(Corrects headline to delete “sentenced” & replace with “found guilty“)  — Cass County Attorney Michael Hooper reports an Audubon County man was found guilty during a Cass County trial last week, of two felony counts Sexual Abuse in the 3rd Degree. 51-year old Tim Smith faces a prison sentence of twenty-five years, with a mandatory term of incarceration of seventeen and a half years before he is eligible for parole. Sentencing is scheduled for June 11, 2018. Hooper says “Because these charges are what we call forcible felonies, Smith must be sentenced to prison and is not eligible for probation. The only real decision for the Court at sentencing on June 11th is whether Smith’s sentences will be ordered to run concurrent or consecutive. Meaning, Smith will be either sentenced to twenty-five years or fifty years in prison.”

Tim Smith

On November 30, 2017, Tim Smith was charged in Audubon County with one Count of Sexual Abuse in the Second Degree. The next day, on December 1, 2017, he was charged in Cass County with one count of Sexual Abuse in the Second Degree, both being Class B Felonies. On March 13, 2018, the cases were consolidated for trial, meaning Smith would stand trial in both counties at the same time. Pretrial motions were heard by the Court this last Monday and trial started Tuesday morning after a lengthy jury selection process lasting most of the day on Tuesday. Evidence was presented by the State showing that Tim Smith sexually abused a child under the age of 12 at different times in both counties. The case was submitted to the jury around noon on Thursday and a verdict was reached thirty minutes later.

Due to the fact that the case was submitted to the jury during the noon hour, the Clerk of Court had ordered pizza for the jury to eat during their deliberation process. Hooper said “The jury reached their decision so quickly, I can only imagine how much faster it would have been had we not ordered them pizza.”