Timothy Smith's other charges

In the Jail Court (Rights Court) hearing yesterday for Timothy Smith, accused murderer of Kurt Milliman, Judge Condon stated that he had had his clerk check for other cases. Two had been found, and Judge Condon was going to have those brought into this court.

What were they?

Case No. 10CM002617 is a case in which Smith was charged with battery, after some type of altercation occurred on October 31, 2010. According to the Complaint in that case, Smith "knowingly made contact of an insulting nature with Daniel Hart, in that he slapped the wrist of Daniel Hart and shoved Danile Hart in the chest with 2 open hands."

Who is Daniel Hart? He owns D.C. Cobbs on Main St., just off the Woodstock Square.

Wrapping up that case with a murder case means, I suspect, that the battery charge will never be tried. If Smith is convicted on the murder charge, this case will get nolle prossed. Just keep watching...

Case No. 10CM001213 happened about five months earlier. On May 21, 2010, Smith was charged with "obstructing identification" and resisting a peace officer. That case has three Counts:

I. Smith told a Woodstock cop that his name was "Tim Bob" while he was being detained in a criminal investigation;
II. Smith is charged with pushing and shoving Woodstock Ofc. Kopulos and fleeing the scene;
III. Smith was charged for refusing to place his hands behind his back before being handcuffed.

Smith has an attorney on this last case, and Judge Condon expects Matthew Haiduk to show up at Smith's next court date on August 18th. These charges will probably get tossed, too. Just a guess on my part.

Smith's case was moved to the Jail Court after, according to an article in the Northwest Herald, threats were made against Smith. Oh, wait; threats weren't made. There were rumors of threats. Judge Condon made the change in an order on Motion by the Court, rather than upon a motion by either the defense or the prosecutor. And he did it outside the courtroom.

Personally, I would liked to have heard the arguments in court. If the Sheriff's Department knows of threats, then let's hear about them in open court, not in a statement from Undersheriff Zinke to a reporter. Let the Undersheriff be sworn in to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and then let him testify why he believes added security is needed.

There is already a huge gaggle of armed, uniformed court security officers at the main entrance of the courthouse every morning. Over-staffing is evident. There must be a huge budget for these officers, who are not deputies or sworn peace officers. They are security guards, although many, if not all, are former police officers or deputies.

The "C.E.R.T." corrections officer in the Jail Court yesterday was mostly engaged in informal conversation with the other two corrections officers and seldom had his eye on the defendant or anyone else who could have created a disturbance. Did they think Sara Sutschek or I would bust through the glass for a private interview with Smith? We didn't try that upstairs in open court, where there had been no C.E.R.T. officer. As I recall, Smith hadn't even been brought into the open courtroom in handcuffs or leg irons. What kept him from busting out right there?

Smith's wife, Kimberly, was in court this morning and her case was routinely continued for a month, to August 19. This one will probably get to trial in 2013 or 2014, if continuances and scheduling run true to form.She agreed to be fingerprinted as part of a major-crimes investigation. And out the door she went.

No one acknowledged Smith's birthday in court on Thursday, when he turned 27. Kimberly turned 29 last week.