Family forgives Russell man who murdered brother over mother's care

Tears of grief and words of forgiveness marked the sentencing Tuesday of Larry Jerome Smith of Russell County, who pleaded guilty to murder in the Aug. 13, 2013, shotgun slaying of his brother Archie Smith.

“I know he did wrong, and I forgive him and I love him,” a third brother, Jesse Smith, told Circuit Judge Michael Bellamy.

As her 52-year-old uncle stood in handcuffs and chains before Bellamy, his attorney Greg Graham beside him, Archie Smith’s daughter Corrtoria Green told him: “I love you, and I forgive you.”

Other relatives also said Smith was forgiven, some noting the family had lost one brother to the murder and now was losing another to prison.

Larry Smith told Bellamy he regretted the homicide: “I’m truly sorry for what happened. If I could take it back, I would, but I can’t. What’s done is done.”

Bellamy sentenced him to 25 years in prison and fined him $5,000. The judge also ordered him to complete a substance-abuse program.

Prosecutors did not recount details of the Russell sheriff’s investigation of the homicide during the sentencing.

According to the family and to previous reports, Larry Smith last August was helping care for his 98-year-old mother in a house off Alabama Highway 80 at 159 The Lane. His brother lived down the street.

At the mother’s house about 5 p.m. that Tuesday, a family dispute started over her care and continued at a mobile home next door. Archie Smith was not present when the altercation started, but was summoned to the trailer to help settle it.

When the two brothers began arguing, Larry Smith walked back to his mother’s house, got a single-shot 12-gauge shotgun and returned to the trailer.

Larry Smith fired one blast at his brother, then reloaded and fired another, both at close range, Russell Sheriff Heath Taylor said then. Leaving Archie Smith lying in puddled blood, Larry Smith took the gun back to his mother’s house and put it away, Taylor said.

Larry Smith was waiting in the home’s driveway when authorities arrived, the sheriff said.

Graham, Larry Smith’s attorney, said his client’s mother has died since the slaying.

Corrtoria Green, Archie Smith’s daughter, briefly spoke to reporters after the sentencing.

“I forgive him. He’s my uncle,” said Green, 36. “And family, we have to stay strong, be together.” She had not spoken to her uncle since the shooting, she said, so her forgiving him in court was the first time he’d heard from her since then.

This story was originally published October 7, 2014 at 10:56 AM with the headline "Family forgives Russell man who murdered brother over mother's care."