Louisa County jury returns murder verdict

Dawn Smythers was shot in the head by her husband, Forrest Smythers Jr., in January.

A Louisa County jury yesterday found a 54-year-old man guilty of murdering his wife after an argument over Christmas lights, prosecutors said.

On the evening of Jan. 11, Forrest Smythers Jr. fired a single shot from a .22-caliber rifle that struck Dawn Smythers "almost right between the eyes," said Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Rusty McGuire.

Smythers called his father at a Charlottesville nursing home that day and said he was contemplating suicide or running away because he had just shot his wife, authorities said. His father told a nurse, who notified police at 8:11 p.m.

Authorities found her body on a sofa in the living room of the couple's house in the Holly Grove area. Smythers was sitting in a chair, cradling the rifle.

Smythers initially told investigators that he had wanted to take down their Christmas lights, but that his wife had opposed the idea, McGuire said. But the defendant denied on the witness stand Tuesday, the first day of the two-day trial, that they had been arguing about Christmas lights.

"Any murder is horrific," said Louisa Commonwealth's Attorney Tom Garrett, who prosecuted the case alongside McGuire. "That a loving sister, mother and friend was taken from this life in an argument over Christmas lights is incomprehensible."

Smythers told the court that his wife had struck him in the head with a miniature statue of an angel and that she had tried to grab his rifle from him as he headed outside to go target shooting, causing the gun to go off, McGuire said. Investigators found such a statue with Forrest Smythers' blood on it.

Smythers and his wife had been married for 25 years, McGuire said. Smythers testified that they had been arguing for even longer than that. He said target shooting was a way to blow off steam.

However, prosecutors said Smythers fired the rifle from across the room, noting that investigators found the shell casing about 15 feet from the body. A shell casing from such a rifle typically would eject about 4 feet, a Louisa investigator testified Tuesday.

The shell casing was found about 4 feet from where Forrest Smythers was sitting when deputies arrived.

Jurors found Smythers guilty of first-degree murder and use of a firearm in a felony, and they recommended a life sentence for the murder charge and three years for the gun charge.

Separately, he pleaded guilty yesterday to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of nearly a pound of marijuana, McGuire said. He faces up to six years on those charges.

Formal sentencing for all four charges was set for Dec. 14.

Contact Reed Williams at (804) 649-6332 or .