Co-defendant in 2018 murder case pleads to tampering charge
A 34-year-old woman initially charged with murder in the 2018 strangling death of a homeless man was given a time-served deal after admitting to impeding the homicide investigation by the Lubbock Metropolitan Special Crimes Unit.
Anna Smith on Thursday entered a guilty plea by video conference in the 364th District Court to a state-jail felony count of tampering with evidence with intent to impair an investigation. The charge carries a punishment of six months to two years in a state jail facility.
However, Smith has been held at the Lubbock County jail for more than 1,220 days, which more than covered the punishment range.
As part of her deal with the Lubbock County District Attorney's Office, the murder charge against her was dismissed.
Smith was one of two people arrested in connection with the murder of 51-year-old Richard Bradley Richards, whose skeletal remains were found Nov. 28, 2018, at an abandoned house in the 2100 block of 20th Street.
Kethan Anderson, 42, was sentenced in March by Judge William Eichman to 50 years in prison after a two-day bench trial in the 364th District Court.
Though Smith pleaded to a state jail felony, she was initially indicted on a murder charge after she spoke with detectives and admitted to playing an active role in Richards' death. Her interview with detectives was played to the court during Anderson's bench trial.
Eichman told attorneys on Thursday that he was hesitant to accept the plea deal and asked for an explanation for how the deal was struck.
"I know what the testimony was in that case," he said.
Smith's attorney, Jeff Nicholson, told the court he was inform that the plea deal was struck after Anderson said he was willing to return to the courtroom and say that Smith had did not participate in role in Richard's murder.
Eichman said he accepted the plea agreement based on Nicholson's statement.
Homicide detectives believe Richards was killed in June of that year, and his body was left in the backyard of the home for nearly six months.
The remains were identified as Richards' after his aunt, who had come to report him missing, provided his dental records.
Meanwhile, investigators spoke with witnesses among the city's homeless who said that Anderson had been bragging about killing Richards. The witnesses also tied Smith to Anderson.
The day after Richards' body was found, two detectives traveled to Burleson where they found Smith, who told them she confronted Richards in June 2018 for performing a sexual act over her while she slept in an abandoned house the city's homeless population often uses for shelter.
She said she threatened Richards with a knife and he walked to a tree in the backyard and tried to pry off a branch to attack her with. She said that's when Anderson tackled Richards to defend her.
"I helped hold him down so [Richards] didn't get on top of [Anderson] and he just choked him out until he passed out," she said.
Smith told detectives she believed Richards was still alive when she and Anderson left the scene.
"I did check his pulse whenever we were leaving," she said. "He took a deep breath in deep breath out when I touched his neck. He felt kind of clammy."
However, she appeared unconcerned if Richards died and expressed pride in what happened and that it was "a good day."
However, they met up with another man who was also at the backyard when she and Anderson fought Richards. She said the man appeared upset and wanted to talk about what happened. However, Smith told detective that she told the man she didn't want to talk about it.
"I just said, 'don't even bring it up,'" she told detectives.
When the detectives told him that Richards' died, she coldly said, "Oh, damn. That's too bad. I suspected it but I didn't know for sure."
Detectives spoke with Anderson the next day in Herford where he was arrested on a murder warrant.
During the interview, which was played in court, Anderson admitted to killing Richards saying he intended to strangle him to death.
"I did it. I [expletive] killed the guy," he said.
Anderson indicated to detectives he believed Richards was a sexual predator and evidence at his bench trial showed that he and his brother were sexually abused when they were children. However, prosecutors told the court that they found no evidence that Richards had been charged with sex crimes or was a registered sexual offender.
In March, before Eichman announced his sentence, Anderson told the court through his attorney that he wanted no blame to be placed on Smith for Richard's murder, saying it was all on him.
Nicholson said after the hearing that his client's statements to detectives in 2018 was a result of her mental illness.
"I just think that she had some kind of mental illness that caused her to have a euphoria when people are listening to her," he said. "I don't believe for a second she had an active role [in Richard's death] other than just watching."
During the interview Smith also told investigators that she believed then-president Donald Trump was out to get her and that she was being followed by someone from another "realm".
Court records show that Smith was at one point declared incompetent to stand trial but her competency was restored and she is taking medication to treat her mental illness, which was not disclosed in court.
Nicholson said he did not believe his client was coerced into making a false confession.
"I believe she just voluntarily sat there and talked," he said. "And I don't know, if you're a detective where you'd tell somebody to stop. I think it's just their job to gather information and I think that's what they did. I don't believe anybody did anything when they were talking to my client that was not appropriate. "
Lubbock County District Attorney Sunshine Stanek said she re-evaluated Smith case in light of Anderson's statements during the bench trial and determined that the tampering plea was appropriate.
"There were things in her statement to detectives that were corroborated by evidence and that we can prove that some of the things she was saying were accurate for sure," Stanek said. "If I just look at the evidence outside of that, what can I prove that she did? And I can prove even with that statement that she was at least a part of this conspiracy to tamper."
However, she said justice was served with Anderson's 50-year prison sentence.
"We are very appreciative of the judge's sentence I think it was very appropriate based on the situation," she said in March after Anderson's bench trial.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Co-defendant in 2018 murder case pleads to tampering charge
