Columbus man sentenced for shooting woman, trying to smother her in front of 3 year old
Mario Michael Smith shot a Columbus woman three times in front of her 3-year-old daughter and tried smothering her with a pillow before the victim escaped through a bathroom window, according to testimony last week in his Muscogee Superior Court trial.
A jury convicted him on six of the eight charges he faced, including attempted murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and second-degree cruelty to children.
That left Judge Ben Land to decide Smith’s sentence Wednesday during a three-hour hearing in which attorneys debated which charges would merge into one offense, for sentencing, and whether Smith would be sentenced as a repeat offender because of his prior felonies.
When the arguments finally ended around noon, Land sentenced the 35-year-old to 45 years in prison with 35 to serve and the rest on probation.
Finding prosecutor Nathan Stewart gave defense attorney Robert O’Melveny adequate notice that Smith would be treated as a recidivist, or repeat offender, Land ordered Smith to serve the full sentence before he’s eligible for parole.
According to Stewart, Smith had convictions in 2009 for possessing marijuana with the intent to distribute it and for violating the Georgia Controlled Substances Act, and convictions for being a convicted felon with a firearm in 2012 and again in 2015.
The jury last week also convicted him on two weapons charges: using a gun to commit a crime, and again for being a convicted felon with a firearm.
The assault
Testimony showed Smith had been in a relationship with the woman he assaulted July 28, 2018, at a home in the 6400 block of Forrest Road.
Judge Land said Smith had a dispute with the woman one day and returned the next morning to start another argument, during which he shot her, causing her to fall to the floor. That’s when she saw her terrified daughter standing in the doorway watching, Land said.
He shot her twice in the leg and once in the chest, and held a pillow over her face, before she managed to escape, the evidence showed.
O’Melveney argued the woman was able to escape through a bathroom window because Smith abandoned the assault and let her go, and that should factor into his sentencing. Stewart countered that Smith should be shown no leniency just because he declined to kill the woman.
The victim did not attend the sentencing. Stewart said that having already testified against Smith, the woman did not want to relive the ordeal by offering additional testimony.
The defense had an aunt and cousin testify on Smith’s behalf. They said Smith faced difficulties growing up. His mother died of breast cancer when he was a teenager, and he had a learning disability that left him with only an eighth-grade education.
“He was very close with his mother. Everywhere she went, he went with her,” said the aunt. Her diagnosis, chemotherapy treatments and death left him distant and depressed, she said. “All of that took a toll on him.... She was very sick, the chemo, everything. It was hard on all of us.”
Both the aunt and cousin said they had never known Smith to be violent.
Other charges
Smith fled after the July shooting, and was not arrested until mid-August 2018.
He was accused of stealing the woman’s car keys, the day of the shooting, and returning Aug. 9 to take her 2009 gold Nissan. Three days later, the Nissan was used in a break-in at a Miller Road Chevron station, police said.
Smith allegedly used the car to ram the store doors, causing an estimated $20,000 in damage, authorities said.
He was charged with burglary and theft, in that incident, and still faced trial on those counts, but Stewart said Wednesday that he will drop those charges, after Smith’s conviction in the assault case.
This story was originally published July 21, 2021 at 2:51 PM.