“They go really deep in the investigation and if there’s any criminal matters that show up like this, they follow through,” Lucas said. Smith broke into tears upon being taken into custody.īelmont County Sheriff David Lucas declined to give further information on the continuing double murder investigation, but he commended his investigators for discovering the extortion. He also reviewed her lengthy history of substance abuse, beginning at a young age. “Until today there’s been no showing of any remorse, and the court questions the genuineness of that.” What you put in your presentence investigation report statement is entirely inconsistent,” Vavra said, adding the interviews indicated a complete lack of remorse. “I heard what was said during the course of that, especially during your statement to the police. Smith had then decided to enter a guilty plea. “Her statement in the presentence investigation is completely inconsistent with the evidence at the motion hearing,” Vavra said of an earlier hearing where he, the defendant and attorneys viewed a video recording of Smith’s interrogation in which she described the crimes. Vavra, though, took a grim view of the case. “I’m very sorry for my action, and I plan on not making a mistake like that again,” Smith said. Norman said Smith had never been convicted of a felony as an adult and has shown remorse. It was initiated by my client and at the end there were some threats made, but I think the state would agree that they were not made by my client,” Norman said. The prosecution joined in the recommendation. It was in the course of conducting the murder investigation that law enforcement discovered Thomas Strussion was being blackmailed and had paid the pair $25,000 to conceal that he and Smith had had an affair.ĭefense attorney Josh Norman asked Vavra to consider a suspended sentence with six months in jail and six months of treatment at the Eastern Ohio Correctional Center. 21 following the report of a structure fire there.Īutopsies were completed and the deaths were ruled a double homicide. Strussion and his wife, Angela, were found dead in their home along Trails End Drive outside of Belmont on Sept. Her co-defendant, Anthony Michael Dibacco, 31, of the same address, had earlier pleaded guilty and received the same sentence.īoth were charged in September with extorting Thomas Strussion, part owner of two local Salsa Joe’s restaurants. Miana Maylyn Smith, 25, of Guernsey Street, Bellaire, received the maximum sentence of three years in prison when she appeared Monday before Belmont County Common Pleas Judge John Vavra.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |