Asheville man found guilty of 1st-degree murder for 2021 shooting of sister-in-law
ASHEVILLE — An Asheville man was found guilty of first-degree murder Aug. 15 in Buncombe County Superior Court.
Ronald Lonnie Haynes Sr., 76, was on trial starting Aug. 7 for the 2021 death of 67-year-old Belva Smeltzer, who was found dead from a gunshot wound in the Asheville home where they lived together. Haynes received a sentence of life without parole in the N.C. Division of Adult Corrections.
After evidence in the trial concluded Aug. 14 and closing statements were presented Aug. 15, the jury took nearly six hours to reach a unanimous verdict on the morning of Aug. 16.
In court, there was a question of whether Haynes acted with premeditation and deliberation, which as Judge David Strickland defined, means he had an intent to kill with a fixed purpose, acted in a cool state of mind and was not overcome by heated passion resulting in his killing Smeltzer. Given their verdict of first-degree murder, after much deliberation, the jury decided Haynes shot Smeltzer in this manner.
"The state thanks all jurors for their service and for holding Ronald Haynes to account for the violent, cruel, malicious, and premeditated murder of Belva Smeltzer,” District Attorney Todd Williams said in a news release Aug. 16. “I wish the family of Ms. Smeltzer peace and healing."
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According to court testimony and documents, Smeltzer was the sister of Linda Haynes, who was married to Ronald Haynes for 53 years. She died of a stroke in 2019. They had all lived at the White Oak Gap Road home where Smeltzer was killed. William Howard, brother to Smeltzer and Linda Haynes, also lives at the address, according to prosecuting attorney Kathleen Kurdys.
Haynes’ defense attorney, Chief Public Defender Sam Snead, argued that there were certain difficulties the court faced in this case given the age and health of Haynes, who has undergone three surgeries while in custody and has faced “neurological decline over the last two and a half years” of being in jail. After sentencing, Snead informed the court that Haynes plans to appeal the conviction.
On the afternoon of Jan. 12, 2021, Buncombe County Sheriff Deputies responded to a 911 call at Haynes and Smeltzer’s residence in South Asheville, according to a sheriff’s office news release from 2021. When the deputies arrived on the scene, Smeltzer had already died from a gunshot wound to the head, according to court proceedings.
The deputies arrested Haynes, who has been held in the Buncombe County Detention Center without bond since then.
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“She looked for love in all the wrong places, and in Ron, she thought she found stability and love,” Kurdys said of Smeltzer Aug. 16.
“I don’t understand how anybody can kill her just because she had a drinking problem and gets mad,” Brenda Howard, Smeltzer’s sister-in-law, said in court before Haynes' sentencing.
“He didn’t just affect Sally’s life, he affected us all, and we will never be the same,” Howard added, referring to Smeltzer by her nickname.
Ryley Ober is the Public Safety Reporter for Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. News tips? Email Ryley at rober@gannett.com. Please support local, daily journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville man found guilty of murder of sister-in-law
