Inmate says Quentin Smith told him he prepared for a shoot-out with officers
By Lou Anna Stoia
ABC 6 On Your Side
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Quentin Smith watched intently as his wife Candace took the witness stand in his murder trial Wednesday. Quentin is accused of killing Westerville police officers Eric Joering and Anthony Morelli in February 2018.
Candace said Quentin was abusive in their relationship after they married in February 2014. Judge Richard Frye ordered the media not to record audio or video of the testimony. But reporters were permitted to take notes in the courtroom.
Candace said Quentin had borrowed her car to go to Walmart and found a badge of one of her co-workers in her car and was enraged. Candace said Quentin was FaceTiming her and came home angry.
Candace testified that Quentin punched her in the face and choked her until she was unconscious on Saturday, February 10, 2018.
“He proceeded to punch me in face with a closed fist. I don’t know if I fell off bed or he pulled me, he was choking me with both hands. I lost consciousness. I remember waking up with him slapping my face and saying my name,” said Candace.
When Candace came to, she said she called 9-1-1 but hung up before talking to dispatchers because she was too scared that Quentin would hear her talking.
Officer Tony Morelli and Officer Eric Joering knocked on the front door of Candace’s apartment. Candace said Quentin had hidden his gun, and hers on a couch near the door.
Candace said she moved the door back so police could see her.
“I said, he just got done beating me up, and he has a gun.”
James Lowe, the assistant prosecutor asked, did officers say anything?
Candace said, “the officers said don’t do it, don’t do it,” then shots were fired.
In other testimony, Candace said she had an in-vitro procedure, so she could have a child with Quentin. Candace also said she had a same-sex marriage before she married Quentin. “Same-sex marriage was not legal in Ohio at the time. When became legal we filed dissolution.”
On cross-examination, Candace said she told police officers that her husband “suffers from Schizo-effective disorder” and takes medication for that. Candace said Quentin was not taking his meds that day “and that was not a good thing.”
Quentin Smith’s lawyers are focusing on the chaos of the shootings, the panicked nature of the gunfire in a confined space, how quick it happened, and arguing it wasn’t planned. Without proving there was prior calculation and design, the jury could convict on murder, rather than aggravated murder, eliminating death as a sentencing option.
The defense Prosecutors have argued Smith intended to kill the officers. Smith faces the possibility of the death penalty if he is convicted of “aggravated murder with specifications.”
Testimony wrapped up Wednesday in the capital case of Quentin Smith, on trial for the aggravated murders of two Westerville Police officers.
An inmate from the Franklin County jail Wednesday told jurors that he talked with Smith about the day the shootings happened. ”He told me that during the course of the time he had an argument with his wife. Previously he had just moved back in and that during the night of the incident she had called police, that he had guns and drugs in the house.”
The inmate said, “He pretty much was prepared with prepared for this day because he went to the shooting-range to prepare for something like this. He said he would hold court in the street before he would go back to jail.”
Prosecutor James Lowe asked, “did he tell you anything about his shooting skills? No, said the inmate.
“What else did he tell you,” asked Lowe.
“He told me he observed the officer behind his house and two in the front before he even opened the door. Because he had guns and drugs in his house that he had pulled his gun and shot the first officer twice, the other officer shot him twice in the abdomen, then he shot him in the head,” the inmate said.
Closing arguments are expected Thursday. Judge Richard Frye told jurors to bring a bag to court Friday in the event they need to be sequestered in a hotel as they work toward a verdict in the case.
If Smith is found guilty of aggravated murder, a second death penalty phase of the trial will begin next week.
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