Clay King Smith (July 25, 1970 – May 8, 2001) was an American

mass murder Mass murder is the act of murdering a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. The United States Congress defines mass killings as the killings of three or more pe ...

er executed by the state of

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

for the March 25, 1998, murders of Misty Erwin (age 20), Shelley Sorg (24), Shelley's two children Sean Sorg (5) and Taylor Sorg (3), and babysitter Samantha Rhodes (12) at his home near

Pine Bluff, Arkansas Pine Bluff is the eleventh-largest city in the state of Arkansas and the county seat of Jefferson County. It is the principal city of the Pine Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area and part of the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Pine Bluff Combin ...

Murders

Smith's girlfriend, Misty Erwin, reported that Smith battered her and requested police assistance to move out of the house. However, when police arrived, she withdrew her complaint and decided to stay with Smith. Two days later, her body was found in the house along with a cousin, two small children, and a babysitter. All were shot to death with a rifle. Smith was arrested the day after the bodies were discovered. His capture followed a shootout with authorities near Star City in

Lincoln County, Arkansas Lincoln County is located between the Arkansas Timberlands and Arkansas Delta in the U.S. state of Arkansas. It is also within the Pine Bluff metro area, and on the outer edge of the Central Arkansas region. The county is named for President Ab ...

. Smith fled into a wooded area when police tracked him down to a house belonging to a local hunting club. Smith held police at bay for an hour with a rifle, which later proved to be the murder weapon. He was shot in an arm after he refused to put down the rifle. During the stand-off, he yelled at the police, "I sent three of them to Heaven; I don't know where the other two went." Smith made several admissions during the stand-off, until he was shot in the arm by police. He claimed that the murders were drug-induced.

Appeals

Smith quickly waived all rights to appeal his sentence. A judge ruled in November 1999 that Smith was competent enough to waive his appeal rights. At the hearing, Smith told the court he was sorry for the pain he had caused and added, "I don't want to do any more harm." Jefferson County Circuit Judge H.A. Taylor said Smith had knowingly waived his appeal and understood the implications. The

Arkansas Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Arkansas is the highest court in the state judiciary of Arkansas. It has ultimate and largely discretionary appellate jurisdiction over all state court cases that involve a point of state law, and original jurisdiction o ...

, in a routine review of death-row cases, affirmed Smith's convictions. The justices allow inmates to drop their appeals if they demonstrate that they know what might happen. Smith said he made the decision because he didn't want to put his family or the victims' families through a lengthy appeal process. Smith was the third consecutive death row inmate to waive at least part of his appeal rights.

Execution

Clay King Smith spent his final days writing letters. Smith wrote letters to the families of each of his victims asking for forgiveness and telling them he would waive his right to appeal unless they asked him to do otherwise. No one did. In a letter dated April 22, Smith told Misty Erwin's father, Randy, her mother Lula, and her three sisters, Tabitha, Margo and Frances, that he was waiving his right to appeals so that they could move on with their lives. "You don't need to keep reliving what happened over and over and that's what appeals would do," Smith wrote. "If you all want me to appeal you should let me know and I will. Otherwise, I'm going home to be with Jesus. I can hardly wait. I believe I am going to see Misty there..." In a brief final statement, while strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber at Cummins Unit, he spoke to four family members of his victims as they watched on a closed circuit television. "I'd like to say I'm sorry about what I did to the victims' families. I hope your hearts heal. I love my family. I love my family." Smith was the 24th person executed by the state of Arkansas since ''

Furman v. Georgia ''Furman v. Georgia'', 408 U.S. 238 (1972), was a landmark criminal case in which the United States Supreme Court invalidated all then existing legal constructions for the death penalty in the United States. It was 5–4 decision, with each mem ...

'', which instated new capital punishment laws were passed in Arkansas that came into force on March 23, 1973. The state resumed executions in 1990.

In the media

The story of the murders as told through the eyes of Smith's brother, retired police officer Walt Chavis, was discussed on the episode "The Cop and the Killer" of ''

Evil Lives Here ''Evil Lives Here'' is an American documentary television series on Investigation Discovery that debuted on January 17, 2016. This 60-minute true crime show spends each episode interviewing a family member of the highlighted murderer. On August ...

''. The episode (Season 3, Episode 8) premiered on February 25, 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Clay King 1970 births 2001 deaths 1998 murders in the United States American people convicted of murder American murderers of children People executed for murder 21st-century executions of American people 21st-century executions by Arkansas People executed by Arkansas by lethal injection American mass murderers Executed mass murderers People convicted of murder by Arkansas 20th-century American criminals

Murders

Appeals

Execution

In the media

See also

References