Published: May 20, 2008 10:16 am            

Re-trial date set for Brian smith

Perjured testimony results in new trial

By Brad Hicks / Staff Writer

A trial date was set in Laurel County Circuit Court Friday for Brian Smith, who was convicted of manslaughter in 2005 but granted a new trial based on the perjured testimony of two witnesses at his original trial.

The new trial is set to begin Oct. 13 at 9 a.m., with a pretrial conference scheduled for Oct. 2.

Smith was convicted of first-degree manslaughter in December 2005 and sentenced to 15 years in prison for the shooting death of Abe Smith. However, the defense for Brian Smith believes the conviction may have turned out differently if two witnesses at his trial had not given perjured testimony.

On Feb. 15, Brian Smith’s attorney, Sen. Tom Jensen, appeared in Laurel County Circuit Court and requested a new trial for Brian Smith, because he said Tony Hodge and Travis Dixon perjured testimony during his client’s trial.

Brian Smith was convicted of shooting Abe Smith, but Brian Smith had contended Hodge committed the June 2004 murder after Hodge had found Brian Smith’s gun in his vehicle. According to Brian Smith, he, Hodge and Abe Smith had stopped at the go-track in London to get drinks from a vending machine. Brian Smith claimed Hodge took the pistol, began firing and fled after shooting Abe Smith, and that the victim had told people Hodge had killed someone over a drug deal.

While Hodge denied committing the Lily Pits murder at Brian Smith’s trial, in December 2007, he pleaded guilty after being charged with the murder in August 2007. Hodge admitted he had killed Matthew Smith over a drug deal and disposed of the body in the Lily Pits. The remains were discovered in June 2007, along with a burned out truck belonging to Hodge.

Hodge had also previously pleaded guilty to the 2006 Madison County murder of Margaret Faye Jackson, for which he was given a life sentence.

Also at Brian Smith’s trial, Dixon denied any knowledge of the Lily Pits murder, but later admitted in July 2007 that he had seen the burned body of the man Hodge killed, and Hodge had asked Dixon for help in getting his truck unstuck while trying to cover up the murder.

“At this time, the question is whether there is a reasonable likelihood that the false testimony of Tony Hodge and Travis Dixon could have affected the judgment of the trial jury when it considered all the evidence presented at the trial. The answer to that question is certainly yes,” wrote Laurel County Circuit Judge Roderick Messer in a motion sustaining the request for the new trial, filed in circuit court on April 1.

        

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