating while intoxicated in 2004, for which his license was revoked and reinstated to a restricted status in 2007, according to a statement issued by Secretary of State spokesman Fred Woodhams.
He was charged with operating a vehicle while being intoxicated in 2010, but the case was dropped for lack of evidence to prosecute.
Michigan is among about 10 states with a full-time Legislature. Senators begin at a starting annual pay of about $71,000.
Smith missed 59 of 645 Senate voting roll calls in 2015, the second most among active senators.
Michigan Legislature: Article IV§16 Expulsion Of Members
Judge to Sen. Virgil Smith: 'You do not have to resign'
Detroit Free Press
March 14, 2016
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/03/14/virgil-smith-court-sentencing/81765648/
A judge on Monday sentenced embattled state Sen. Virgil Smith to 10 months in jail with no early release but did not require him to resign from his job as a legislator, which was part of a sentencing agreement in the case against him.
"It would be illegal for me to impose as a condition of sentence that he resign from office and that he not hold public office during the pendency of his probation,” Wayne County Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon said during the hearing.
The decision means prosecutors could now pull the agreement they reached with the defense because it required Smith to resign.
As part of the plea, Smith, 36, D-Detroit, pleaded guilty to a felony count of malicious destruction of personal property of $20,000 or more last month and admitted shooting his ex-wife's 2015 Mercedes-Benz on May 10, 2015.
Talon said Smith could be expelled, voted out of office or resign but requiring him to step down “offends the state constitution.”
"You do not have to resign from the Senate," he told Smith, explaining his ruling. "I'm taking that off the plea agreement."
It’s not yet known if Smith will voluntarily resign from office, though some say they expect that to happen.
“The plea is legal, and the defendant agreed to it,” Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a statement released after the two-hour hearing in the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice. “If all the conditions are not accepted by the court, we will withdraw our plea. We are certain that we stand on solid legal ground.”
Smith told investigators the shots were fired after his ex-wife, Anistia Thomas, pushed her way into his house on Wexford and attempted to attack the woman in his bed.
Thomas previously testified Smith punched her in the face and rammed her head into the floor and wall when she was inside his home. She gave a statement in the courtroom Monday, saying Smith has lied to save face and is "still blaming me."
"I refuse to take on blame due to his extreme faults and lack of accountability," Thomas said, adding that her injuries included a busted lip, more than 18 bruises and multiple cuts and abrasions, a swollen jaw and sprained neck.
Smith declined to address the court when given the opportunity.
“When you fire a gun, you never know where the bullets are going to end up,” Talon said. “They present a danger to everyone else in the community, so it is fortunate that nobody was injured as a result of Mr. Smith firing the gun.”
As part of the agreement reached in the case, three charges: felonious assault, possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony, which carries a mandatory two years prison sentence, and a misdemeanor count of domestic violence, are to be dismissed.
Smith also must serve five years of probation, stay away from alcohol, comply with mental health treatment and not have contact with Thomas.
Smith has a medical marijuana card and drug testing was not ordered Monday.
Godfrey Dillard, one of Smith's attorneys, argued that Smith is being held accountable and said his career has been destroyed.
"This is not a pass for Mr. Smith,” he said. “This is a very serious wake-up call.”
Smith sat quietly throughout the hearing, hands clasped in his lap — sometimes looking down, sometimes looking at the judge. His father, Wayne County Circuit Judge Virgil Smith, was also in the courtroom.
A joint sentencing memorandum was filed by the prosecution and defense attorneys on Feb. 29. The court document said Smith suffers from bipolar depressive hypomanic disorder, was in a rollover accident in 2014 that caused a traumatic brain injury and was recently discharged from Henry Ford Maplegrove Center, where he was treated for alcohol dependency.
Smith’s medical history is “not offered to excuse his criminal act but rather as an explanation of various factors that contributed to this behavior,” the document said.
After charges were filed against Smith, he lost his staff and was stripped of his committee assignments and his post as a minority whip in the Senate.
“Sen. Smith has talked about a voluntary resignation, and that’s our expectation. Our assumption is that this could delay it by a couple of weeks,” said Amber McCann, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive. “The judge pointing out that he can’t compel Sen. Smith to resign doesn’t really change anything.”
Smith, in discussion with leadership in the Senate, said a voluntary resignation was based on the fact that he wouldn’t be able to serve his constituents for a significant period of time while he is in jail, McCann.
If Smith decides not to resign, the Senate could go through the process to expel him, “and we would just end up with the same result,” McCann said.
Michigan Republican Party Chairman Ronna Romney McDaniel released a statement Monday and called Smith’s behavior “appalling” and said people in his district “deserve better.”
“Democratic leadership must ask him to do the right thing for his constituents and step down,” the statement said. “They deserve effective representation in Lansing, and it is clear Smith can no longer fulfill that duty.”
Smith is due back in court March 28 so attorneys can address additional matters in the case.
MLive
Aug 07, 2015
https://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/2015/08/sen_virgil_smith_of_detroit_co.html
DETROIT, MI -- Elisha Anderson of the Detroit Free Press first reported on a new filing in the case against Sen. Virgil Smith Jr. that indicates he might make enter an insanity plea.
Smith's ex-wife, Anistia Thomas, came to Smith's Detroit home about 1 a.m. May 10 planning to spend the night, but instead found another woman, Tatiana Grant, naked in her ex-husband's bed.
A physical altercation ensued. Smith is accused of assaulting his ex-wife and firing an AR-15 rifle at Thomas and her 2015 Mercedes.
Online Wayne County Circuit Court records show there was a criminal responsibility examination filing July 17 to determine if defendant was sane, and therefore culpable, at the time the alleged crimes were committed.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Smith's attorney, Godfrey Dillard, entered a motion that says "Smith will assert at the trial of this matter a substantial disorder of thought or mood significantly impaired his judgment, behavior, capacity to recognize reality, or ability to cope with ordinary demands of life."
Though Thomas and Smith are divorced, Thomas said at the preliminary hearing she and Smith reignited an intimate relationship and it was "routine" for her to spend the night at the Democratic state senator's Detroit home.
She said it was a surprise when she got into Smith's bedroom and found an unclothed Grant beneath Smith's sheets.
It was previously revealed in court Thomas sent a message to Smith before she arrived at his home that said, "Why are you (expletive) up."
Grant said she was asleep and awoke to hear Smith talking to someone through the window. Smith closed the window, put on clothes, and walked to the side door when Grant says the window flew open a second time.
The ex-wife said Smith told her another woman was over as she walked past him toward the bedroom. Grant said it sounded like Smith's ex-wife ran down the hall to the bedroom; "then the bedroom door burst open."
Grant said the ex-wife grabbed the sheets, yelling, "he doesn't care about you, he doesn't love you," as Smith grabbed his ex-wife from behind.
Grant said she had "no doubt" Thomas was trying to attack her and claims she never saw Smith punch or assault his ex-wife. He was "pulling her back" and, after they fell over a TV, carried her from the room.
Moments later, Grant saw flashes outside the window, "like lightning."
The ex-wife paints Smith has much more violent and aggressive. Thomas said she went to the bedroom and asked Grant if she was sleeping with Smith, to which Grant replied, no. Thomas said it was then she pulled off the sheets.
"From there, he pulled on me, we wrestled, he punches me in the face a few times," Thomas said at the preliminary hearing. "After falling into the TV, he rammed my head into the floor."
Thomas said Smith put his right arm into the back of her neck and she "basically stopped breathing."
"He kept punching me throughout my body at that point ... " Thomas said. "He literally rammed my head into the wall by the doorway ... I fall down."
She says Smith forced her to her feet, pushed her out the side door into a railing, causing her to fall and hit her face on the concrete.
"He comes out from the side door ... I see him holding a big gun," Thomas said.
Thomas said the gun was an AR-15 rifle Smith kept under his bed and previously told her could take off a person's limb.
"He starts shooting it in the air ... " Thomas said. "He turns it toward me and starts shooting at me."
Thomas's car was struck by multiple bullets.
She ran to the home of a neighbor, also a friend of Smith, and called 911, but the neighbor took the phone from her after hearing Smith's name. He kicked her out of his house and locked the door behind, Thomas said.
The neighbor testified that Thomas had "a busted lip."
Thomas says she then ran to another house where she found help.
Smith is charged with felonious assault, malicious destruction of personal property, misdemeanor domestic violence and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Although Smith remains a member of the state Legislature, he was stripped of his leadership roles and committee assignments after the shooting incident.
Smith served three years in the House of Representatives before being elected to the Senate in 2010. He was re-elected to the Senate in 2014 and represents the Fourth District, which includes portions of Allen Park, Detroit, Lincoln Park and Southgate.
Smith has received prior citations for impaired driving and operating while intoxicated in 2004, for which his license was revoked and reinstated to a restricted status in 2007, according to a statement issued by Secretary of State spokesman Fred Woodhams.
He was charged with operating a vehicle while being intoxicated in 2010, but the case was dropped for lack of evidence to prosecute.
Michigan is among about 10 states with a full-time Legislature. Senators begin at a starting annual pay of about $71,000.
Smith is currently scheduled to face a jury trial tentatively scheduled to begin Dec. 7.
Defense: Sen. Virgil Smith's case may not go to trial
Detroit Free Press
Dec. 17, 2015
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2015/12/17/state-senator-virgil-smith-court-hearing/77437336/
An attorney for embattled state Sen. Virgil Smith said in a hearing today that his client’s case could get resolved and not proceed to trial.
Smith, a Detroit Democrat, is accused of assaulting his ex-wife and shooting at her 2015 Mercedes-Benz on May 10. He faces three felonies and a misdemeanor in connection with with the incident.
Godfrey Dillard, one of Smith’s attorneys, told Wayne County Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon today that in his discussions, it seems both sides “think that we can work something out.”
The defense plans to present a proposal to prosecutors before Christmas Day to see if a resolution can be reached in the case, Dillard said. Smith’s trial is currently scheduled to start March 7, 2016.
Dillard said the defense has been “severely delayed” by the inability to get Smith’s medical record. He said they received it last week and said “that’s one of the centerpieces of what we’re attempting to do.”
Dillard did not elaborate on what the defense strategy is. Court documents filed this summer showed an insanity defense could be used in the case.
Smith, 35, faces charges of felonious assault, malicious destruction of personal property of $20,000 or more, possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony and a misdemeanor count of domestic violence in connection with the incident. A not guilty plea has been entered in the case.
Talon told the parties to return to his courtroom in the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice on Jan. 15 at 8:30 a.m., so he can be informed if an offer to resolve the case has been made and whether Smith is going to accept or reject it.
“If it’s rejected then we’ll go on from there,” he said.
During today’s hearing, that lasted about 20 minutes, Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Lisa Lindsey said Smith’s phone has been turned over and forensically downloaded.
After the hearing, both Smith and Dillard declined comment.
Smith previously told investigators shots were fired after Anistia Thomas, his ex-wife, pushed her way into the house and attempted to attack the woman in his bed, according to police.
Thomas has said the incident happened after she went to Smith's home on Wexford and discovered a naked woman there. She testified previously that she had resumed an intimate relationship with Smith and said he punched her in the face and rammed her head into the floor and wall inside his home.
Smith has never spoken to reporters about what happened that night.
After charges were filed against Smith, he lost his staff, committee assignments and his post as a minority whip in the Senate. While some Senators have called on Smith to resign his seat, the black caucus in the chamber have offered their support.
State senator accused of shooting at ex-wife may take plea deal
MLive
Jan 15, 2016
https://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/2016/01/sen_virgil_smith_of_detroit_in.html
DETROIT, MI -- Time is running out on a possible plea deal for state Sen. Virgil Smith Jr., D-Detroit, who is accused of shooting at his ex-wife.
A final pretrial conference -- during which a plea deal could be announced --occurred 9 a.m. Friday, Jan. 15, during which no plea deal was announced.
However, another previously unscheduled pretrial conference was set for Feb. 5. It's possible Smith could plea at that hearing.
If not, a trial is tentatively scheduled for March 7 in front of Wayne Circuit Judge Lawrence S. Talon.
MLive left a message with Smith's attorney, Godfrey Dillard, requesting comment.
Smith, who served three years in the state House of Representatives before being elected to the Senate in 2010 and re-elected in 2014, is accused of opening fire with an AR-15 in the direction of his ex-wife, Anistia Thomas, and her Mercedes about 1 a.m. May 10.
The altercation occurred after Thomas arrived at Smith's home and found another woman, Tatiana Grant, naked in her ex-husband's bed.
The versions of events presented by both women during the a preliminary examination last June were inconsistent.
Thomas testified that, although Smith is her ex-husband, they'd reignited an intimate relationship. She drove to Smith's home the morning of May 10 with the intent of spending the night.
Before heading there, she sent a text that said, "you are (expletive) up," according to evidence presented at a prior hearing.
After parking in the street, Thomas walked to an open side window and said, "Kai," Smith's middle name.
Smith opened the side door and told Thomas, "Tatiana is here," the ex-wife testified.
Thomas claims she walked to the bedroom, stripped the sheets off the naked woman and asked her if she was sleeping with Smith.
Grant claims Thomas was yelling, "He doesn't care about you, he doesn't love you," as Smith grabbed his ex-wife from behind.
Thomas denies forcing her way into Smith's home or attacking Grant.
"From there, he pulled on me, we wrestled, he punches me in the face a few times," Thomas said at the preliminary examination. "After falling into the TV, he rammed my head into the floor."
Thomas said Smith put his right arm into the back of her neck and she "basically stopped breathing."
"He kept punching me throughout my body at that point ... " Thomas testified. "He literally rammed my head into the wall by the doorway ... I fall down."
Grant said Smith never punched Thomas and never slammed her head into the floor or wall. Grant saw Smith pulling the ex-wife from behind and carrying her in an attempt to remove her from the bedroom.
"No," Grant said when asked if she ever saw Smith assault Thomas.
Thomas claims Smith forced her to her feet and pushed her out the side door into a railing, causing her to fall and hit her face on the concrete.
"He comes out from the side door ... I see him holding a big gun," Thomas said.
She said the gun was an AR-15 rifle Smith kept under his bed and previously told her could take off a person's limb.
"He starts shooting it in the air ... " Thomas said. "He turns it toward me and starts shooting at me."
Thomas ran to the home of a neighbor, also a friend of Smith's. The ex-wife called 911, but the neighbor took the phone from her after hearing her giving police Smith's name. The neighbor forced her to leave and locked the door behind her, Thomas previously testified.
Thomas said she then ran to another house where she found help.
Smith was arrested and subsequently charged with malicious destruction of property, $20,000 or more; felony assault with a deadly weapon; felony use of a firearm; and domestic violence.
The most serious charge, malicious destruction of property, carries a possible prison sentence of up to 10 years.
Despite being embroiled in criminal proceedings, Smith has not stepped down or been expelled from his senate seat, although he was stripped of his leadership roles and committee assignments after the shooting incident.
He represents the Fourth District, which includes portions of Allen Park, Detroit, Lincoln Park and Southgate.
Smith has received prior citations for impaired driving and operating while intoxicated in 2004, for which his license was revoked and reinstated to a restricted status in 2007, according to a statement issued by Secretary of State spokesman Fred Woodhams.
He was charged with operating a vehicle while being intoxicated in 2010, but the case was dropped for lack of evidence to prosecute.
Michigan is among about 10 states with a full-time Legislature. Senators begin at a starting annual pay of about $71,000.
Smith missed 59 of 645 Senate voting roll calls in 2015, the second most among active senators.
Embattled senator's lawyer gives proposal to prosecutor
Detroit Free Press
Jan. 15, 2016
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/01/15/senator-lawyer-proposal-prosecutors/78843180/
State Sen. Virgil Smith, accused of assaulting his ex-wife and shooting at her vehicle, will be back in court for a hearing next month, as the defense works to resolve the case before it heads to trial.
Godfrey Dillard, one of Smith's attorneys, told Wayne County Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon during a hearing today that the defense "presented a written proposal" to the prosecution. Dillard previously said, during a court hearing in December, that both sides "think that we can work something out."
Smith's trial is scheduled to begin March 7, but the judge today set another hearing for Feb. 5..
Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Lisa Lindsey said the court could "leave the trial date as is and we'll continue to negotiate and if we come up with something, we'll bring it to the court's attention."
Smith, a Detroit Democrat, faces charges of felonious assault, malicious destruction of personal property $20,000 or more, possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony and a misdemeanor count of domestic violence in connection with the May 10 incident.
According to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, Smith, 36, allegedly assaulted his ex-wife after she came to his home and found another woman there and then shot at her Mercedes-Benz with a rifle.
Virgil Smith Plea Agreement Hearing 02/11/16
Law & Crime Network
February 11, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe_liuIpDRQ
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy says Virgil Smith's ex-wife came to his Detroit home on Wexford Street around 1 a.m. Sunday, and discovered another woman there. Prosecutors allege Smith physically assaulted his ex-wife and shot at her vehicle multiple times with a rifle. Smith has been charged with malicious destruction of property, $20,000 or more; assault with a dangerous weapon; weapons felony firearm; and domestic violence.
State Sen. Virgil Smith will resign as part of plea deal after shooting at ex-wife
WXYZ-TV Detroit - Channel 7
February 11, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m3TrFDdOZg
State Sen. Virgil Smith is offering a Wayne County judge a plea deal in the case where he was accused of shooting at his ex-wife. The plea deal includes his resignation from office and jail time in exchange for a dismissal of several felony charges.
Virgil Smith takes plea deal
WXYZ-TV Detroit - Channel 7
February 11, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xanmzDRLgg
State Senator Virgil Smith will resign as part of a plea deal that ends the case where he was charged with shooting at his ex-wife.
State senator accused of shooting at ex-wife will resign, spend 10 months in jail
MLive
Feb 11, 2016
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2016/02/state_senator_accused_of_shoot.html
DETROIT, MI -- State Sen. Virgil Smith, D-Detroit, has accepted a deal that requires him plead guilty to felony malicious destruction of property under $20,000, spend 10 months in jail and resign from office.
In exchange for his plea, charges of felony assault with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and domestic violence charges have been dismissed.
Smith, who was accused of firing a shotgun in the direction of his wife and at her car, was scheduled for trial March 7 in front of Wayne Circuit Judge Lawrence S. Talon.
Full terms of the plea deal issued by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's office Thursday:
- Five years probation with the first 10 months to be served in the Wayne County Jail without early release.
- The defendant must resign his position as a state senator.
- The defendant cannot hold elective office or appointed office during the full term of his probation.
- Submit to a mental health evaluation; the defendant must fully comply and provide monthly documentation with recommended treatment.
- Supply monthly documentation of alcohol and drug treatment.
- Surrender the weapon used in the crime or indicate the location where the weapon was disposed.
- Full restitution in an amount to be determined by the Court.
- The defendant waives any privilege and agrees to the release of the statement below.
Worthy's statement:
It is rare for the (Wayne County Prosecutor's Office) to dismiss a felony firearm charge when the weapon in question was discharged. In this case, however, after extensive review of the medical and psychiatric records of the defendant, I am convinced that there are extenuating circumstances to support dismissal of that charge. The following documented medical conditions contributed to the behavior of this defendant: 1. He suffers from bipolar depression, hypomanic; 2. He has a neurocognitive disorder related to a traumatic brain injury arising out of a documented rollover automobile accident that occurred on December 19, 2014, in Houston, Texas; and 3. He is presently in treatment for his alcohol dependency.
Talon will decide whether to accept the deal at a March 14 sentencing hearing.
Smith, who served three years in the state House of Representatives before being elected to the Senate in 2010 and re-elected in 2014, was accused of opening fire with an AR-15 in the direction of his ex-wife, Anistia Thomas, and her Mercedes about 1 a.m. May 10.
The altercation occurred after Thomas arrived at Smith's home and found another woman, Tatiana Grant, naked in her ex-husband's bed.
The versions of events presented by both women during the a preliminary examination last June were inconsistent.
Thomas testified that, although Smith is her ex-husband, they'd reignited an intimate relationship. She drove to Smith's home the morning of May 10 with the intent of spending the night.
Before heading there, she sent a text that said, "you are (expletive) up," according to evidence presented at a prior hearing.
After parking in the street, Thomas walked to an open side window and said, "Kai," Smith's middle name.
Smith opened the side door and told Thomas, "Tatiana is here," the ex-wife testified.
Thomas claims she walked to the bedroom, stripped the sheets off the naked woman and asked her if she was sleeping with Smith.
Grant claims Thomas was yelling, "He doesn't care about you, he doesn't love you," as Smith grabbed his ex-wife from behind.
Thomas denies forcing her way into Smith's home or attacking Grant.
"From there, he pulled on me, we wrestled, he punches me in the face a few times," Thomas said at the preliminary examination. "After falling into the TV, he rammed my head into the floor."
Thomas said Smith put his right arm into the back of her neck and she "basically stopped breathing."
"He kept punching me throughout my body at that point ... " Thomas testified. "He literally rammed my head into the wall by the doorway ... I fall down."
Grant said Smith never punched Thomas and never slammed her head into the floor or wall. Grant saw Smith pulling the ex-wife from behind and carrying her in an attempt to remove her from the bedroom.
"No," Grant said when asked if she ever saw Smith assault Thomas.
Thomas claims Smith forced her to her feet and pushed her out the side door into a railing, causing her to fall and hit her face on the concrete.
"He comes out from the side door ... I see him holding a big gun," Thomas said.
She said the gun was an AR-15 rifle Smith kept under his bed and previously told her could take off a person's limb.
"He starts shooting it in the air ... " Thomas said. "He turns it toward me and starts shooting at me."
Thomas ran to the home of a neighbor, also a friend of Smith's. The ex-wife called 911, but the neighbor took the phone from her after hearing her giving police Smith's name. The neighbor forced her to leave and locked the door behind her, Thomas previously testified.
Thomas said she then ran to another house where she found help.
Despite being embroiled in criminal proceedings, Smith hadn't stepped down or been expelled from his senate seat, although he was stripped of his leadership roles and committee assignments after the shooting incident.
He represented the Fourth District, which includes portions of Allen Park, Detroit, Lincoln Park and Southgate.
Smith has received prior citations for impaired driving and operating while intoxicated in 2004, for which his license was revoked and reinstated to a restricted status in 2007, according to a statement issued by Secretary of State spokesman Fred Woodhams.
He was charged with operating a vehicle while being intoxicated in 2010, but the case was dropped for lack of evidence to prosecute.
Michigan is among about 10 states with a full-time Legislature. Senators begin at a starting annual pay of about $71,000.
Smith missed 59 of 645 Senate voting roll calls in 2015, the second most among active senators.
State Sen. Virgil Smith to resign as part of plea deal
Detroit Free Press
Feb. 11, 2016
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/wayne/2016/02/11/state-virgil-smith-court-wayne/80232392/
State Sen. Virgil Smith has agreed to resign from his job as a legislator and serve 10 months in the Wayne County Jail — without early release — as punishment for an incident last year where he was accused of assaulting his ex-wife and shooting at her Mercedes-Benz, destroying it.
As part of a plea agreement, Smith pleaded guilty Thursday to malicious destruction of personal property $20,000 or more, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Smith, 36, D-Detroit, would also serve five years probation, cannot hold elected or appointed office during his probation, must comply with alcohol and drug treatment, must submit to a mental health evaluation, surrender the gun he used in the incident or say where it is and pay restitution to the victim in the case.
But Wayne County Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon said he would decide at the March 14 sentencing if he will accept the plea agreement. If the judge rejects the deal, the guilty plea can be withdrawn.
“I still need to be persuaded,” he said during the hour-long hearing Thursday. Two other felonies and a misdemeanor were to be dismissed.
As he was questioned Thursday by Talon, Smith, 36, repeatedly answered “Yes, your honor,” including when Talon asked if he wanted to stay out of jail on bond. Talon allowed Smith to remain free on bond.
Talon said elected officials are expected to observe high standards of conduct, and he questioned whether public officials should be punished any differently than others.
Godfrey Dillard, one of Smith’s attorneys, called the agreement a reasonable resolution. “This public servant in this particular situation, given the totality of the facts, is being severely punished,” said Dillard.
“This was a situation where Mr. Smith was in his own home, sleeping in his own bed … with somebody else and that was interrupted,” he said.
According to police, Smith told investigators the shots were fired at his home on Wexford May 10 after Anistia Thomas, his ex-wife, pushed her way into his house and attempted to attack the woman in his bed.
Thomas, who was in the courtroom Thursday along with Smith's father, Wayne County Circuit Judge Virgil Smith, testified in June that she and Smith had resumed an intimate relationship before the alleged assault occurred. She said Smith, to whom she was married briefly in 2009, punched her in the face and rammed her head into the floor and wall after she went to the home and discovered a naked woman there. The shot-up 2015 Mercedes-Benz — valued at $34,586.64 — was a total loss.
Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Lisa Lindsey told the court that medical records indicated Smith suffered from bipolar depression and may have been in a hypomanic episode during the time. She also said Smith had a traumatic brain injury from a rollover accident in December 2014 and was “alcohol dependent at the time of this event.”
If there is a trial, there may be materials exposed that could be detrimental to people, Lindsey said.
Smith is in treatment now for his alcohol dependency, a statement from Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said. She was involved in negotiations and said the documented medical conditions contributed to Smith’s behavior.
“It is rare for the WCPO to dismiss a felony firearm charge when the weapon in question was discharged,” her statement said. “In this case, however, after extensive review of the medical and psychiatric records of the defendant, I am convinced that there are extenuating circumstances to support dismissal of that charge.”
After charges were filed against Smith, he lost his staff and was stripped of his committee assignments and his post as a minority whip in the Senate.
Smith will have to formally resign his office, either in a letter to the Senate or an appearance next week and it will be up to Gov. Rick Snyder to set a special election to fill the seat. That election most likely would be held on Aug. 2 for a primary election and Nov. 8 for the general election.
Snyder spokesman Dave Murray said a special election can't be set until Smith officially resigns his office.
“From the Majority Leader’s perspective, he made a responsible decision on behalf of his constituents,” said Amber McCann, spokeswoman for Sen. Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, referring to the decision to resign from the Senate. “And we appreciate that.”
Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, said the Senate's first priority will be to make sure that Smith's constituents still get attention.
"The developments today were significant and I hope that the legal process will move swiftly. We need this issue to be resolved once and for all," he said in a statement. "Our focus will remain making sure the people of the 4th District have whatever help they need."
If he hadn’t resigned, the Senate had a couple of choices: Do nothing or move to expel him from office, which would require a hearing and a two-thirds vote of the Senate. The Senate’s rules don’t specifically say that member convicted of a felony not related to their duties in office has to resign.
Former state Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, who ran against Smith in 2014, said she's not ready to make a decision on whether to run for the seat once it becomes vacant. She said she's too angry at the plea deal that Smith got.
"To me it’s unjust,” she said. “This person is connected and he’s getting this type of plea deal. It’s wrong. And I'm talking as a woman, not as a potential candidate."
There are now five vacancies in the Legislature: former state Rep. Brandon Dillon, who resigned to become chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, former state Reps. Todd Courser, R-Lapeer, and Cindy Gamrat, R-Plainwell, who left the Legislature after getting caught up in a sex and cover-up scandal, former state Rep. Derek Miller, D-Warren, who left the House to become Macomb County Treasurer and Smith.
The elections to replace Dillon, Courser and Gamrat will be held on March 8 for the primary and Aug. 2 for the general elections. An election to replace Miller hasn't been set yet.
Virgil Smith Sentencing 03/14/16
Law & Crime Network
March 14, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkcILgmECG4
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy says Virgil Smith's ex-wife came to his Detroit home on Wexford Street around 1 a.m. Sunday, and discovered another woman there. Prosecutors allege Smith physically assaulted his ex-wife and shot at her vehicle multiple times with a rifle. Smith has been charged with malicious destruction of property, $20,000 or more; assault with a dangerous weapon; weapons felony firearm; and domestic violence.
Michigan Legislature: Article IV§16 Expulsion Of Members
Judge to Sen. Virgil Smith: 'You do not have to resign'
Detroit Free Press
March 14, 2016
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/03/14/virgil-smith-court-sentencing/81765648/
A judge on Monday sentenced embattled state Sen. Virgil Smith to 10 months in jail with no early release but did not require him to resign from his job as a legislator, which was part of a sentencing agreement in the case against him.
"It would be illegal for me to impose as a condition of sentence that he resign from office and that he not hold public office during the pendency of his probation,” Wayne County Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon said during the hearing.
The decision means prosecutors could now pull the agreement they reached with the defense because it required Smith to resign.
As part of the plea, Smith, 36, D-Detroit, pleaded guilty to a felony count of malicious destruction of personal property of $20,000 or more last month and admitted shooting his ex-wife's 2015 Mercedes-Benz on May 10, 2015.
Talon said Smith could be expelled, voted out of office or resign but requiring him to step down “offends the state constitution.”
"You do not have to resign from the Senate," he told Smith, explaining his ruling. "I'm taking that off the plea agreement."
It’s not yet known if Smith will voluntarily resign from office, though some say they expect that to happen.
“The plea is legal, and the defendant agreed to it,” Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a statement released after the two-hour hearing in the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice. “If all the conditions are not accepted by the court, we will withdraw our plea. We are certain that we stand on solid legal ground.”
Smith told investigators the shots were fired after his ex-wife, Anistia Thomas, pushed her way into his house on Wexford and attempted to attack the woman in his bed.
Thomas previously testified Smith punched her in the face and rammed her head into the floor and wall when she was inside his home. She gave a statement in the courtroom Monday, saying Smith has lied to save face and is "still blaming me."
"I refuse to take on blame due to his extreme faults and lack of accountability," Thomas said, adding that her injuries included a busted lip, more than 18 bruises and multiple cuts and abrasions, a swollen jaw and sprained neck.
Smith declined to address the court when given the opportunity.
“When you fire a gun, you never know where the bullets are going to end up,” Talon said. “They present a danger to everyone else in the community, so it is fortunate that nobody was injured as a result of Mr. Smith firing the gun.”
As part of the agreement reached in the case, three charges: felonious assault, possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony, which carries a mandatory two years prison sentence, and a misdemeanor count of domestic violence, are to be dismissed.
Smith also must serve five years of probation, stay away from alcohol, comply with mental health treatment and not have contact with Thomas.
Smith has a medical marijuana card and drug testing was not ordered Monday.
Godfrey Dillard, one of Smith's attorneys, argued that Smith is being held accountable and said his career has been destroyed.
"This is not a pass for Mr. Smith,” he said. “This is a very serious wake-up call.”
Smith sat quietly throughout the hearing, hands clasped in his lap — sometimes looking down, sometimes looking at the judge. His father, Wayne County Circuit Judge Virgil Smith, was also in the courtroom.
A joint sentencing memorandum was filed by the prosecution and defense attorneys on Feb. 29. The court document said Smith suffers from bipolar depressive hypomanic disorder, was in a rollover accident in 2014 that caused a traumatic brain injury and was recently discharged from Henry Ford Maplegrove Center, where he was treated for alcohol dependency.
Smith’s medical history is “not offered to excuse his criminal act but rather as an explanation of various factors that contributed to this behavior,” the document said.
After charges were filed against Smith, he lost his staff and was stripped of his committee assignments and his post as a minority whip in the Senate.
“Sen. Smith has talked about a voluntary resignation, and that’s our expectation. Our assumption is that this could delay it by a couple of weeks,” said Amber McCann, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive. “The judge pointing out that he can’t compel Sen. Smith to resign doesn’t really change anything.”
Smith, in discussion with leadership in the Senate, said a voluntary resignation was based on the fact that he wouldn’t be able to serve his constituents for a significant period of time while he is in jail, McCann.
If Smith decides not to resign, the Senate could go through the process to expel him, “and we would just end up with the same result,” McCann said.
Michigan Republican Party Chairman Ronna Romney McDaniel released a statement Monday and called Smith’s behavior “appalling” and said people in his district “deserve better.”
“Democratic leadership must ask him to do the right thing for his constituents and step down,” the statement said. “They deserve effective representation in Lansing, and it is clear Smith can no longer fulfill that duty.”
Smith is due back in court March 28 so attorneys can address additional matters in the case.
State Sen. Smith gets 10 months for attack on ex-wife; resigning from office undecided
The Detroit News
March 14, 2016
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2016/03/14/virgil-smith-plea-deal-legislature/81780442/
State Sen. Virgil Smith Jr. was sentenced Monday to 10 months in the Wayne County Jail and five years of probation in a plea agreement to charges he shot at his ex-wife’s car.
But the judge’s ruling could be in jeopardy over whether he will be forced from office.
Wayne County Judge Lawrence Talon said he can’t enforce a provision in the agreement that Smith would be forced to leave the Legislature as part of his punishment for firing up to 20 shots at his ex-wife ’s car.
However, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said if Talon doesn’t accept the resignation she will pull the full agreement off the table, potentially exposing Smith to a harsher sentence.
Talon said Monday Smith was not constitutionally required to resign from office adding that decision “belongs to his constituents.”
Talon explained that the crime Smith is accused of did not involve his public office. He said forcing Smith out would be illegal for him to enforce, according to his interpretation of the Michigan Constitution.
“You do not have to resign from the Senate,” Talon told Smith.
Worthy’s office says it has been ordered to file a brief with their legal objection by March 21. “The plea is legal, and the defendant agreed to it,” Worthy said. “If all the conditions are not accepted by the court we will withdraw our plea. We are certain that we stand on solid legal ground.”
Talon scheduled a hearing for March 28 to sort it out.
Meanwhile, Smith’s colleagues called for him step down.
Michigan Republican Party Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel on Monday said: “With Senator Smith pleading guilty to this terrible crime, now is the time for Democratic leadership in Michigan to step up and do the right thing. Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich should call for Smith’s resignation. His behavior is appalling, and the residents in his district deserve better. ... They deserve effective representation in Lansing, and it is clear Smith can no longer fulfill that duty.”
A spokeswoman for the the state Senate Democrats said they “remain committed to making sure the people of the 4th Senate District are getting the services they deserve while the legal process plays out.”
As part of his sentencing, Smith also must undergo drug and alcohol treatment. He holds a medical marijuana card, according to his attorney, and the issue of whether he gets to keep it during his probation will be addressed later between Talon, Smith’s attorneys and prosecutors.
The state lawmaker appeared morose and kept his head down during most of the hearing as his father, Wayne County Judge Virgil Smith and others painfully looked on.
“He’s being held accountable,” Smith’s lawyer, Godfrey Dillard, said. “His political career is destroyed.”
Smith was allowed to plead guilty to malicious destruction of property greater than $20,000 for allegedly firing shots at his ex-wife’s Mercedes Benz in May 2015. The charge, a felony, carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Charges of felonious assault, felony firearm and domestic violence will be dropped.
Smith, 36, did not speak during the sentencing hearing but wiped tears from his eyes after Anistia Thomas, Smith’s ex-wife, spoke about losing the “love of my life” and receiving over 18 bruises, a busted lip and swollen jaw after the early morning fight when she went to Smith’s eastside home and found another woman, naked, in his bed.
After Smith and Thomas allegedly tussled inside the home and on the porch, Smith is said to have pointed an AR-15 at her and then shot at her car. The weapon was surrendered to police as part of the plea deal.
More than 20 rounds were fired into Thomas’ vehicle during the incident at his home in the 18000 block of Wexford.
Thomas spoke tearfully about the incident saying she has suffered physical and emotional pains. She told Talon that Smith “hunted” her down and shot at her car.
“It pains me that it has come to this,” Thomas said. “I hope God spares his soul.”
Smith had been scheduled to go to trial March 7.
Under additional terms of the plea offer, Smith would be prohibited from holding elective office or being appointed to an office while on probation. He also would have to submit to a mental health evaluation and surrender the gun as part of the plea agreement.
State Sen. Smith gets 10 months for attack on ex-wife; resigning from office undecided
The Detroit News
March 14, 2016
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2016/03/14/virgil-smith-plea-deal-legislature/81780442/
State Sen. Virgil Smith Jr. was sentenced Monday to 10 months in the Wayne County Jail and five years of probation in a plea agreement to charges he shot at his ex-wife’s car.
But the judge’s ruling could be in jeopardy over whether he will be forced from office.
Wayne County Judge Lawrence Talon said he can’t enforce a provision in the agreement that Smith would be forced to leave the Legislature as part of his punishment for firing up to 20 shots at his ex-wife ’s car.
However, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said if Talon doesn’t accept the resignation she will pull the full agreement off the table, potentially exposing Smith to a harsher sentence.
Talon said Monday Smith was not constitutionally required to resign from office adding that decision “belongs to his constituents.”
Talon explained that the crime Smith is accused of did not involve his public office. He said forcing Smith out would be illegal for him to enforce, according to his interpretation of the Michigan Constitution.
“You do not have to resign from the Senate,” Talon told Smith.
Worthy’s office says it has been ordered to file a brief with their legal objection by March 21. “The plea is legal, and the defendant agreed to it,” Worthy said. “If all the conditions are not accepted by the court we will withdraw our plea. We are certain that we stand on solid legal ground.”
Talon scheduled a hearing for March 28 to sort it out.
Meanwhile, Smith’s colleagues called for him step down.
Michigan Republican Party Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel on Monday said: “With Senator Smith pleading guilty to this terrible crime, now is the time for Democratic leadership in Michigan to step up and do the right thing. Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich should call for Smith’s resignation. His behavior is appalling, and the residents in his district deserve better. ... They deserve effective representation in Lansing, and it is clear Smith can no longer fulfill that duty.”
A spokeswoman for the the state Senate Democrats said they “remain committed to making sure the people of the 4th Senate District are getting the services they deserve while the legal process plays out.”
As part of his sentencing, Smith also must undergo drug and alcohol treatment. He holds a medical marijuana card, according to his attorney, and the issue of whether he gets to keep it during his probation will be addressed later between Talon, Smith’s attorneys and prosecutors.
The state lawmaker appeared morose and kept his head down during most of the hearing as his father, Wayne County Judge Virgil Smith and others painfully looked on.
“He’s being held accountable,” Smith’s lawyer, Godfrey Dillard, said. “His political career is destroyed.”
Smith was allowed to plead guilty to malicious destruction of property greater than $20,000 for allegedly firing shots at his ex-wife’s Mercedes Benz in May 2015. The charge, a felony, carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Charges of felonious assault, felony firearm and domestic violence will be dropped.
Smith, 36, did not speak during the sentencing hearing but wiped tears from his eyes after Anistia Thomas, Smith’s ex-wife, spoke about losing the “love of my life” and receiving over 18 bruises, a busted lip and swollen jaw after the early morning fight when she went to Smith’s eastside home and found another woman, naked, in his bed.
After Smith and Thomas allegedly tussled inside the home and on the porch, Smith is said to have pointed an AR-15 at her and then shot at her car. The weapon was surrendered to police as part of the plea deal.
More than 20 rounds were fired into Thomas’ vehicle during the incident at his home in the 18000 block of Wexford.
Thomas spoke tearfully about the incident saying she has suffered physical and emotional pains. She told Talon that Smith “hunted” her down and shot at her car.
“It pains me that it has come to this,” Thomas said. “I hope God spares his soul.”
Smith had been scheduled to go to trial March 7.
Under additional terms of the plea offer, Smith would be prohibited from holding elective office or being appointed to an office while on probation. He also would have to submit to a mental health evaluation and surrender the gun as part of the plea agreement.
State senator sentenced to 10 months in prison, may not be forced to resign
MLive
Mar 14, 2016
https://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/2016/03/state_senator_sentenced_to_10_1.html
DETROIT, MI -- State Sen. Virgil Smith, D-Detroit, will serve a 10-month jail sentence after pleading guilty to various crimes stemming from a May 2015 shooting incident involving his ex-wife and another woman, the Detroit News reports.
The plea agreement with the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office called for Smith to resign from public office, but Wayne Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon on Monday rejected that aspect of the agreement.
alon ordered Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's office submit a brief arguing why the resignation clause is valid.
Another hearing is set to discuss the matter March 28.
"The plea is legal, and the defendant agreed to it," Worthy said in a statement. "If all the conditions are not accepted by the court we will withdraw our plea. We are certain that we stand on solid legal ground."
Smith was accused of firing a shotgun in the direction of his ex-wife and at her car after an altercation sparked by the ex-wife's discovery of another woman naked in Smith's bed.
Full terms of the plea deal offered by Worthy's office:
- Five years probation with the first 10 months to be served in the Wayne County Jail without early release.
- The defendant must resign his position as a state senator.
- The defendant cannot hold elective office or appointed office during the full term of his probation.
- Submit to a mental health evaluation; the defendant must fully comply and provide monthly documentation with recommended treatment.
- Supply monthly documentation of alcohol and drug treatment.
- Surrender the weapon used in the crime or indicate the location where the weapon was disposed.
- Full restitution in an amount to be determined by the Court.
- The defendant waives any privilege and agrees to the release of the statement below.
Worthy said "it is rare for the (Wayne County Prosecutor's Office) to dismiss a felony firearm charge when the weapon in question was discharged."
"In this case, however, after extensive review of the medical and psychiatric records of the defendant, I am convinced that there are extenuating circumstances to support dismissal of that charge," she said. "The following documented medical conditions contributed to the behavior of this defendant: 1. He suffers from bipolar depression, hypomanic; 2. He has a neurocognitive disorder related to a traumatic brain injury arising out of a documented rollover automobile accident that occurred on December 19, 2014, in Houston, Texas; and 3. He is presently in treatment for his alcohol dependency."
Smith, who served three years in the state House of Representatives before being elected to the Senate in 2010 and re-elected in 2014, was accused of opening fire with an AR-15 in the direction of his ex-wife, Anistia Thomas, and her Mercedes about 1 a.m. May 10.
The altercation occurred after Thomas arrived at Smith's home and found another woman, Tatiana Grant, naked in her ex-husband's bed.
The versions of events presented by both women during the a preliminary examination last June were inconsistent.
Thomas testified that, although Smith is her ex-husband, they'd reignited an intimate relationship. She drove to Smith's home the morning of May 10 with the intent of spending the night.
Before heading there, she sent a text that said, "you are (expletive) up," according to evidence presented at a prior hearing.
After parking in the street, Thomas walked to an open side window and said, "Kai," Smith's middle name.
Smith opened the side door and told Thomas, "Tatiana is here," the ex-wife testified.
Thomas claims she walked to the bedroom, stripped the sheets off the naked woman and asked her if she was sleeping with Smith.
Grant claims Thomas was yelling, "He doesn't care about you, he doesn't love you," as Smith grabbed his ex-wife from behind.
Thomas denies forcing her way into Smith's home or attacking Grant.
"From there, he pulled on me, we wrestled, he punches me in the face a few times," Thomas said at the preliminary examination. "After falling into the TV, he rammed my head into the floor."
Thomas said Smith put his right arm into the back of her neck and she "basically stopped breathing."
"He kept punching me throughout my body at that point ... " Thomas testified. "He literally rammed my head into the wall by the doorway ... I fall down."
Grant said Smith never punched Thomas and never slammed her head into the floor or wall. Grant saw Smith pulling the ex-wife from behind and carrying her in an attempt to remove her from the bedroom.
"No," Grant said when asked if she ever saw Smith assault Thomas.
Thomas claims Smith forced her to her feet and pushed her out the side door into a railing, causing her to fall and hit her face on the concrete.
"He comes out from the side door ... I see him holding a big gun," Thomas said.
She said the gun was an AR-15 rifle Smith kept under his bed and previously told her could take off a person's limb.
"He starts shooting it in the air ... " Thomas said. "He turns it toward me and starts shooting at me."
Thomas ran to the home of a neighbor, also a friend of Smith's. The ex-wife called 911, but the neighbor took the phone from her after hearing her giving police Smith's name. The neighbor forced her to leave and locked the door behind her, Thomas previously testified.
Thomas said she then ran to another house where she found help.
Despite being embroiled in criminal proceedings, Smith hadn't stepped down or been expelled from his senate seat, although he was stripped of his leadership roles and committee assignments after the shooting incident.
He represented the Fourth District, which includes portions of Allen Park, Detroit, Lincoln Park and Southgate.
Smith has received prior citations for impaired driving and operating while intoxicated in 2004, for which his license was revoked and reinstated to a restricted status in 2007, according to a statement issued by Secretary of State spokesman Fred Woodhams.
He was charged with operating a vehicle while being intoxicated in 2010, but the case was dropped for lack of evidence to prosecute.
Michigan is among about 10 states with a full-time Legislature. Senators begin at a starting annual pay of about $71,000.
Smith missed 59 of 645 Senate voting roll calls in 2015, the second most among active senators.
Judge to decide on senator's plea deal
If agreement is OK'd, it would drop nearly every charge but one
Detroit News
March 14, 2016
https://infoweb.newsbank.com/
State Sen. Virgil Smith is expected to find out Monday whether his plea offer will be accepted by a Wayne County Circuit Court judge to resolve charges of attacking his ex-wife.
Last month, Smith pleaded guilty in exchange for a sentence of 10 months the county jail with no early release, as well as other conditions, including resigning from office.
Judge Lawrence Talon still has to agree to the deal and he is expected to announce his decision at the hearing, set for 2 p.m. As part of the agreement, charges of felonious assault, felony firearm and domestic violence would be dropped.
Smith would be allowed to plea guilty to malicious destruction of property greater than $20,000 for allegedly firing shots at his ex-wife's Mercedes Benz in May 2015. The charge, a felony, carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
The plea offer was announced during a hearing before Talon on Feb. 11 by Smith's attorney Godfrey Dillard.
Smith had been scheduled to go to trial March 7.
Under additional terms of the plea offer, Smith would be on probation for five years, would have to undergo drug and alcohol counseling and would be prohibited from holding elective office or being appointed to an office while on probation. He also would have to submit to a mental health evaluation and surrender the gun as part of the plea agreement.
"I have my official resignation," Smith, D-Detroit, said at the time the plea deal was announced, before he was advised by Dillard not to continue speaking.
Talon asked Dillard and Smith's co-counsel, Gerald Evelyn, and Lisa Lindsey, assistant Wayne County prosecutor, for an official memorandum that allegedly contains "confidential" information about Smith before he makes his decision.
"I still need to be persuaded," Talon said.
Dillard said anyone who thinks Smith's plea agreement is a light one is mistaken.
"This public servant, given the totality of the fact, is being severely punished," Dillard said during the hearing last month. He said his client has some "alcohol dependency" and Smith's judgment was "not up to snuff" the morning when the incident with his ex-wife occurred.
Smith's ex-wife, Anistia Thomas, attended the Feb. 11 hearing. She did not speak during the hearing but is asking for restitution.
Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a statement after the hearing that it's rare for the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office to dismiss a felony firearm charge. "In this case, however, after extensive review of the medical and psychiatric records of the defendant, I am convinced that there are extenuating circumstances to support dismissal of that charge," she said.
She added Smith suffers from bipolar depression and is hypomanic and has a neurocognitive disorder related to a traumatic brain injury suffered in an automobile accident nearly a year and a half ago in Houston.
Smith, 36, was charged with beating Thomas during an early morning fight when she came to his home and found a naked woman in his bed. After allegedly tussling with Thomas inside the home and on the porch, Smith is said to have pointed an AR-15 at her and then shot at her car.
More than 20 rounds were fired into Thomas' vehicle during the incident at his home in the 18000 block of Wexford, said Lindsey.
Michigan Senate leader Meekhof expects Sen. Virgil Smith to resign over shooting
Detroit News
March 15, 2016
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/03/15/virgil-smith/81812066/
Lansing — Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof said Tuesday he expects state Sen. Virgil Smith to voluntarily step down from office even though a judge is not requiring the Detroit Democrat’s resignation for pleading guilty to shooting up his ex-wife’s car last May.
Smith was in the Senate briefly Tuesday, one day after a Wayne County judge sentenced him to 10 months in jail and five years probation for firing up to 20 gun shots at his ex-wife’s car and physically assaulting her.
“I’m anticipating that Sen. Smith will resign at some point,” said Meekhof, R-West Olive.
Smith offered his resignation as part of a plea deal with Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.
But Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Talon said Monday he couldn’t enforce that part of the plea bargain, leaving it up to Smith to voluntarily step down.
Worthy’s office is re-examining the plea deal and has until Monday to file a brief about their objection to judge’s sentence if Smith doesn’t resign before then.
Smith did not take questions Tuesday from reporters.
Meekhof said he expects to meet Tuesday afternoon with Smith and discuss the “likely” resignation.
“This is what he told us he was going to do in his effort to make ... his sentencing as light as possible,” Meekhof said of Smith resigning. “He’s the one who initiated that conversation.”
The Republican leader said expelling the Democratic senator remains an option for the GOP-controlled Senate.
“That’s always a possibility, but not at the moment,” Meekhof told reporters. “It’s in the tool box of things we could do.”
Smith was charged felonious assault, malicious destruction of personal property $20,000 or larger, domestic violence assault and battery as well as felony firearm after a late-night May 10 domestic incident with his ex-wife Anistia Thomas outside of his east side home.
Over the past 10 months, Smith has been effectively sidelined in the Michigan Senate, stripped of his office staff, committee assignments and duties as assistant Democratic caucus whip.
Meekhof and Senate Democratic Leader Jim Ananich of Flint wanted to let the court decide Smith’s fate before moving to expel him.
Ananich said Tuesday he was waiting for the negotiations between Smith’s attorney and the prosecutor “to play itself out.”
“But I’m assuming that will be the end result,” Ananich said of a resignation.
Sen. Morris Hood III, D-Detroit, said was unsure Tuesday whether Smith should resign.
“I don’t know. I think it depends on what actually comes out of it,” Hood said. “... Right now, a decision is not before us.”
Virgil Smith mum on future but expected to quit Senate
Detroit Free Press
March 15, 2016
https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2016/03/15/sen-smith-wont-comment-his-future-after-sentencing/81805890/
LANSING — A day after being sentenced to 10 months in jail and 5 years of probation, Sen. Virgil Smith, D-Detroit, returned to his day job as a state senator with no indication if he was going to resign the seat he has until the end of 2018.
He left the Senate chambers Tuesday morning, declining to talk with reporters about whether he will resign the seat. His Senate colleagues, however, said they think his resignation will happen, eventually.
"I expect imminently that Sen. Smith will likely resign," said Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive. Expulsion hearings "are always a possibility, but not at the moment. It’s in the tool box of things we could do."
Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, said the proceedings still have to play out, especially after Wayne County Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon ruled Monday that a resignation from the Senate could not be part of the plea deal worked out with Wayne County prosecutors.
Instead, Talon imposed a sentence of 10 months in jail and five years of probation after Smith pleaded guilty last month to a felony count of malicious destruction of personal property of $20,000 or more and admitted shooting his ex-wife's 2015 Mercedes-Benz on May 10, 2015. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy will file an objection to Talon's decision and has said she will withdraw the plea deal if all the conditions aren't accepted and enforced by the courts.
Smith can voluntarily resign or face expulsion hearings if the Senate leadership decides that's appropriate action to pursue. If the Senate goes the expulsion route, they would have to hold hearings on the matter and then vote by a two-thirds majority to remove Smith from office.
"There is a process in place between his attorneys and the judge and the prosecutor," said Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint. "The process needs to unfold, but I can’t see a scenario where he doesn’t resign in the long run."
Smith told investigators the shots were fired after his ex-wife, Anistia Thomas, pushed her way into his house on Wexford and attempted to attack the woman in his bed.
Thomas previously testified Smith punched her in the face and rammed her head into the floor and wall when she was inside his home. She gave a statement in the courtroom Monday, saying Smith has lied to save face and is "still blaming me."
"I refuse to take on blame due to his extreme faults and lack of accountability," Thomas said, adding that her injuries included a busted lip, more than 18 bruises and multiple cuts and abrasions, a swollen jaw and sprained neck.
As part of the agreement reached in the case, three charges: felonious assault, possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony, which carries a mandatory two years prison sentence, and a misdemeanor count of domestic violence, are to be dismissed.
No expulsion for Senator Virgil Smith after guilty plea?
Representative Todd Courser
March 22, 2016
https://www.facebook.com/Toddformichigan/posts/1196174330406568
It was all done to pass a Billion Dollar Tax Increase...Some can see it and some can't; it makes no difference to me at this point but for those who think on their own you can't help but notice the stark contrast between how the establishment treats those who support progressive policies and those who stand opposed to them. Once we were removed late last summer the House passed its "highway tax" by 1 vote.
So now Virgil Smith has plead guilty to shooting at his ex-wife 20 plus times and will serve supposedly 10 months in jail and still no effort to remove him from office? No expulsion? Not that anyone cares that two of the most conservative voices to sit in the State House were removed without any finding of criminality, let alone felonious conduct. Nor does anyone seem to care that it was all done in violation of the Constitution w/o Due Process/Equal Protection. This news service is run by a guy who is for the most part establishment and he fails to take the next step and point out the contrast between Courser/Gamrat expulsions last summer and how Banks/Virgil Smith are being handled, but for those who still think on your own you can draw your own conclusions from what he is saying. Most don't understand it was all done to pass the House's tax increase of the so called "highway bill" A Billion Dollar annual tax increase brought to you by those conservative stalwarts in the Republican State House.
State senator's failure to resign in gunfire case violates plea deal, prosecutor says
MLive
Mar 23, 2016
https://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/2016/03/sen_virgil_smiths_failure_to_r.html
DETROIT, MI -- State Sen. Virgil Smith Jr., D-Detroit, because he hasn't resigned from public office, violated the plea deal he was offered, argued Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's office in a court filing this week.
The prosecutor now wants the deal withdrawn and the senator to face trial.
Smith, who is accused of shooting his ex-wife's Mercedes with an AR-15 rifle after she caught him in bed with a naked woman on May 10, 2015, accepted a plea agreement in February.
It required Smith spend 10 months in jail, five years on probation and resign from office, among other stipulations.
At Smith's March 14 sentencing, Wayne Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon declined to impose Smith's court-ordered resignation and instead asked Worthy's office for a brief in support of that aspect of the plea agreement.
On Tuesday, Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Lisa D. Lindsey filed a "motion to vacate plea."
The brief says the prosecutor's office understands Talon's "reluctance" to order Smith's resignation, but said Smith "is able to comply with the terms of the plea agreement without a directive of the court."
"Having not done so, the court must vacate the plea," Lindsey argued. "The People, no less the defendant, are entitled to receive the benefit of the agreed-upon bargain.
" ... Because defendant has not fulfilled the terms of the plea agreement, the court must vacate the plea and schedule this matter for trial."
Talon may issue a ruling Monday -- also the date Smith was scheduled to appear in court and possibly begin serving his 10-month jail sentence.
If his plea is vacated, Smith would likely remain free on bond pending another plea deal or trial.
MLive left messages seeking comment with Smith's office in Lansing and his attorneys, Gerald Evelyn and Godfrey Dillard. There had been no response as of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Worthy's office is also arguing against the judge's decision not to impose drug testing on Smith, which was also part of the plea agreement.
The brief indicates Smith is a certified medical marijuana patient, but prosecutors argue that shouldn't preclude him from being tested for other drugs.
Smith originally pleaded guilty to malicious destruction of property greater than $20,000.
Worthy's office dismissed counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and domestic violence. The felony firearm charge carries a mandatory two-year prison sentence in Michigan.
Details of original plea deal:
- Five years probation with the first 10 months to be served in the Wayne County Jail without early release.
- The defendant must resign his position as a state senator.
- The defendant cannot hold elective office or appointed office during the full term of his probation.
- Submit to a mental health evaluation; The defendant must fully comply and provide monthly documentation with recommended treatment.
- Supply monthly documentation of alcohol and drug treatment.
- Surrender the weapon used in the crime or indicate the location where the weapon was disposed.
- Full restitution in an amount to be determined by the Court.
- The defendant waives any privilege and agrees to the release of the statement below.
Worthy said at the time: "It is rare for the (Wayne County Prosecutor's Office) to dismiss a felony firearm charge when the weapon in question was discharged."
"In this case, however, after extensive review of the medical and psychiatric records of the defendant, I am convinced that there are extenuating circumstances to support dismissal of that charge. The following documented medical conditions contributed to the behavior of this defendant: 1. He suffers from bipolar depression, hypomanic; 2. He has a neurocognitive disorder related to a traumatic brain injury arising out of a documented rollover automobile accident that occurred on December 19, 2014, in Houston, Texas; and 3. He is presently in treatment for his alcohol dependency."
Smith, who served three years in the state House of Representatives before being elected to the Senate in 2010 and re-elected in 2014, was accused of opening fire with an AR-15 in the direction of his ex-wife, Anistia Thomas, and her Mercedes about 1 a.m. May 10.
The altercation occurred after Thomas arrived at Smith's home and found another woman, Tatiana Grant, naked in her ex-husband's bed.
Two accounts of the incident presented by both women during a preliminary examination last June were inconsistent.
Grant testified that Smith assaulted her, while Thomas said he did not.
Thomas testified that, although Smith is her ex-husband, they'd reignited an intimate relationship. She drove to Smith's home the morning of May 10 with the intent of spending the night.
After parking in the street, Thomas walked to an open side window and said, "Kai," Smith's middle name.
Smith opened the side door and told Thomas, "Tatiana is here," the ex-wife testified.
Thomas claimed she walked to the bedroom, stripped the sheets off the naked woman and asked her if she was sleeping with Smith.
Grant claims Thomas was yelling, "He doesn't care about you, he doesn't love you," as Smith grabbed his ex-wife from behind.
"From there, he pulled on me, we wrestled, he punches me in the face a few times," Thomas said. "After falling into the TV, he rammed my head into the floor."
Thomas said Smith put his right arm into the back of her neck and she "basically stopped breathing."
"He kept punching me throughout my body at that point ... " Thomas testified. "He literally rammed my head into the wall by the doorway ... I fall down."
Grant said Smith never punched Thomas and never slammed her head into the floor or wall. Grant saw Smith pulling the ex-wife from behind and carrying her in an attempt to remove her from the bedroom.
Smith forced Thomas out of the house.
"He comes out from the side door ... I see him holding a big gun," Thomas testified. " ... He starts shooting it in the air ... He turns it toward me and starts shooting at me."
Thomas ran to a neighbor's home asking for help.
Despite being embroiled in criminal proceedings, Smith hadn't stepped down or been expelled from his senate seat, although he was stripped of his leadership roles and committee assignments after the shooting incident.
He represents the 4th District, which includes portions of Allen Park, Detroit, Lincoln Park and Southgate.
Smith has received prior citations for impaired driving and operating while intoxicated in 2004, for which his license was revoked and reinstated to a restricted status in 2007, according to a statement issued by Secretary of State spokesman Fred Woodhams.
He was charged with operating a vehicle while being intoxicated in 2010, but the case was dropped for lack of evidence to prosecute.
Michigan is among about 10 states with a full-time Legislature. Senators begin at a starting annual pay of about $71,000.
Smith missed 59 of 645 Senate voting roll calls in 2015, the second most among active senators.
Could Michigan senator serve from jail, collect taxpayer-funded salary?
MLive
Mar 23, 2016
https://www.mlive.com/news/2016/03/could_michigan_senator_serve_f.html
LANSING, MI -- A senator involved in a shooting incident last year may be able to serve jail time without resigning or giving up his taxpayer-funded salary under a plea deal approved by a Wayne County judge earlier this month.
The Senate has the power to expel a member but has not made any move to do so in regards to Virgil Smith, a Detroit Democrat. Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, met with Smith last week and said the legal process had not yet played out.
Asked about the possibility of Smith continuing to serve and continuing to collect a taxpayer-funded salary from jail, Meekhof said "that would be a concern."
Smith faced charges related to a May 2015 altercation involving him, a woman he was seeing and his ex-wife. In that incident, he allegedly shot at his ex-wife's Mercedes-Benz. He reached a plea deal with the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office to plead guilty to a felony, serve 10 months in jail and resign.
But Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Talon threw that last portion of the agreement out, saying he didn't have the power to enforce the resignation provision. A court hearing to further discuss that aspect of the plea deal is set for March 28.
Smith has voted with Republican leadership on many routine and key votes since the May 2015 incident.
Smith is still technically a member of the Democratic caucus, though he's been stripped of committee assignments. Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich said Tuesday the legal process was still happening but a senator should not be allowed to serve from jail.
"I think that once this thing unfolds and the process happens, if there is jail time I think it's logical that the next step would be you don't serve in the legislature if you're in jail," Ananich said.
The plea deal -- now thrown into question -- included 10 months of jail time.
Smith would not be the first lawmaker to serve jail time while also serving constituents as a state lawmaker. Former Sen. David Jaye served 10 days in jail in 1993 while serving as a state representative and 35 days in jail in 2000 while serving as a state Senator. Those were short stints for misdemeanor drunken driving offenses, and Jaye was expelled after the second incident.
Jaye continued to collect his $56,981 annual salary while serving that 35 days in 2000, according to media coverage at the time. Today senator salaries start at $71,685 and can be higher for senators who hold leadership positions. Smith once held the title of Assistant Democratic Whip, but was stripped of that after the shooting incident.
Former Sen. Bill Ballenger remembers legal situations coming up a few times while he served, but said a lawmaker serving this length of jail sentence would be unprecedented.
"There would be nothing like what Virgil Smith would be doing if in fact he really contemplates serving from jail for 10 months. That would be unbelievable," Ballenger said.
The Senate has the power to expel members with a two-thirds vote per the state constitution. "Each house shall be the sole judge of the qualifications, elections and returns of its members, and may, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members elected thereto and serving therein, expel a member," the constitution states.
The House of Representatives expelled member Cindy Gamrat in 2015. Attorney Mike Nichols, who is representing her in a criminal proceeding, said the contrast between Gamrat and Courser's ousters and Smith's treatment was "an interesting study in political expediency."
Smith's attorney did not return a call for comment on this story.
Support grows for ousting Virgil Smith from state Senate
Detroit News
March 25, 2016
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/03/25/virgil-smith-opposition-grows/82257536/
East Lansing — The Michigan Senate’s Democratic leader said Friday he would vote for the expulsion of Sen. Virgil Smith if the Detroit Democrat does not resign from office before heading to jail for 10 months for shooting up his ex-wife’s car.
“I think there is no scenario where a person serving in jail serves in the Michigan Senate,” Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich said during a taping of WKAR-TV’s “Off The Record.”
Smith is due back in Wayne County Circuit Court on Monday in what’s expected to be the final proceeding before he starts serving a sentence in the county jail for malicious destruction of property greater than $20,000.
The senator’s plea deal with Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy called for him to resign his 4th District Senate seat to get a lighter jail sentence, five years of probation and avoid a trial.
Worthy intended to drop additional charges of felonious assault, felony firearm and domestic violence in exchange for Smith’s resignation. But Judge Lawrence Talon said he could not enforce the resignation, which delayed the sentencing while Worthy’s office filed additional legal briefs in the case.
Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, has said he expects Smith to eventually resign.
“That’s been the expected outcome,” Meekhof spokeswoman Amber McCann said Friday. “At this point, the majority leader is anticipating a voluntary resignation.”
Ananich, D-Flint, said he asked Smith to resign last May after his colleague was charged and released on bond after a late-night incident with his ex-wife, Anistia Thomas, in which police say Smith pointed an AR-15 at her and then fired multiple rounds at her Mercedes-Benz.
Senate Democrats wanted to let Smith’s court proceedings play out before making a judgment on Smith’s political future, Ananich said.
“Now that process is coming to an end and I think a resignation will happen or there will need to be an expulsion,” Ananich said.
Smith’s attorney, Godfrey Dillard, did not return a message Friday seeking comment.
Only four members of the Legislature have been expelled in Michigan’s 179-year history.
The most recent expulsion was last September when the Michigan House ousted Rep. Cindy Gamrat from office for misconduct in office related to Rep. Todd Courser’s failed cover-up of their extramarital affair. Courser resigned before the House could expel him.
Attorney General Bill Schuette filed misconduct in office felony charges against Courser and Gamrat in late February, more than five months after they were run out of office by the House Republican leadership.
Schuette also charged Courser with perjury for allegedly lying under oath to a House committee about instructing state employees to forge his signature on proposed legislation.
Courser has denounced how he and Gamrat — freshmen members of the GOP majority — were treated differently than Smith, a second-term member of the Senate’s Democratic minority.
After he was arrested and charged in May, Smith was stripped of Senate staff and committee assignments, but has continued to show up for session in Lansing, cast votes and collect his $71,685 annual salary.
Courser weighed in earlier this week on the Smith saga in a Facebook post.
“So now Virgil Smith has plead guilty to shooting at his ex-wife 20 plus times and will serve supposedly 10 months in jail and still no effort to remove him from office? No expulsion?” he wrote. “Not that anyone cares that two of the most conservative voices to sit in the State House were removed without any finding of criminality, let alone felonious conduct.”
Sen. Virgil Smith due in court Monday
WJBK - Fox 2 News - Detroit
March 28, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zeNYbRFDXE
Sen. Virgil Smith in court (continued)
WJBK - Fox 2 News - Detroit
March 28, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG7kUxHxeQY
State senator Virgil Smith is due back in court Monday for a post-sentencing hearing. Smith pleaded guilty to malicious destruction of property for firing shots at his ex-wife's car in a deal with prosecutors.
Judge refuses to vacate plea deal in in Virgil Smith case
WXYZ-TV Detroit - Channel 7
March 28, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lYLWqevKH0
Judge denies motion to pull plea deal for MI Senator Virgil Smith
WXYZ-TV Detroit - Channel 7
March 28, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAOsY0X9GQQ
Virgil Smith Plea Hearing: Part 1 - 03/28/16
Law & Crime Network
March 28, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nUpRjz1x3s
Charges have been filed against a state senator following a domestic dispute with his ex-wife.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy says Virgil Smith's ex-wife came to his Detroit home on Wexford Street around 1 a.m. Sunday, and discovered another woman there. Prosecutors allege Smith physically assaulted his ex-wife and shot at her vehicle multiple times with a rifle. Smith has been charged with malicious destruction of property, $20,000 or more; assault with a dangerous weapon; weapons felony firearm; and domestic violence.
Virgil Smith Plea Hearing: Part 2 - 03/28/16
Law & Crime Network
March 28, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKolCMv34R0
Charges have been filed against a state senator following a domestic dispute with his ex-wife.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy says Virgil Smith's ex-wife came to his Detroit home on Wexford Street around 1 a.m. Sunday, and discovered another woman there. Prosecutors allege Smith physically assaulted his ex-wife and shot at her vehicle multiple times with a rifle. Smith has been charged with malicious destruction of property, $20,000 or more; assault with a dangerous weapon; weapons felony firearm; and domestic violence.
Sen. Virgil Smith jailed, not forced to resign
MLive
Mar 28, 2016
https://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/2016/03/sen_virgil_smith_jailed_not_fo.html
DETROIT, MI -- Deputies escorted state Sen. Virgil Smith Jr. to jail Monday.
Before the politician walked out of the courtroom, Smith's father, also a Wayne County judge, asked if he and his wife could hug their 36-year-old son goodbye.
Wayne Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon denied the request, stating he couldn't treat Smith, D-Detroit, different than any other defendant. Smith wasn't placed in handcuffs before being led out from the courtroom.
Smith, who as of Monday remained an acting senator -- although Democrat leadership indicate they may seek his expulsion -- will serve a 10-month jail sentence.
Talon said he'll uphold the plea deal Smith made with the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, but throw out a condition requiring Smith's resignation.
Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Lisa Lindsay asked the plea be vacated and new conditions negotiated, but Talon said that wouldn't be in the public's best interest. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's office issued a statement shortly after Talon's ruling.
"We believe that the law supports that the agreement remains conditional until all the terms of the agreement are fulfilled," Assistant Prosecutor and spokeswoman Marial Miller said. "Prosecutor Worthy will appeal the court's ruling because the defendant did not fulfill his part of the plea agreement by resigning his elected position."
Smith's attorneys, Dillard Godfrey and Gerald Evelyn, were silent when asked why their client refused to resign following the hearing.
Godfrey in court said his client's legacy was "tarnished" by the media painting the incident as a scandalous tryst.
Smith pleaded guilty to malicious destruction of property for allegedly shooting an AR-15 rifle in the direction of his ex-wife, Anistia Thomas, and her Mercedes about 1 a.m. May 10. Thomas shortly before arrived at Smith's Detroit home and found him with another woman in his bed.
Thomas watched from the back row of the courtroom Monday as her ex-husband was led away.
Sitting in another row were Thomas's in-laws and their pastor.
Smith accepted the plea deal in February that requires he spend 10 months in jail, five years on probation and resign from office, among other stipulations.
Talon said the requirement that he resign was "unconstitutional interference" by the Prosecutor's Office and "offends the Constitution of the state of Michigan."
In exchange, the Worthy's office agreed to dismiss counts of felony assault, domestic violence and felony firearm, which carries an automatic 2-year sentence
Details of original plea deal:
- Five years probation with the first 10 months to be served in the Wayne County Jail
- Resign his position as a state senator
- Smith cannot hold elective office or appointed office during the full term of his probation
- Must submit to a mental health evaluation
- Comply and provide monthly documentation with recommended treatment
- Supply monthly documentation of alcohol and drug treatment
- Surrender the weapon used in the crime or indicate the location where the weapon was disposed
- Pay full restitution in an amount to be determined
Worthy said at the time the deal was announced: "It is rare for the (Wayne County Prosecutor's Office) to dismiss a felony firearm charge when the weapon in question was discharged.
"In this case, however, after extensive review of the medical and psychiatric records of the defendant, I am convinced that there are extenuating circumstances to support dismissal of that charge. The following documented medical conditions contributed to the behavior of this defendant: 1. He suffers from bipolar depression, hypomanic; 2. He has a neurocognitive disorder related to a traumatic brain injury arising out of a documented rollover automobile accident that occurred on December 19, 2014, in Houston, Texas; and 3. He is presently in treatment for his alcohol dependency."
Smith served three years in the state House of Representatives before being elected to the Senate in 2010 and re-elected in 2014.
The altercation occurred after Thomas arrived at Smith's home and found another woman, Tatiana Grant, naked in her ex-husband's bed.
Two accounts of the incident presented by both women during a preliminary examination last June were inconsistent.
Grant testified that Smith assaulted her, while Thomas said he did not.
Thomas testified that, although Smith is her ex-husband, they'd reignited an intimate relationship.
She drove to Smith's home the morning of May 10 with the intent of spending the night. After parking in the street, Thomas walked to an open side window and said, "Kai," Smith's middle name.
Smith opened the side door and told Thomas, "Tatiana is here," the ex-wife testified.
Thomas claimed she walked to the bedroom, stripped the sheets off the naked woman and asked her if she was sleeping with Smith.
Grant claims Thomas was yelling, "He doesn't care about you, he doesn't love you," as Smith grabbed his ex-wife from behind.
"From there, he pulled on me, we wrestled, he punches me in the face a few times," Thomas said. "After falling into the TV, he rammed my head into the floor."
Thomas said Smith put his right arm into the back of her neck and she "basically stopped breathing."
"He kept punching me throughout my body at that point ... " Thomas testified. "He literally rammed my head into the wall by the doorway ... I fall down."
Grant said Smith never punched Thomas and never slammed her head into the floor or wall. Grant saw Smith pulling the ex-wife from behind and carrying her in an attempt to remove her from the bedroom.
Smith forced Thomas out of the house.
"He comes out from the side door ... I see him holding a big gun," Thomas testified. " ... He starts shooting it in the air ... He turns it toward me and starts shooting at me."
Thomas ran to a neighbor's home asking for help.
Despite being embroiled in criminal proceedings, Smith hasn't stepped down or been expelled from his senate seat, although he was stripped of his leadership roles and committee assignments after the shooting incident.
He represents the Fourth District, which includes portions of Allen Park, Detroit, Lincoln Park and Southgate.
Smith has received prior citations for impaired driving and operating while intoxicated in 2004, for which his license was revoked and reinstated to a restricted status in 2007, according to a statement issued by Secretary of State spokesman Fred Woodhams.
He was charged with operating a vehicle while being intoxicated in 2010, but the case was dropped for lack of evidence to prosecute.
Michigan is among about 10 states with a full-time Legislature.
State Sen. Smith sent to jail without resigning seat
The Detroit News
March 28, 2016
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2016/03/28/state-sen-virgil-smith-court-monday-plea-deal/82347136/
State Sen. Virgil Smith went to jail Monday — without resigning his seat — to begin serving a 10-month sentence for shooting at his ex-wife’s car.
Wayne County Judge Lawrence Talon denied the Wayne County prosecutor’s motion to pull Smith’s plea deal off the table after Talon said he would not enforce the portion of it that would have the Detroit Democrat step down from the Legislature.
Smith looked somber as he was led to jail from Circuit Court. Talon refused a request by his parents to hug their son before he was taken into custody. Talon said he had to treat the state Senator as he would any other defendant.
No handcuffs were placed on the state lawmaker before he was led from the courtroom. He also must serve five years of probation for malicious destruction of property over $20,000.
The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office plans to appeal Talon’s Monday ruling.
“We believe that the law supports that the agreement remains conditional until all the terms of the agreement are fulfilled. Prosecutor (Kym) Worthy will appeal the court’s ruling because the defendant did not fulfill his part of the plea agreement by resigning his elected position,” said Maria Miller, the prosecutor’s spokeswoman.
Smith informed Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof’s office Friday that he intended to resign if he was remanded to jail Monday, Meekhof spokeswoman Amber McCann said.
“We haven’t received anything yet,” McCann said late Monday afternoon. “The majority leader expects to receive something shortly.”
Senate leaders have said that if Smith doesn’t step down from his seat they would look to begin hearings to expel him from the chamber.
In order to resign, Smith would have to submit a written letter of resignation to Senate Secretary Jeff Cobb, McCann said.
The Michigan Legislature just began a two-week spring recess.
Even if Smith did submit a resignation letter this week, it would not be official until the letter could be read aloud during the next legislative session day, which is April 12, McCann said.
The Michigan Freedom Fund citizens’ group demanded Ananich begin the expulsion process to remove Smith from office.
“At this moment, the people of Detroit are being represented by a convicted felon serving a 10-month jail sentence for opening fire on his ex-wife’s car with an AR-15,” Freedom Fund President Terri Reid said. “Jim Ananich can no longer allow his fellow Democrat to serve in the Senate, and he simply cannot expect taxpayers to pick up the tab for Senate Democrats’ partisan refusal to hold their own member accountable.”
Resigning his seat was part of the plea deal Smith had worked out with prosecutors, but Talon said he did not have the power to enforce a resignation.
Before Talon ruled, Assistant Prosecutor Lisa Lindsey asked him to allow her office to scuttle the agreement so it could “retool” a new deal. But Smith’s co-counsel, Godfrey Dillard, objected saying Smith had already pleaded guilty and agreed to the deal. Dillard said the prosecutor did not have the authority to force his client to resign.
“The real question is does the prosecutor have the authority and the power to remove a person from office,” Dillard said Monday. “We think that power resides with the legislator and with the citizenry of the senator’s district. Sen. Smith’s desire not to resign is not out of any kind of vanity or snubbing his nose at anyone. This gives him an opportunity to stand on principle ... a very important principle. Can an executive branch exceed its authority.”
Lindsey accused Dillard of “talking out of both sides of his neck” and that he and Smith did not keep their word about the lawmaker quitting. . She said Dillard helped hammer out the plea agreement and is “taking advantage” of Talon’s ruling on the resignation question.
“I thought and Prosecutor Worthy thought Mr. Dillard was a man of his word and we thought that Virgil Smith was a man of his word when they said they were going to do those things,” Lindsey said. “Obviously, we were wrong.”
Smith was allowed to plead guilty to malicious destruction for firing shots at his ex-wife’s Mercedes Benz in May 2015. The charge, a felony, carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Charges of felonious assault, felony firearm and domestic violence were dropped as part of the plea deal.
Smith’s ex-wife, Anistia Thomas, allegedly got into a fight with him after she went to his eastside home in the 18000 block of Wexford and found another woman, naked, in his bed. A fight ensued and continued outside the home where Smith is said to have pointed an AR-15 at her and then shot more than 20 rounds at her car. The weapon was surrendered to police as part of the plea agreement.
Sen. Virgil Smith goes directly to jail, collects $71K
Detroit Free Press
March 28, 2016
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/wayne/2016/03/28/state-sen-virgil-smith-hearing/82346318/
State Sen. Virgil Smith started serving his 10-month jail sentence today as punishment for shooting his ex-wife’s Mercedes-Benz, but he never resigned from his job as a legislator.
So, he will continue to receive his $71,685 annual salary plus benefits while serving time behind bars.
Smith, 36, D-Detroit, had agreed to resign from his job as part of a plea deal in the case, but then a judge said he didn’t have authority to impose that as a condition of sentence and took it out of the agreement.
Wayne County Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon said earlier this month that Smith could be expelled, voted out of office or resign, but requiring him to step down violates the state constitution.
Prosecutors then asked for the plea deal to be voided — and the case scheduled for trial — since Smith didn’t comply with the terms of the agreement.
During today’s hearing, Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Lisa Lindsey argued that prosecutors should be able to retool their offer in the case.
But Talon rejected the prosecution's request, saying "vacating the plea bargain would not serve the interests of justice.”
The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office vowed to appeal today's decision.
"We believe that the law supports that the agreement remains conditional until all the terms of the agreement are fulfilled," Maria Miller, a spokeswoman for the office, said in a statement issued after the hearing. "Prosecutor (Kym) Worthy will appeal the court’s ruling because the defendant did not fulfill his part of the plea agreement by resigning his elected position."
Smith pleaded guilty to a felony count of malicious destruction of personal property of $20,000 or more in connection with the incident outside his home on Wexford last May and on March 14 was sentenced to 10 months in jail with no early release.
His attorney, Godfrey Dillard, asked the court not to vacate the agreement.
"I’m asking the court to let it stand, allow the senator to stand on principle, stand against what we view is excessive power by the prosecutor,” Dillard said.
Senate leader still counting on voluntary resignation as Michigan senator heads to jail
MLive
Mar 28, 2016
https://www.mlive.com/news/2016/03/senate_leader_still_counting_o.html
LANSING, MI -- Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof is still counting on embattled Sen. Virgil Smith to resign, a spokesperson said after a court hearing today.
Meekhof "still expects to receive Smith's voluntary resignation," said spokesperson Amber McCann. She said Smith had communicated with Meekhof's office that he would resign if he were serving jail time.
"For the SML (Senate Majority Leader), resignation has never been based on a plea deal, but rather on the understanding that Smith cannot serve his constituents while he's serving time in jail," McCann said.
Smith faced charges related to a May 2015 shooting incident involving him, a woman he was seeing and his ex-wife. He reached a plea deal with the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office to plead guilty to a felony, serve 10 months in jail and resign.
But Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Talon threw that last portion of the agreement out, saying he didn't have the power to enforce the resignation provision. The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office attempted to withdraw that plea deal to re-negotiate it, but Talon on Monday ruled the plea deal stood and Smith did not have to resign.
Now Smith is headed to jail. If he does not resign, it would be two weeks until the Senate could move to expel him. The House and Senate are currently on a legislative break until April 12.
"We could not begin expulsion hearings until we return to session," McCann said.
Constitutionally, the Senate could expel Smith with a two-thirds vote of its members.
Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich said on WKAR's Off The Record on Friday that he had asked Smith to resign previously and would vote for his expulsion.
"I think there is no scenario where a person serving in jail serves in the Michigan Senate," Ananich said.
In the meantime, Smith can legally continue to collect his taxpayer-funded salary -- lawmakers pull in $71,685 per year -- from jail.
Conservative advocacy group Michigan Freedom Fund called on Ananich to begin the removal process.
"At this moment, the people of Detroit are being represented by a convicted felon serving a 10 month jail sentence for opening fire on his ex-wife's car with an AR-15," said MFF President Terri Reid.
"Let that sink in for a minute. Jim Ananich can no longer allow his fellow Democrat to serve in the Senate, and he simply cannot expect taxpayers to pick up the tab for Senate Democrats' partisan refusal to hold their own member accountable."
Ananich's office declined to respond to the MFF's statement.
Smith, while technically a member of the Democratic caucus, has been voting with the Republican caucus on routine and key issues.
Prosecutors to Sen. Virgil Smith: Resign or go to trial
Detroit Free Press
March 28, 2016
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/03/28/sen-virgil-smith-court-resign/82337278/
If embattled state Sen. Virgil Smith doesn’t resign from office, prosecutors want his plea voided and the case sent to trial.
Smith, 36, D-Detroit, was sentenced to 10 months in the Wayne County Jail with no early release earlier this month as punishment for shooting up his ex-wife’s Mercedes-Benz last May.
But Wayne County Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon did not require him to resign from his job as a legislator, which was part of a sentencing agreement in the case.
Talon said Smith could be expelled, voted out of office or resign but requiring him to step down "offends the state constitution" and he said it would be illegal for him to require it as a condition of the sentence.
Smith is due back in court at 2 p.m. today for a post-conviction hearing in the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit.
Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Lisa Lindsey filed motion to vacate the plea with the court on March 22. It said Smith hasn't fulfilled the terms of the plea agreement, so the court must vacate the plea and schedule the case for trial.
“While the people understand the court’s reluctance to order defendant to resign from office, defendant is able to comply with the terms of the plea agreement without a directive of the court,” said the court document filed obtained by the Free Press said.
Smith, who pleaded guilty to a felony count of malicious destruction of personal property of $20,000 in connection with the incident outside his home on Wexford, had not turned in a letter of resignation to the Senate as of Monday morning.
His attorneys could not be reached for comment this morning. Maria Miller, a spokeswoman with the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, said the “briefs speak for themselves.”
As part of the deal that was reached in the case, Smith must also serve five years of probation, stay away from alcohol, comply with mental health treatment and not have contact with his ex-wife, Anistia Thomas.
Smith has a medical marijuana card and drug testing was not ordered during his sentencing on March 14. But prosecutors want that changed. And want drug testing as a condition of Smith’s probation.
“The Michigan Medical Marijuana Act does not prohibit drug testing as a condition of probation,” another brief filed by prosecutors said.
According to another court document, Smith suffers from bipolar depressive hypomanic disorder, had been in car accident in 2014 that caused a traumatic brain injury and was recently treated for alcohol dependency.
Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, said on Friday an expulsion hearing will have to happen if Smith doesn’t resign.
Speaking on the WKAR-TV show “Off the Record,” Ananich said, “The process needs to be finalized. But there is no scenario where a person serving in jail serves in the Michigan Senate.”
Ananich said he asked Smith to resign when he was first arrested, “But the legal process was important to play out. I don’t think it was appropriate for us to have a parallel investigation going on at the same time. A resignation will happen or there needs to be an expulsion hearing.”
Any Senator can introduce a resolution to begin the process to expel a member, said Amber McCann, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, but it’s up to majority Republicans to actually schedule and hold hearings for an expulsion.
Smith previously told investigators the shots were fired after his ex-wife, Anistia Thomas, pushed her way into his house and attempted to attack the woman in his bed. Thomas has said Smith punched her in the face and rammed her head into the floor and wall when she was inside his home.
As part of the agreement reached in the case, three felonies, including a count of possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony, which carries a mandatory two-year prison sentence, and a misdemeanor count of domestic violence, were to be dismissed.
Sen. Virgil Smith returns to court - Free Press Reporter Elisha Anderson Tweets
Detroit Free Press
March 28, 2016
http://live.freep.com/Event/Sen_Virgil_Smith_returns_to_court
Elisha Anderson Twitter: @elishaanderson
Sen. Virgil Smith goes directly to jail, collects $71K
Detroit Free Press
March 28, 2016
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/wayne/2016/03/28/state-sen-virgil-smith-hearing/82346318/
State Sen. Virgil Smith started serving his 10-month jail sentence today as punishment for shooting his ex-wife’s Mercedes-Benz, but he never resigned from his job as a legislator.
So, he will continue to receive his $71,685 annual salary plus benefits while serving time behind bars.
Smith, 36, D-Detroit, had agreed to resign from his job as part of a plea deal in the case, but then a judge said he didn’t have authority to impose that as a condition of sentence and took it out of the agreement.
Wayne County Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon said earlier this month that Smith could be expelled, voted out of office or resign, but requiring him to step down violates the state constitution.
Prosecutors then asked for the plea deal to be voided — and the case scheduled for trial — since Smith didn’t comply with the terms of the agreement.
During today’s hearing, Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Lisa Lindsey argued that prosecutors should be able to retool their offer in the case.
But Talon rejected the prosecution's request, saying "vacating the plea bargain would not serve the interests of justice.”
The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office vowed to appeal today's decision.
"We believe that the law supports that the agreement remains conditional until all the terms of the agreement are fulfilled," Maria Miller, a spokeswoman for the office, said in a statement issued after the hearing. "Prosecutor (Kym) Worthy will appeal the court’s ruling because the defendant did not fulfill his part of the plea agreement by resigning his elected position."
Smith pleaded guilty to a felony count of malicious destruction of personal property of $20,000 or more in connection with the incident outside his home on Wexford last May and on March 14 was sentenced to 10 months in jail with no early release.
His attorney, Godfrey Dillard, asked the court not to vacate the agreement.
"I’m asking the court to let it stand, allow the senator to stand on principle, stand against what we view is excessive power by the prosecutor,” Dillard said.
Lindsey fired back, saying Dillard was part of the discussionsand said he repeatedly indicated this is what he wanted to do.
“If I was on the street, I’d say counsel is talking out of both sides of his neck," she said.
Before Smith was escorted out of the courtroom by deputies to begin his sentence in the Wayne County Jail, his father, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Virgil C. Smith, asked permission to give his son a hug.
“I guess my response to that is that I must treat him the same way that I treat everyone else in this position,” Talon responded, before saying "no."
Dillard refused to answer questions from reporters as he left the courtroom, including why his client has decided not to resign from office.
Other state lawmakers have spent a night or two in jail after being arrested for things like drunk driving, but Smith is setting a new precedent, serving as both a state senator and a lengthy sentence, a political expert said.
“The idea of someone serving while being convicted and sentenced on a felony charge, it’s never happened in Michigan,” said Bill Ballenger, a former state Senator and editor of the Ballenger Report, a political newsletter.
Amber McCann, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, said Smith told Meekhof on Friday that he intends to resign when he begins a jail sentence.
“The resignation has never been based on a plea deal, but rather on the understanding that Sen. Smith cannot serve his constituents while he’s serving time in jail,” she said.
If he doesn’t resign, then expulsion hearings could begin when the Legislature returns from a two-week spring break on April 12.
Any member of the Senate can introduce a resolution asking for the expulsion of another member.
“And it would be up to the Majority Leader’s discretion on how that would proceed,” McCann said.
Until that happens, Smith would continue to receive his salary and benefits.
As part of the deal that was reached in the case, Smith also must serve five years of probation, stay away from alcohol, comply with mental health treatment and not have contact with his ex-wife, Anistia Thomas.
Smith previously told investigators the shots were fired after Thomas pushed her way into his house and attempted to attack a woman in his bed. Thomas, who was in court today, has said Smith punched her and rammed her head into the floor and wall when she was inside his home.
According to information presented in the case, Smith suffers from bipolar depressive hypomanic disorder, had been in car accident in 2014 that caused a traumatic brain injury and was recently treated for alcohol dependency.
Prosecutors agreed to dismiss three felonies at part of the plea deal, including a count of possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony, which carries a mandatory two-year prison sentence, and a misdemeanor count of domestic violence.
Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, said on Friday an expulsion hearing will have to happen if Smith doesn’t resign.
Ananich said he asked Smith to resign when he was first arrested, “But the legal process was important to play out. I don’t think it was appropriate for us to have a parallel investigation going on at the same time.”
Only four lawmakers have been expelled from the Michigan Legislature: Rep. Cindy Gamrat, R-Plainwell, who was expelled in September after getting caught up in a sex scandal and bizarre cover-up that also forced the resignation of Rep. Todd Courser, R-Lapeer; Sen. David Jaye, R- Washington Township, in 2001 after three drunken driving convictions and claims that the lawmaker assaulted his fiancée; Rep. Monte Geralds, D-Madison Heights, in 1978, after an embezzling conviction; and Rep. Milo Dakin of Saginaw in 1887 after he was accused of attempting to bribe his colleagues over changes to the Saginaw city charter.
Michigan senator continues collecting taxpayer-funded salary from jail
MLive
Mar 29, 2016
https://www.mlive.com/news/2016/03/michigan_senator_continues_col.html
LANSING, MI -- Sen. Virgil Smith has not yet resigned after pleading guilty to a felony, meaning he continues to collect a taxpayer-funded salary while serving a 10-month jail sentence.
The Detroit Democrat was charged with three felonies after a May 2015 shooting incident involving his ex-wife. The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office and Smith reached a plea deal where he would plead guilty to a felony malicious destruction of property charge, resign from office and serve 10 months in jail.
However, Wayne Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon threw out the resignation requirement.
Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, is still counting on Smith to resign, spokesperson Amber McCann said Monday. He had told the speaker's office Friday he planned to resign if he were in jail, McCann said.
But Smith went to jail after his hearing Monday, and McCann said Tuesday he has not yet contacted the speaker's office regarding resignation. He would have to submit his resignation in writing, and has not yet done so.
Smith's attorney, Godfrey Dillard, did not return a call for comment on whether Smith would resign.
Absent that, he continues to serve his constituents and his sentence simultaneously. He will be in jail for 10 months. Michigan Senators make a base salary of $71,685.
There is precedent for state lawmakers collecting their state salaries from jail. Former Rep. and Sen. David Jaye served two jail sentences while in office and continued to collect his taxpayer-funded salary each time. However, his longest jail sentence while serving in the legislature was 35 days.
If Smith doesn't resign, the Senate could expel him on a two-thirds vote. Meekhof said earlier this month that it would be "a concern" if Smith continued to collect a taxpayer-funded salary from jail. Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, told a panel on WKAR's Off The Record last week that he would vote for Smith's expulsion.
However, neither Republicans nor Democrats have moved to begin the expulsion process since the shooting incident in May of 2015. Smith is a member of the Democratic caucus, but routinely votes with the chamber's Republican members.
The legislature is on break this week and next, so they could not begin the process of expelling Smith until after he collects another two weeks' worth of public salary.
Editorial: State Sen. Virgil Smith is an embarrassment to Downriver and must be removed from office
Oakland Press
March 29, 2016
https://infoweb.newsbank.com/
If residents of Allen Park, Lincoln Park or Southgate want to speak with their state senator, they’ll need to visit him in jail, where he’s set to spend the next 10 months.
State Sen. Virgil Smith (D-Detroit) was taken into custody Monday afternoon to begin serving his punishment after pleading guilty in connection with an altercation last year at his Detroit residence where he allegedly fired a gun at his ex-wife’s vehicle as she sped away minutes after finding him in bed with another woman.
Smith has had every opportunity to do the right thing and resign, yet he keeps giving the world the proverbial finger during every step of the legal process against him. It’s not too surprising considering his past actions, but it’s sad to think that he respects his constituents so little that he believes he can serve their best interests from behind the bars of a jail cell.
The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office had a solution to the issue when it made Smith’s resignation a condition of the plea deal he was offered. Prosecutors have done this before and it’s worked out well. Remember Kwame Kilpatrick? This time, however, Wayne County Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon refused to enforce the resignation condition of the plea deal. The prosecutor’s office is appealing, meaning even more county resources are having to be spent to punish a man who took an oath to uphold the laws of our state.
Lansing insiders say fellow legislators are ready to begin expulsion hearings, forcing Smith to be removed from office. It’s nice to see some true leadership taking place in the state Capitol, but it shouldn’t have to come to that.
Senator Smith: You are an embarrassment to Downriver. Do the right thing and resign. Even though the judge didn’t force you to do so, there’s nothing stopping you from voluntarily resigning and taking full responsibility for your crime. Nothing but your ego, that is.
The Downriver and Detroit residents you represent deserve far better than anything you can give them at this point. Your Democratic colleagues already have stripped you of your staff and removed you from all of your committee assignments. While your term doesn’t officially expire until 2018, your time is up now. Resign and bring some dignity back to the 4th Senate District.
— The (Southgate) News Herald
Michigan Sen. Virgil Smith expected to resign by Friday
Detroit News
March 30, 2016
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/03/30/senator-virgil-smith-resign/82442798/
Lansing — State Sen. Virgil Smith, serving a 10-month jail sentence after shooting up his ex-wife’s car, is expected to tender his resignation by Friday, according to Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof’s office.
Smith’s attorney Godfrey Dillard called the Senate on Wednesday afternoon and announced the Detroit Democrat’s pending resignation, Meekhof spokeswoman Amber McCann told The Detroit News.
“The majority leader had always understood that Sen. Smith would voluntarily resign if he went to jail,” McCann said. “This spares the Senate from expulsion proceedings and resolves the issue for constituents of the 4th Senate District.”
Dillard could not immediately be reached for comment.
Smith, D-Detroit, went to jail on Monday after pleading guilty to malicious destruction for shooting at his ex-wife’s Mercedez Benz during a May 2015 dispute.
He earns $71,685 a year as a state senator and was not legally obligated to resign despite incarceration.
Meekhof, R-West Olive, said last week he expected Smith to step down. If it did not happen, Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, said Friday he would vote to expel Smith from the Legislature.
“I think there is no scenario where a person serving in jail serves in the Michigan Senate,” Ananich said during a taping of WKAR-TV’s “Off The Record.”
In order to resign, Smith would have to submit a written letter of resignation to Senate Secretary Jeff Cobb. McCann said the letter would be read into the official Senate Journal when the Legislature returns to session April 12.
Smith’s original plea deal with Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy had required him to leave office, but Wayne County Judge Lawrence Talon said he would not enforce that portion.
Smith’s ex-wife, Anistia Thomas, allegedly confronted him after she went to his eastside home in the 18000 block of Wexford and found another woman, naked, in his bed. A fight ensued and continued outside the home where Smith is said to have pointed an AR-15 at her and then shot more than 20 rounds at her car.
Sen. Virgil Smith expected to resign from Senate on Friday
Detroit Free Press
March 30, 2016
https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2016/03/30/virgil-smith-senate-michigan-resignation/82440866/
Sen. Virgil Smith, a Detroit Democrat who began serving a 10-month jail sentence on a felony charge of malicious destruction of property over $20,000 for shooting up his ex-wife's vehicle during a dispute at his home, is expected to resign his seat in the state Senate on Friday.
Amber McCann, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, said Smith’s attorney Godfrey Dillard called Meekhof on Wednesday and said Smith’s resignation letter will be delivered to the Secretary of the Senate on Friday. Dillard did not respond to an e-mail or phone call from the Free Press to comment on the impending resignation.
The move will negate the need for an expulsion hearing, which the Senate was beginning to think might be necessary if Smith continued to decline to resign the seat he’s held since 2009. Without a resignation, Smith would continue to collect his $71,685 annual salary, plus benefits, even while he was serving a sentence in the Wayne County Jail.
If the resignation does not take place, an expulsion resolution is ready to be introduced when the Senate returns from a two-week spring break on April 12, "but nobody wants to do an expulsion hearing,” McCann said.
Time for Virgil Smith to go, but court must clarify rule
Smith, 36, had agreed to resign from his job as part of a plea deal in the case, but then a judge said he didn’t have the authority to impose that as a condition of sentence and took it out of the agreement. Wayne County Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon said earlier this month that Smith could be expelled, voted out of office or resign, but requiring him to step down violates the state constitution.
Prosecutors then asked for the plea deal to be voided — and the case scheduled for trial — since Smith didn’t comply with the terms of the agreement. Talon declined that request on Monday during a hearing in the case.
The Wayne County Prosecutor's office plans to appeal Talon's decision, but as of Wednesday afternoon, it had not yet been filed, said Maria Miller, spokeswoman for Prosecutor Kym Worthy.
"We are appealing the judge's ruling even if Smith resigns, because we believe it was not supported by the law," Miller said in an e-mail today.
Smith pleaded guilty to a felony count of malicious destruction of personal property of $20,000 or more in connection with the incident outside his home on Wexford last May, and on March 14 was sentenced to 10 months in jail with no early release.
As part of the deal that was reached in the case, Smith also must serve five years of probation, stay away from alcohol, comply with mental health treatment and not have contact with his ex-wife, Anistia Thomas.
Smith previously told investigators the shots were fired after Thomas pushed her way into his house and attempted to attack a woman in his bed. Thomas has said Smith punched her and rammed her head into the floor and wall when she was inside his home. Once she was outside the home, she said, Smith fired shots at her car.
Prosecutors agreed to dismiss three felonies as part of the plea deal including a count of possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony, which carries a mandatory two-year prison sentence, and a misdemeanor count of domestic violence.
Smith, who also served in the state House of Representatives from 2003-08, has had a troubled history with two drunken driving convictions and a third arrest for drunken driving that was ultimately dismissed. According to information presented in the shooting case, Smith suffers from bipolar depressive hypomanic disorder, had been in a car accident in 2014 that caused a traumatic brain injury and was recently treated for alcohol dependency.
An expulsion from the Legislature, which requires a two-thirds majority, has happened only four times, most recently in September when former state Rep. Cindy Gamrat, R-Plainwell, was expelled after getting caught up in a sex scandal and bizarre cover-up. The other lawmaker involved in the affair, former state Rep. Todd Courser, R-Lapeer, resigned right before the House of Representatives was preparing to vote to expel him.
OPINION: Time for Virgil Smith to go, but court must clarify rule
Detroit Free Press Editorial Board
March 30, 2016
https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/editorials/2016/03/30/time-virgil-smith-go-but-court-must-clarify-rule/82391432/
Nearly a year after State Sen. Virgil Smith stood naked in a Detroit street, firing a shotgun after a car that belonged to his ex-wife, the final disposition of his crime is still in some doubt.
That’s OK – better to get it done right than get it done quickly.
This week, Smith accepted a plea deal that will see him spend 10 months in jail. But a surprising court hearing left new wrinkles that muddy the picture, and must be straightened out.
Here's the first: Wayne Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Talon's declaration that Smith's resignation from his state Senate seat — part of his plea deal with prosecutors — was invalid. Why? Talon said the seat Smith occupies doesn’t belong to him, but to the voters who elected him. So, Talon said, Smith can be expelled by the Senate, or he can resign of his own accord, but the prosecutor’s office has no right to force his resignation as part of the judicial process.
Is that the right read of the law? At minimum, it’s an interpretation that extends the proper respect to voter choice, and the sanctity of the bond between the elected and the electors.
The trouble is: These kinds of pleas, in which a politician resigns as a condition for lighter sentencing, are not uncommon in Michigan. Notably, when former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pleaded to the charges against him in state court, his resignation was also part of the deal.
So either we’ve been doing this wrong for a long time, and there needs to be a pretty thorough re-examination of a lot of plea deals, or Talon’s out of line here, and a higher court should clarify.
But after the judge decided resignation couldn't be part of the package, Talon went further, refusing to invalidate the entire plea deal after extracting the resignation from it.
That left prosecutors with what they felt was an unacceptable plea deal overall, with no chance to revisit it.
That strikes us as unreasonable to the people’s interest in having justice served and, frankly, potentially unreasonable to defendants like Smith. A deal’s a deal, but if the terms change before the deal is sealed, it seems fair to allow both sides to renegotiate. And under the law, plea deals are not technically final until a judge signs off, in court.
Here again, a higher court will need to clarify.
Late Wednesday a spokeswoman for state Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, said Smith was expected to resign his seat Friday, thus sparing Meekhof and his colleagues from the disagreeable business of expelling a sitting colleague from office.
Back when Smith got charged, there was, perhaps, an argument that the Senate should wait for the outcome of his case to determine his fate. Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, the chamber’s top Democrat, asked Smith to resign, to no avail.
But now that the judicial process has played out — and Smith is in jail, where he has no chance of fulfilling the duties of his office — this should be a no-brainer. He can’t remain a member of the Senate because he literally can’t serve the people who elected him.
That was probably true long before now, given the tremendous distraction of his legal problems, his admitted battles with substance abuse and some emotional troubles.
Of course, that didn’t matter much to the Republican leadership in the Legislature, who likely took some pleasure in having him around as an example of Democratic malfeasance (especially during the Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat calamity in the House). And Smith has been, in the past, rather easily seduced by Republican arguments and offers, willing to vote against his own caucus in some key instances. From a cynical GOP point of view, he was worth keeping around.
But Smith’s continued service was always an affront to the victim of his crime — his ex-wife — and to thousands of other victims of domestic abuse. And now, with Smith in a cell, it’s just indefensible.
If Smith fails to tender his expected resignation, the Senate should expel him posthaste. And the courts need to define the rules: Can resignation be part of a plea deal for an elected official? And when do plea deals, involving any defendant, become final?
Jailed Michigan senator resigns effective April 12
MLive
Mar 31, 2016
https://www.mlive.com/news/2016/03/jailed_michigan_senator_resign.html
LANSING, MI -- Sen. Virgil Smith, D-Detroit, turned in a letter of resignation to the Senate on Thursday, the third full day of his 10-month jail sentence.
The letter was dated for April 12, said Amber McCann, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive.
Smith was jailed following a May 2015 shooting incident and subsequent plea deal. The plea deal initially included a provision that he resign, but Wayne Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon threw that portion out. And so Smith kept his seat, and has served from jail since Monday, March 28.
In a one-sentence letter not yet publicly available the Senator resigned effective April 12, McCann said.
"Senator Meekhof would have preferred it effective immediately, but he does accept the resignation as submitted," McCann said.
State senators are paid $71,685 per year. Smith will have made roughly $2,987 during the two weeks he spends in jail and serving as a state senator at the same time.
The Senate will officially read Smith's resignation into the record on April 12, McCann said. That's the legislature's first day back in session after a two week break where legislators work back in their home districts.
Sen. Virgil Smith resigns his seat in Michigan Senate
Detroit Free Press
March 31, 2016
https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2016/03/31/sen-virgil-smith-resigns-seat-senate/82474194/
LANSING — Sen. Virgil Smith submitted a letter of resignation to the state Senate Thursday, effective April 12.
The one-sentence resignation simply said he resigns as a senator, said Amber McCann, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive.
“It’s just good to have resolution,” she said.
The resignation ends a controversial saga that began last May when Smith’s ex-wife Anistia Thomas went to Smith’s Detroit home and found another woman in Smith’s bed. Thomas has said Smith punched her and rammed her head into the floor and wall when she was inside his home. Once she was outside the home, she said, Smith fired shots at her car.
“For the sake of the victims and voters I am relieved that this issue is finally put to rest. We will keep our focus on ensuring the people of the 4th Senate district have access to the services and help they deserve," said Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, in a statement. "Every voter should have a voice in Lansing, and so I hope the governor moves swiftly to schedule a special election.”
Smith, a Detroit Democrat, has said that Thomas began to attack the other woman and he removed her from the house. He also acknowledged that he fired his weapon toward the car.
It was those shots fired into her Mercedes-Benz that resulted in felony charges of malicious destruction of property over $20,000, using a firearm during the commission of a felony and a misdemeanor domestic violence charge being filed against Smith.
In a deal struck with the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office, Smith pleaded guilty to the destruction of property charge and was sentenced to 10 months in the Wayne County Jail, five years of probation. He also must refrain from using alcohol, comply with mental health treatment and stay away from his ex-wife.
But it was the condition that he resign his seat as a state senator that caused the most friction. Wayne County Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon said Smith could be expelled by fellow Senators or recalled by voters, but that he couldn’t impose that punishment.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy asked that the plea deal be voided and the case scheduled for trial, but Talon declined that request on Monday.
Worthy's office indicated Thursday that an appeal of Talon's ruling will go forward.
"The resignation will not change the decision of the WCPO to will seek leave to appeal the decision of the judge in this matter," said Maria Miller, spokeswoman for Worthy.
The resignation won’t be able to be read into the Senate’s journal until April 12 when the Legislature returns from a two-week spring break. As a result, Smith will receive one more paycheck from his $71,685 annual salary – $2,757 minus deductions for taxes, health care and retirement accounts.
With the submission of the letter, the Senate can avoid an expulsion hearing, which senators were beginning to think might be necessary if Smith continued to decline to resign the seat he’s held since 2009. Without a resignation, Smith would continue to collect his salary, plus benefits, even while he was serving a sentence in the Wayne County Jail.
But now, he'll only be paid through April 9.
Gov. Rick Snyder will have to call for a special election to fill the Senate seat, but can't do so until Smith's resignation becomes official, said Snyder spokesman Ari Adler.
Former state Rep. Fred Durhal, D-Detroit, said Thursday he plans to run for the seat, but one person widely expected to seek the job - former state Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, who lost to Smith in 2014 - has taken herself out of the race.
"While I believe I am well-positioned to run a successful campaign, I believe my position with Sugar Law Center Economic & Social Justice is the best way for me to help defend my community against the injustices we face," she said in a statement. "In the past 12 months, I have been able to work on lawsuits addressing environmental injustices, like the dumping of coke breeze on the Detroit River, air quality in Detroit, support the emergency manager lawsuit, and advocate for a community benefits process so that residents have a seat at the table for fair and equitable development."
The most likely timing for a special election for the seat would be the Aug. 2 primary election and Nov. 8 general election. Ballots for the May 3 election have already been printed and sent to some absentee voters, said Fred Woodhams, spokesman for Secretary of State Ruth Johnson.
Smith resigns from Senate three days after going to jail
Detroit News
March 31, 2016
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/03/31/sen-virgil-smith-resigns-michigan/82474768/
Lansing — State Sen. Virgil Smith tendered his letter of resignation Thursday, three days after the Detroit Democrat began a 10-month jail sentence for shooting up his ex-wife’s car.
The Senate Business Office received Smith’s letter at about 12:50 p.m., said Amber McCann, a spokeswoman for Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive.
The letter of resignation, which will become official when the Senate returns to session on April 12, was one sentence long: “I resign as Senator of the 4th District.”
Smith’s attorney, Godfrey Dillard, called Meekhof’s office earlier in the week with a heads-up on the pending resignation.
“It’s good to have resolution to this issue,” McCann said Thursday. “It has gone on a little longer than the majority leader expected, but ultimately a voluntary resignation was the next logical step. The majority leader is glad to put the issue to rest.”
Smith was arrested in May 2015. He went to jail Monday after pleading guilty to malicious destruction for shooting at his ex-wife’s Mercedes-Benz during a May 2015 dispute.
He earned $71,685 a year as a state senator and was not legally obligated to resign despite his incarceration. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy negotiated a plea deal that required Smith to resign but Judge Lawrence Talon declined to enforce the provision. A spokewoman said Thursday that Worthy still plans to appeal the ruling.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder will eventually call a special election to fill the vacant seat for the remainder of Smith’s term, which runs through 2018. Snyder will set the dates for both the primary and general election.
“It’s totally at the discretion of the governor about when to do that,” said Fred Woodhams, a spokesman for the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office.
Former state Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Detroit, who challenged Smith in 2014 but narrowly lost to him in the Democratic primary, surprised political observers Thursday by announcing she will not run for his seat if a special election is called this year.
Tlaib issued a statement saying she believes she would be well-positioned to run a successful campaign but thinks her job at the Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice “is the best way” for her to defend the southwest Detroit community.
“This was a very difficult decision to make, but at this moment it is in the best interest of my family and current commitments,” she said.
Smith is a Democrat who sided with Republicans on some key votes in recent years. With his departure, Republicans will have 27 members in the Senate compared with 10 Democrats.
Smith served in the state House from 2002-08 and won election to the Senate in 2010 and 2014. His father, Virgil C. Smith, also served in the Legislature and is now a Wayne County Circuit Court judge.
Meekhof said last week he expected Smith to step down. If it had not happened, Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, said Friday he would vote to expel Smith from the Legislature.
“I think there is no scenario where a person serving in jail serves in the Michigan Senate,” Ananich said during a taping of WKAR-TV’s “Off The Record.”
Smith’s resignation will become official when his letter is read into the Senate Journal in April.
Sen. Virgil Smith resigns his seat in Michigan Senate
Detroit Free Press
March 31, 2016
https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2016/03/31/sen-virgil-smith-resigns-seat-senate/82474194/
LANSING — Sen. Virgil Smith submitted a letter of resignation to the state Senate Thursday, effective April 12.
The one-sentence resignation simply said he resigns as a senator, said Amber McCann, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive.
“It’s just good to have resolution,” she said.
The resignation ends a controversial saga that began last May when Smith’s ex-wife Anistia Thomas went to Smith’s Detroit home and found another woman in Smith’s bed. Thomas has said Smith punched her and rammed her head into the floor and wall when she was inside his home. Once she was outside the home, she said, Smith fired shots at her car.
“For the sake of the victims and voters I am relieved that this issue is finally put to rest. We will keep our focus on ensuring the people of the 4th Senate district have access to the services and help they deserve," said Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, in a statement. "Every voter should have a voice in Lansing, and so I hope the governor moves swiftly to schedule a special election.”
Smith, a Detroit Democrat, has said that Thomas began to attack the other woman and he removed her from the house. He also acknowledged that he fired his weapon toward the car.
It was those shots fired into her Mercedes-Benz that resulted in felony charges of malicious destruction of property over $20,000, using a firearm during the commission of a felony and a misdemeanor domestic violence charge being filed against Smith.
In a deal struck with the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office, Smith pleaded guilty to the destruction of property charge and was sentenced to 10 months in the Wayne County Jail, five years of probation. He also must refrain from using alcohol, comply with mental health treatment and stay away from his ex-wife.
But it was the condition that he resign his seat as a state senator that caused the most friction. Wayne County Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon said Smith could be expelled by fellow Senators or recalled by voters, but that he couldn’t impose that punishment.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy asked that the plea deal be voided and the case scheduled for trial, but Talon declined that request on Monday.
Worthy's office indicated Thursday that an appeal of Talon's ruling will go forward.
"The resignation will not change the decision of the WCPO to will seek leave to appeal the decision of the judge in this matter," said Maria Miller, spokeswoman for Worthy..
Time for Virgil Smith to go, but court must clarify rule
The resignation won’t be able to be read into the Senate’s journal until April 12 when the Legislature returns from a two-week spring break. As a result, Smith will receive one more paycheck from his $71,685 annual salary – $2,757 minus deductions for taxes, health care and retirement accounts.
With the submission of the letter, the Senate can avoid an expulsion hearing, which senators were beginning to think might be necessary if Smith continued to decline to resign the seat he’s held since 2009. Without a resignation, Smith would continue to collect his salary, plus benefits, even while he was serving a sentence in the Wayne County Jail.
But now, he'll only be paid through April 9.
Gov. Rick Snyder will have to call for a special election to fill the Senate seat, but can't do so until Smith's resignation becomes official, said Snyder spokesman Ari Adler.
Former state Rep. Fred Durhal, D-Detroit, said Thursday he plans to run for the seat, but one person widely expected to seek the job - former state Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, who lost to Smith in 2014 - has taken herself out of the race.
"While I believe I am well-positioned to run a successful campaign, I believe my position with Sugar Law Center Economic & Social Justice is the best way for me to help defend my community against the injustices we face," she said in a statement. "In the past 12 months, I have been able to work on lawsuits addressing environmental injustices, like the dumping of coke breeze on the Detroit River, air quality in Detroit, support the emergency manager lawsuit, and advocate for a community benefits process so that residents have a seat at the table for fair and equitable development."
The most likely timing for a special election for the seat would be the Aug. 2 primary election and Nov. 8 general election. Ballots for the May 3 election have already been printed and sent to some absentee voters, said Fred Woodhams, spokesman for Secretary of State Ruth Johnson.
Jailed senator will resign, but prosecutor still wants plea thrown out
MLive
Mar 31, 2016
https://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/2016/03/jailed_senator_will_resign_but.html
DETROIT, MI -- The Wayne County Prosecutor's office fought for state Sen Virgil Smith's resignation, and it came Thursday, but the fight doesn't appear to be over.
Prosecutors are still seeking to have Smith's plea deal thrown out because he didn't immediately resign, which was part of the agreement that resulted in a 10-month prison sentence for a 2015 incident of gunfire outside the senator's home.
Wayne County Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon refused to order Smith's resignation from office, and declined to throw to throw out the plea agreement over his initial failure to resign, saying it would be "unconstitutional interference" for the court to force teh Detroit Democrat to step down.
Smith was taken to jail on Monday, while still on the state payroll.
But on Thursday, Smith submitted to the Senate a letter of resignation dated for April 12.
Still, the prosecutor's office isn't satisfied, and is seeking an appeal that could potentially roll back the plea put the case back on track for a trial.
"The resignation will not change the decision of the WCPO to... seek leave to appeal the decision of the judge in this matter," the prosecutor's office announced Thursday afternoon.
Smith accepted a plea deal in February that requires he spend 10 months in jail, five years on probation and resign from office, among other stipulations.
Smith pleaded guilty to malicious destruction of property for allegedly shooting an AR-15 rifle in the direction of his ex-wife, Anistia Thomas, and her Mercedes vehicle about 1 a.m. May 10, 2015.
Thomas shortly before the gunfire arrived at Smith's home and found him with another woman in his bed.
State senators are paid $71,685 per year. Smith will have made roughly $2,987 during the two weeks he spends in jail and serving as a state senator at the same time.
The Senate will officially read Smith's resignation into the record on April 12, according to Amber McCann, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive.
April 12 is the legislature's first day back in session after a two week break during which legislators work in their home districts.
Prosecutor appeals state Sen. Virgil Smith's case
Detroit Free Press
April 1, 2016
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/04/01/prosecutor-appeals-state-sen-virgil-smiths-case/82527506/
A day after state Sen. Virgil Smith submitted a letter resigning from his job in the Legislature, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office filed an appeal in his criminal case.
Smith, 36, D-Detroit, is serving a 10-month jail sentence for shooting up his ex-wife's Mercedes-Benz last May and agreed to resign his seat as part of a plea agreement. Then he apparently changed his mind after a judge said he didn't have authority to impose that as a condition of sentence and and took it out of the agreement.
"The circuit court erred as a matter of law and abused its discretion in voiding the portion of the plea agreement that required defendant to resign from office and not hold office during the term of probation," said a brief filed today by the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office to the Michigan Court of Appeals.
It went on to say the error was compounded when the prosecutors' motion to toss the plea was denied.
Wayne County Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon refused to grant a request from prosecutors to void the plea after they argued Smith didn't comply with the terms of it. Talon said "vacating the plea bargain would not serve the interests of justice."
Earlier this month, Talon said that Smith could be expelled, voted out of office or resign, but requiring him to step down violates the state constitution.
"While the constitution sets forth a procedure for removing a state senator involuntarily, nothing in the constitution prohibits an elected official from voluntarily resigning his position," prosecutors wrote in the court filing.
Smith’s attorney, Godfrey Dillard, could not be reached for comment.
On Thursday, Smith submitted a one-sentence resignation that said he resigns as a senator, said Amber McCann, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive.
It's effective April 12.
Smith pleaded guilty to a felony charge of malicious destruction of property over $20,000 and admitted to firing shots at his ex-wife's car parked outside his Detroit home in May. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss three felonies as part of the plea deal.
According to information presented in the case, Smith suffers from bipolar depressive hypomanic disorder, had been in a car accident in 2014 that caused a traumatic brain injury and was recently treated for alcohol dependency.
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