Labeled 'a monster,' Smith sentenced to life in prison for 2019 murder case
Sangamon County State's Attorney Dan Wright labeled David Dale Smith "a monster beyond any rehabilitative potential" following Smith's sentence to life in prison Tuesday.
Smith was convicted of murdering 80-year-old Donna Lea Bricker in her near north-side duplex in early 2019.
Circuit Court Judge John "Mo" Madonia presided at a hearing at which Smith, a 58-year-old former neighbor of Bricker's, spoke.
Smith, who briefly moved to Lindenwood, Illinois, after Bricker's murder, could have gotten as little as 20 years in prison. He was also "extended term" eligible, meaning that he could have faced an additional 20 to 100 years behind bars based on a pair of aggravating factors.
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Those factors included Bricker's age and the fact that the state proved Smith exhibited "exceptionally brutal and heinous behavior."
Because a June 28 jury found Smith guilty "beyond reasonable doubt," Madonia had the discretion to impose the life sentence.
Bricker was found in her home in the 700 block of West Elliott Street on Jan. 6, 2019, by family members when she didn't show up for church services. An autopsy confirmed that Bricker had died from ligature strangulation, but she also had been stabbed.
Smith was apprehended by authorities in Lindenwood, an unincorporated area in northern Illinois between Rockford and Rochelle, in mid-March 2019.
Smith at one time had been a next-door neighbor of Bricker's though he had an address listed on South 11th Street at the time of her murder.
Briefly addressing the court, Smith apologized to Bricker's family, though he later said he had nothing to do with her death.
Bricker's daughter, Debbie Squires, spoke on her mother's behalf as did Bricker's brother, Harold Losey.
Two of her granddaughters, Bella Allen and Ashley Fandel, also spoke.
Wright added Smith received "the only just sentence permitted by Illinois law."
Bricker was a longtime member and volunteer at Third Presbyterian Church. At 70, she left Springfield to run a food pantry in Breathitt County, one of Kentucky's poorest counties in the Appalachian Mountain region.
She retired from the Illinois Education Association as a printer. Bricker once owned a home daycare and formerly worked at School District 186, Fannie May Candies, Contact Ministries, Sparc, Building Blocks, Sangamo Electric and Allis Chalmers.
In addition to Wright, First Assistant Derek Dion and Assistant State's Attorney Brittany Lehr prosecuted the case.
Smith was represented by Jeffery Page and Tawnya Frioli of the Public Defender's Office.
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: David Dale Smith was sentenced to life in prison for 2019 murder case
