Slaying will not lengthen sentence

A drug dealer will not face a longer sentence in connection with the slaying of the FBI informant who helped convict him two years ago.

U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson ruled yesterday there wasn't enough evidence to show that Danny Damon Smith killed Fannie "Patsy" Beard, which would have permitted a stiffer prison term when he is sentenced next month on a drug conspiracy conviction.

Smith, 23, had been charged with the capital murder of Beard and could have faced the death penalty. However, federal prosecutors withdrew that charge last year after witnesses came forward and implicated someone else as the killer.

After Smith pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of crack cocaine, the U.S. attorney's office presented evidence that Smith killed Beard. The office sought to win a longer prison term than is called for by sentencing guidelines on the drug conviction.

Smith faces a sentence of 20 years to life in prison. Had the government been successful in showing he killed Beard, the recommendation probably would have been for a life sentence, said Claire G. Cardwell, one of Smith's lawyers.

Unlike a murder trial in which a crime must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, the government only needed to show by a preponderance of the evidence that Smith committed the murder to win the stiffer drug sentence.

Last month, Hudson listened to two days of often conflicting testimony, much of it from inmates who either implicated Smith or Ross Leach, another drug dealer and Smith's principal accuser.

In his opinion yesterday, Hudson, wrote that "aside from law-enforcement officers, the witnesses called on both sides were of marginal credibility. The evidence is unfortunately in irreconcilable conflict. The collective picture is simply too unreliable and unconvincing."

Beard, 48, was shot nine times with a .40-caliber handgun in an alley near her Whitcomb Street apartment in the early hours of Dec. 2, 2006. She previously wore a hidden camera and helped the FBI and Richmond police break up a Gilpin Court drug gang called the Brick Yard Boys.

Smith was one of the defendants caught on video selling drugs to her.

"Beyond these and a few other skeletal facts, the evidence diverges widely," Hudson wrote yesterday.

Beard lived in the same building as Leach, who admitted selling heroin to her. Leach testified last month that he drove Smith to Leach's apartment building and left Smith outside while Leach briefly went inside.

Leach testified that when he came out, he saw Smith shoot Beard. Other inmates testified they heard Smith boast of the slaying.

But several inmates in a federal prison where Leach was being held wrote to authorities last summer, shortly before the capital murder trial was set, saying Leach had admitted killing Beard. They offered details about the crime that were not public knowledge.

Cardwell complained during last month's hearing that the government was still trying to convict Smith of the murder, but this time without a jury trial.

She thanked Hudson yesterday for "recognizing our client should not be held accountable for Ms. Beard's murder. Many people like to refer to Judge Hudson as tough. But in my experience he's extremely conscientious in his rulings."

The U.S. Attorney's Office could not be reached for comment late yesterday, but officials there usually do not comment about cases outside of court.

Hudson noted that the evidence presented at last month's hearing showed that Beard was well-known in the Gilpin Court area as a federal informant and had testified in court against another gang member.

Contact Frank Green at (804) 649-6340 or .