| Crime description: |
INMATE 045044 - SMITH, ROBERT D.
Sometime between March 11
and March 14, 1980, Smith, Joe Leonard Lambright, and Kathy Foreman
picked up Sandra Owen, a young woman with mental problems, who was
hitchhiking in the Tucson area. Smith raped Ms. Owen twice, and the
group took her to a remote area in the mountains outside Tucson.
Lambright and Smith then killed the victim by choking her, stabbing
her, and hitting her in the head with a large rock. They concealed
her body by covering it with rocks, and the body was not discovered
until 1 year later. Lambright and Smith were tried in a joint trial
before two separate juries. Ms. Foreman testified against them in
exchange for a grant of immunity.
PROCEEDINGS
Presiding Judge: Hon. Michael J. Brown
Prosecutor: James D. Himelic
Defense Counsel: Thomas G. Hippert
Start of Trial: March 23, 1982
Verdict: March 30, 1982
Sentencing: May 27, 1982
Aggravating Circumstances
Especially heinous, cruel or depraved
PUBLISHED OPINIONS
State v. Smith (Robert), 138 Ariz. 79, 673 P.2d 17 (1983).
Smith v. Lewis, 157 Ariz. 510, 759 P.2d 1314 (1988).
Lambright v. Stewart, 167 F.3d 477 (9th Cir. 1999),
withdrawn.
Lambright v. Stewart, 177 F.3d 901 (9th Cir. 1999).
Lambright v. Stewart, 220 F.3d 1022 (9th Cir. 1999).
Smith v. Stewart, 241 F.3d 1191 (9th Cir. 2001).
Stewart v. Smith, 122 S.Ct. 1143, 534 U.S. 157 (2001),
Certiorari granted, Question Certified
Stewart v. Smith, 202 Ariz. 446, 46 P.3d 1067 (2002).
Question Answered
Stewart v. Smith, 536 U.S. 856, 122 S.Ct. 2578 (2002). Case
remanded to Ninth Circuit |
