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Thread: Cass Franklin Smith Gets LWOP in 2010 SC Slayings of Three

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    Cass Franklin Smith Gets LWOP in 2010 SC Slayings of Three




    Death penalty sought in killings of 3 in Cowpens home

    COWPENS, S.C. (AP) — A prosecutor says he will seek the death penalty against a man who a South Carolina sheriff says ambushed his ex-girlfriend, her teenage daughter and her new boyfriend in their home.

    Prosecutor Trey Gowdy said Tuesday that 43-year-old Cass Franklin Smith planned the killings last Friday in the Cowpens mobile home he had shared with 41-year-old Suzanne Elizabeth Bridges for five years before they broke up in March.

    Authorities say Smith sneaked up to the home and fired several shots from a revolver through an open window, killing Bridges, her 45-year-old new boyfriend and 15-year-old daughter. Two younger children in the home were not harmed.

    Investigators say Smith admitted to the killings, but in television interviews before his arrest he denied killing anyone.

    Authorities say Smith has not retained a lawyer.

    http://www.wistv.com/global/story.asp?s=12344330

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    Authorities say a South Carolina man facing a death penalty trial in the killings of 3 people tried to escape from jail.

    Investigators told the Herald-Journal of Spartanburg that Cass Franklin Smith pushed down an Cherokee County jail officer Wednesday night when she opened his cell door and made it to a hallway where he was stopped by a locked door.

    The escape attempt happened a day after prosecutors announced they were seeking the death penalty against Smith in the killings of 41-year-old Suzanne Bridges, her daughter 15-year-old Maggie Wenner and 45-year-old Harold Lick.

    Investigators say Smith shot the three at Bridges' home because he was angry about her new boyfriend.

    Smith told TV stations before his arrest Monday that he was innocent.

    http://www.live5news.com/Global/story.asp?S=12358131

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    May 25, 2010

    Guilty Plea Rejected In Cherokee County Triple Murder

    GAFFNEY, S.C. -- The man accused in a Cherokee County triple murder has asked to plead guilty and avoid the death penalty.

    In court documents filed Friday, a defense attorney for the Cass Franklin Smith wrote that Smith has offered to plead guilty to all pending charges against him in exchange for a sentence of life imprisonment with no possibility of parole. The sentence would spare him from death by electrocution or lethal injection.

    Solicitor Trey Gowdy's office filed a response Monday, it reads: "We are in receipt of your letter dated May 3, 2010 regarding the above-referenced matter and the defendant's offer to plead guilty to a Life sentence without Possibility of Parole to these charges. With the writing of this letter, we are advising you that we do not accept the defendant's offer and believe that a judge and jury should determine the proper punishment for the murder of three people. We will continue to proceed as a capital case."

    Smith, is accused of killing three people on April 16, including his former girlfriend, her boyfriend and her 15-year-old daughter.

    The case is expected to go to trial in 18 to 24 months.

    http://www2.wspa.com/news/2010/may/25/guilty-plea-rejected-cherokee-county-triple-murder-ar-212883/

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    May 26, 2010

    Exclusive: Heartache And Hope - The Cowpens Triple Murder

    COWPENS, S.C. -- John Daily has always appreciated the power of written words.

    And he knows what can happen when the right words reach the right person. He and his wife, Margaret, met as pen pals.

    "I was looking for someone I could bear my soul to, and that's easier to do sometimes when you don't have to be face to face," said Daily.

    25 years later, he finds himself looking for word to comfort her.

    “I cry a lot,” said Margaret. “I pray a lot. I go back and cry a lot again.”

    Their lives came unraveled on the morning of April 17, 2010. At 7:30, a frantic banging rattled the door of their mobile home on Emily Lane in Cowpens.

    “I hear these little voices yelling. ‘Papa! Papa!’,” said John Daily. “I get the door open and see two of my grandsons standing there sobbing, tears running down their cheeks.”

    The boys, 10 and 6, had run from their home down the street carrying news to heavy for their ages.

    “They kind of stuttered a little and said, ‘Mommy, Maggie, and Howie are dead’,” said John. “A chill ran down my spine and I knew it was true.”

    The boys awoke on that Saturday morning to find the three other members of their household – their mother, Suzanne Bridges, 41, her fiancé, Howie Lick, 45, and their sister, Maggie Wenner, 15 -- lying on the kitchen floor, shot to death.

    Margaret Daily says Bridges was her best friend (“We did everything together”), but it’s Maggie’s death that hits her the hardest. Maggie was named after Margaret.

    “Maggie was only 15,” says her grandmother, sobbing. “She was just starting her teenage life. It just rips my heart out. It’s like a piece of me is missing and I will never be whole again.”

    Investigators quickly established a suspect: Cass Franklin Smith, Bridges’ ex-boyfriend. He had dated her for six years, living with her and her children most of that time. John Daily says four months before the murders, the couple broke up and Smith moved out. But he didn’t go far, moving in with his mother who lives on Oakdale Road – one street over from Emily Lane and within easy view of Bridges’ home.

    “Cass could be so controlling and manipulative,” said John Daily. “When he moved out, he left a few clothes over at her place so that he always had an excuse to come over at any time. He was constantly watching them, talking to the kids, talking to us, trying to get us to convince Sue to take him back.”

    Margaret says her daughter had moved on with her life and had fallen in love with Benjamin Howard “Howie” Lick. In early April, he moved in with her.

    “She was the happiest I’d ever seen her,” said John. “Howie had proposed to her and they were going to get married. There was so much potential there.”

    DENIAL AND ADMISSION

    The Dailys say though Cass Smith could be “psychologically abusive”, he was never violent. (Investigators say he has no criminal record.) And they certainly never thought he was capable of murder.

    “He just doesn’t have the guts to do that,” said Margaret.

    But their opinion changed after seeing Smith on WSPA’s Sunday evening newscast the day after the bodies were found. During an interview outside his mother’s home, Smith identified himself as the main suspect – he even admitted he failed a polygraph – but he denied having any involvement in the murders.

    “I would never do anything to hurt Suzanne or Maggie, or that other guy, for that matter,” said Smith.

    He admitted he was “heartbroken” that Bridges had broken up with him and found a new boyfriend.

    “I love her, and I guess I always will”, Smith said, as he sniffed and turned away from the camera.

    "When I saw that on TV, I knew immediately he was lying,” said John Daily. “That little sob when he said he loved her, that was as false as anything in the world could be false."

    Smith was arrested the next day and charged with three counts of first degree murder. In a news conference following the arrest, Cherokee County Sheriff Bill Blanton said Smith confessed to the crimes, saying he crept up behind the mobile home at night and shot Bridges, Lick and Wenner through an open window. Blanton said Smith admitted he was “upset and jealous” about Bridges’ new life with Lick, but he did not offer an explanation as to why he also shot 15-year old Maggie, a freshman at Gaffney High School.

    John Daily thinks Maggie just happened to be in the room when Smith showed up.

    “If (the boys) had been in the kitchen and not asleep in their bedroom, he probably would have shot them, too,” said Daily.

    Blanton said it’s the first triple murder in Cherokee County history. 7th Circuit Solicitor Trey Gowdy announced his office is seeking the death penalty against Smith. Earlier this month, Smith’s public defender sent a letter to Gowdy, telling him Smith has offered to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of life in prison without parole. On Monday, Gowdy’s office filed a response, rejecting the offer and stating he will pursue the capital case and allow a judge and jury to decide if death is a fitting punishment.

    John Daily says he is still uncertain about whether or not Smith deserves to die if he is convicted, but Margaret has no reservations.

    "I hate to sound angry, but if I am lucky enough to see him die, I want to be there,” says Margaret. “I want to look in his face until his last breath is gone. Because there's nothing more dear to me than what he took."

    AN ONLINE OUTLET

    More than a month after the murders, the mobile home where three lives were abruptly taken sits empty. Five homes up the street, John and Margaret Daily are finding ways to cope with the anger and sadness created by the deaths of their daughter and granddaughter.

    John has even found purpose in it.

    It started on the day he learned of the murders. Margaret had been in the hospital for two months. During that time, John had developed a friendship with a woman across the hall. On the day John had to break the awful news to Margaret at the hospital, he also shared it with his new friend – who told him she, too, had lost a loved one to murder years ago.

    “There I was, feeling so alone, my family has been struck by murder, and here is this woman who has been through the exact same thing,” said John. “We talked and she gave me such comfort. The Lord led her to me, and so I need to be there for anyone who's going through this kind of thing, to give whatever guidance I can. Because it's not easy, but we can get through it. There's always hope."

    That experience led him to start a blog. Titled “This Is The Day of Hope”, it’s based on his favorite Bible verse, Psalm 118:24.

    "This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it,” said Daily. “This. Today. Yesterday's a canceled check. You can do nothing about it. Tomorrow is at the very best a promise, and I learned last month that tomorrow doesn't always come."

    The blog contains his raw account of the morning of April 17th as he tried to comfort his shocked grandsons, but more importantly to him, it contains the daily process he uses to conquer the ever-present grief and anger.

    “The key is, ‘Let us rejoice’, meaning it’s a choice,” said Daily. “We need to forget about tomorrow and focus on today. We have a choice in how we will face it. Will you make it positive or negative?”

    Daily now bears his soul online, leaving what he hopes are the right words for the next of tear-filled eyes.

    http://www2.wspa.com/news/2010/may/26/exclusive-heartache-hope-cowpens-triple-murder-ar-236318/

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    May 8, 2013

    Man charged with murder seeks new attorneys

    By TIM GULLA
    Ledger Staff Writer

    A Cowpens man facing the possibility of a death sentence for a 2010 triple murder is asking the Cherokee County General Sessions Court to appoint new lawyers for him, arguing that his life is at stake and that he has lost all confidence in them.

    In a handwritten motion filed with the Clerk of Courts Office and also personally mailed to The Gaffney Ledger, Cass Franklin Smith claims he has suffered emotional distress and verbal abuse as a result of his counsel and that one of his defense attorneys violated a court-ordered gag order in the case by telling confidential information to officers at the Cherokee County Detention Center, where Smith, 46, is presently being held.

    While Smith does not offer specifics about the type of information that allegedly was shared, he claims one of his other defense attorneys told him the gag order only applied to the press. Smith is arguing the gag order, which was sought by his lead attorney shortly after his 2010 arrest, applied to his attorneys as well.

    “Do not discuss the case to nobody period,” according to his motion for new counsel. “These wicked games will not be tolerate (sic). This act of bad faith violate the defendant Constitutional right’s.”

    He added in his motion, “At first it was blessing to have three lawyers but now it has become a curse.”

    Attorney Clay Fowler, who serves as the chief public defender at the Spartanburg County Public Defenders Office, and 7th Circuit Solicitor Barry Barnette, who is prosecuting the case, both declined comment about Smith’s request when reached Friday.

    Smith notes in the handwritten motion that he was forced to hire a “jail house lawyer” for advice. It was unclear if Smith or his jail house lawyer wrote the motion.

    There was no indication in the court record if a hearing has been scheduled on Smith’s request. It also isn’t immediately clear when his case is headed for trial.

    Smith is charged with three counts of murder for the April 2010 shooting deaths of three people inside an Emily Lane, Cowpens, residence. Investigators alleged that Smith fired a handgun from the exterior of the home through a window, striking and killing 41-year-old Suzanne Bridges, her 15-year-old daughter Margaret Wenner, and Bridges’ boyfriend, Harold Benjamin Lick, 45, of Blacksburg.

    Smith and Bridges, who had been a couple for as long as six years, reportedly broke up just a few weeks before the shootings. Smith had moved into his mother’s nearby home on Oakdale Road.

    While Smith denied any involvement during several interviews with local television stations, former Cherokee County Sheriff Bill Blanton said during a press conference after Smith’s arrest that Smith subsequently confessed to the killings during interviews with investigators from the sheriff’s office and from SLED. Smith also was cooperating in the search for evidence, the sheriff said at the time, allegedly having told investigators where he threw the murder weapon.

    Prosecutors previously served notice of their intent to seek the death penalty in the case.

    http://www.gaffneyledger.com/news/20...attorneys.html

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    Triple murder suspect says he needs new lawyers to get fair trial

    A Cherokee County man who could face the death penalty if convicted in a 2010 triple murder said he wants to fire his lawyers and get new representation.

    Cass Smith called the FOX Carolina newsroom Sunday from the Cherokee County Detention Center. He said he had filed a motion to get new representation that a judge is expected to hear this week.

    Smith is accused of shooting and killing his ex-girlfriend, Suzanne Bridges, her boyfriend, Harold Lick, and Bridges' 15-year-old daughter, Margaret Wenner, in April 2010.

    Investigators said Smith shot the 3 victims through a window of a mobile home on Emily Lane in Cowpens.

    Smith talked to FOX Carolina's cameras on the night he was arrested. He apologized for the shootings and said he didn't know the teenager was in the house when the shooting happened. Smith said he had been depressed and felt betrayed over the break-up.

    Smith, who has been held in the Cherokee County Detention Center since his arrest, said Sunday that he was unhappy with his state appointed lawyers' current defense strategy.

    "I wrote 4 motions to dismiss my attorneys in the last 4 years," Smith said.

    Smith said the presiding judge was expected to consider the request for new representation in hearing to be held the week of March 23.

    Smith said his lawyers want to argue that he suffers from an intellectual disability, which Smith said is untrue.

    "That is false defense that they're wanting to bring to the table because I've worked for 20 years in big industrial companies like Timken," Smith said. "I worked there 14 years. And see, the jury's not going to buy that..."

    Smith said his lawyers used a similar defense when they represented Ricky Lee Blackwell, who was sentenced to death in the 2009 murder of an 8-year-old girl.

    "I don't think that that was a fair trial for him (Blackwell), and I don't think they're trying to give me a fair trial in mine," Smith said.

    Smith's major point of contention surrounds a recording of a 911 call from the day of the murders. Smith said the call contains crucial information about the case and his lawyers do not want to use the call as part of their defense.

    "I think that it (the 911 call) really helps my case," Smith said. "I think that my attorneys have a personal issue with my case instead of a professional one. And I don't think that's fair toward me, because like in any situation of a case, there's a reason why things happen, you know, in a case. I know in the story that was publicized against me in the newspaper said that I went up there to my ex-wife's house in a jealous rage and, you know, because I had lost her to another man, but that wasn't true."

    Smith said there are many more details in the story that are explained in the 911 call.

    "I think the victims have a right to know what happened in the case," Smith said. "I think my family has right to know, and it's not going to be presented in that way if I'm represented by these attorneys because they're trying to go around everything that truly happened and I'm trying to tell the truth. You know, whether if I get the death penalty or not I just want a fair trial, and I don't think I'm going to get that from my attorneys."

    Prosecutors initially denied a request filed by Smith's lawyers in 2010 which Stated Smith would plead guilty to the killings and serve life in prison without parole if prosecutors would agree not to seek the death penalty.

    Former 7th Circuit Solicitor Trey Gowdy said that the state would seek capital punishment.

    "A jury needs to determine what the proper punishment is for an alleged triple homicide," Gowdy said in 2010.

    Since then, Smith said his lawyers had not attempted to make any other plea deals.

    "I don't really think that my lawyers are trying to work out a plea with me. They haven't done, you know, like any defensive strategy in my case," Smith said. "It's just really constitutionally unfair you know for me."

    Smith said he has the constitutional right to a fair trial and he will fight to make sure he gets one.

    "I was always a well-respected person in the community, Smith said. "I paid my taxes. I paid my child support. I always tried to do things right in my life until that situation that happened in April of 2010."

    If his request for new legal representation is denied, Smith said he will consider representing himself as a last resort.

    Smith said he has purchased a legal dictionary and has been researching ways to file motions and represent himself but does not feel confident that he could defend himself in a trial.

    "I really don't want to represent myself because I know that would be bad because I don't know how to do a trial," Smith admitted.

    (source: foxcarolina.com)
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    Murder suspect asks for another judge in triple-homicide case

    A Cowpens man accused of murdering his former girlfriend, her daughter and boyfriend, has asked that another judge preside over his death penalty case.

    Cass Franklin Smith, 48, filed a motion with the Cherokee County Clerk of Court.

    Smith mailed the Herald-Journal a hand written copy of his motion in which he requests Circuit Judge Derham Cole's removal from the case.

    Smith has said he wanted a judge's approval to fire his court-appointed attorneys.

    In the motion, Smith asserts, “Judge Derham Cole is forcing the defendant Cass Franklin Smith to go to trial with [ineffective counseling]. The defendant has a right to proceed without a lawyer and not have counsel forced upon him against the defendant wishes.”

    The motion is dated April 23.

    Cherokee County Clerk of Court Brandy McBee confirmed in an email on Wednesday that Smith filed the motion with her office.

    “As far as I know, it is not scheduled before the Court,” McBee wrote.

    South Carolina Court Administration Director Rosalyn Frierson said Chief Justice Jean Toal appoints circuit judges to preside over death penalty cases.

    Smith asks in his most recent motion for the court to appoint a new judge and new attorneys to his case.

    Suzanne Elizabeth Bridges' young children found her body, along with the bodies of their 15-year-old sister, Margaret Matilda Wenner, both of 102 Emily Lane in Cowpens, and Harold Benjamin Lick, 45, of Blacksburg. Authorities believe the three were murdered between 9 p.m. April 16, 2010, and 8 a.m. the next morning.

    Smith was charged days later.

    The state notified Smith on April 20, 2010, that it would seek the death penalty.

    http://www.goupstate.com/article/201...CLES/150519868

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    Cowpens man pleads guilty in deaths of 3 people in 2010

    SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) -- A Cowpens man has pleaded guilty in the 2010 deaths of three people.

    Prosecutor's spokesman Murray Glenn told the Herald-Journal of Spartanburg (http://bit.ly/1l5N0Yt) that 48-year-old Cass Franklin Smith pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and escape.

    Smith was charged with killing his ex-girlfriend, 41-year-old Suzanne Bridges, her boyfriend, 45-year-old Harold Lick and her daughter 15-year-old Maggie Wenner.

    Authorities say two of Bridges' children found the bodies. Smith was arrested several days later.

    In 2010, the state notified Smith that it would seek the death penalty. Smith then offered to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

    Glenn says prosecutors recently decided to accept Smith's guilty plea instead of taking the case to trial.

    Glenn says Smith will be sentenced Thursday.

    http://wbt.com/cowpens-man-pleads-gu...eople-in-2010/

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    Judge gives Cass Smith life in prison for killing three

    A Cowpens man who pleaded guilty to killing three people in 2010 was sentenced to life in prison without parole Thursday in Cherokee County Circuit Court.

    Cass Franklin Smith, 48, was accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend, Suzanne Elizabeth Bridges, 41; her boyfriend, Harold Benjamin Lick, 45; and her daughter, Maggie Wenner, 15. The three were shot through a window of a mobile home the night of April 16, 2010.

    Smith pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and escape on Monday. During his sentencing on Thursday, two family members of the victims spoke to Circuit Court Judge Derham Cole before he gave the sentence.

    “It’s not good enough, but we’re going to deal with it,” said Ilah Honson, Lick’s sister. “He needs as heinous of an end to his life in prison. This person does not deserve to be on the face of this earth.”

    Seventh Circuit Solicitor Barry Barnette said this is a death penalty case, but because of the lengthy appeal process it was better for the family to get immediate closure with a life sentence.

    “That’s the thing that’s frustrating … to have the death penalty be a true deterrent, we need to make sure there’s resolution within a reasonable amount of time,” Barnette said.

    The crime was carried out as an act of jealousy, Barnette said. Smith and Bridges lived together intermittently for about six years. They ended their relationship about a month prior to the shooting.

    Raymond Bridges, the brother of Suzanne Bridges and Wenner’s uncle, said in court that his family didn’t deserve to be killed.

    “Life in prison without parole, it’s not good enough,” he told Cole.

    Shortly after the murders, Barnette rejected a guilty plea from Smith and had said his case needed to go to trial so that a jury and judge could determine his proper punishment. He said Thursday, five years later, that the family was ready for closure.

    Smith did not address the court. Barnette said Smith gave a written statement to the court before the sentencing hearing to reiterate his confession in the killings.

    “He will never get out,” Barnette said.

    http://www.goupstate.com/article/201...-killing-three

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