GUILTY! GUILTY! GUILTY!
TRIPLE MURDER SUSPECT JACK SMITH PLEADS GUILTY TO DEATHS OF 3 MARTIN COUNTY RESIDENTS IN 2014 SHOOTINGS AND ARSON COVER UP
Smith’s murder trial was set to begin May 1 in Lawrence County; will spend rest of his life in prison…escapes death penalty
APRIL 16, 2017 – written by WADE QUEEN
A Martin County man charged in a 2014 triple murder case in Martin County pleaded guilty to the heinous crimes on Thursday, April 13.
Jack David Smith, 43, pleaded guilty in Johnson Circuit Court and faces three life sentences without the option of parole, prosecutors said.
Jack Smith is scheduled for sentencing May 12 in Lawrence County, where his trial was supposed to begin in little over 2 weeks after it was moved from Martin County due to the high publicity that it was probable that Smith could not get a unbiased jury there.
Kentucky Commonwealth Attorneys say Smith, along with Amanda Bowen, 28, shot and stabbed Tina Goble, her granddaughter Trinity Maynard and Goble’s boyfriend Cannie Johnson, then set their Martin County home on fire nearly three years ago.
Smith’s trial was set for May 1. Amanda Bowen’s is scheduled to begin April 17 in Johnson County, Kentucky.
In both cases, had both Smith and Bowen been convicted, prosecutors were prepared to seek the death penalty on Smith and will seek it on Bowen . In their filing the death penalty paperwork notice prosecutors say there were aggravating circumstances including that the murders were intentional and that the motive was robbery.
Smith was also charged with Arson, while Bowen is charged with being a Persistent Felony Offender.
