Richmond man sentenced to five years

A Richmond man who assaulted his estranged wife, fatally stabbed her dog and tried to escape police by swimming across the James River will serve five years in prison.

Richmond Circuit Judge Bradley B. Cavedo yesterday sentenced Dacia Q. Smith, 28, to one year each for three misdemeanor charges: violating a protective order and two counts of domestic assault and battery.

Cavedo imposed five more years, with three years suspended, for a felony charge of killing the dog. Smith pleaded guilty to all four charges March 25.

The violence started when Smith's wife, Alicja Smith, got a text message from another man Jan. 11 at her apartment on East Main Street, said Richmond Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Chris Toepp.

Enraged, Dacia Smith choked her and punched her repeatedly in the face, then forced her to lie on a bathroom floor as he sat on a toilet smoking cigarettes, threatening to kill her if she got up, Toepp said.

The next day, Alicja Smith arrived home while talking on the phone to a friend, and her husband approached her. She and her friend earlier had agreed on a code Alicja Smith would use if she was in trouble.

After Dacia Smith approached his wife, he hung up her phone and led her to his apartment in the same complex as hers. He told her to call back her friend and tell her everything was all right. When she did, the friend called 911.

Dacia Smith, accusing his wife again of infidelity, also warned her he would kill her dog if she called police, Toepp said. He took two of her dogs to his apartment. One was Hannibal, a black Labrador mix that the couple had rescued from the streets.

Officers arrived and Alicja led them to her husband's apartment. They opened the door and Hannibal limped outside. He had been stabbed in the throat and chest. Dacia Smith was gone.

Police later spotted Dacia Smith driving and chased him.

Smith -- who authorities say has served in the Navy and once tried to become a SEAL -- jumped into the frigid river on the north bank at Rocketts Landing and started swimming.

Police arrested him an hour later.

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