Second sentence for Smith

Marty Smith has been sentenced for a second time on charges that she was criminally involved in the death of local man Doug Haar in 2018. The remainder of her sentence will be suspended pending successful completion of a year of unsupervised probation with Smith to be issued an alcohol monitoring device for the duration.

Smith was originally found guilty of both accessory to involuntary manslaughter and to aggravated assault and battery by a jury in 2019 and sentenced to a minimum of six years and a maximum of 18 years in jail. However, a successful appeal to the Wyoming Supreme Court sent the case back to District Court.

Earlier this year, Smith changed her plea to “no contest.” In exchange, the State agreed to suspend the remaining portion of Smith’s original jail sentence, of which she has served a total of 819 days.

According to the plea agreement, the recommended sentence was between six and 18 years for the accessory manslaughter charge, with credit for time already served and the remaining portion suspended. On the accessory to aggravated assault charge, the recommended sentence was between six and ten years, again with credit for time served and the remaining portion suspended.

Smith would then have been placed on unsupervised probation for the period of one year.

However, Judge Thomas W. Rumpke rejected the plea agreement on the basis that he feels Smith needs more supervision for her drug and alcohol problems before being released back into the community.

On Wednesday morning, Judge Rumpke considered an amended version of the plea agreement. Rather than withdraw the agreement altogether, attorneys for Smith and the State came together to discuss changing the plea to address the judge’s concerns.

The new version of the plea agreement included the addition of an alcohol monitoring device, which Smith would need to wear throughout her year of unsupervised probation. All remaining terms of the agreement remained the same, said Deputy County Attorney Lynda Black, acknowledging that this is “kind of a difficult case” because the person accused of actually causing Haar’s death was not found guilty of the charges Smith was found guilty of being an accessory to.

Judge Rumpke stated that he feels the sentence meets the court’s criteria, the first of which is “specific deterrence.” In other words, the sentence should deter the person from re-offending later.

“You stand convicted of a man’s death, so that requires specific deterrence,” he said.

The sentence should also speak to “general deterrence,” he said, through which the community should be made aware that the behavior is unacceptable. In this case, he noted, it would mean making clear that a “drunken brawl” is not ok.

The need for punishment has never been great in this case, said Judge Rumpke, as it was never the result of criminal thinking. Rather, he suggested it was potentially caused by addiction or unresolved mental health issues.

“I think it’s a fair plea agreement under these circumstances,” said Judge Rumpke, noting that Smith, “Would have been eligible for parole very soon.”

Smith’s parole conditions will include no use of alcohol, that she live a law-abiding life and the payment of all financial obligations to the court within a year. No fine was associated with the sentence; said Rumpke, a fine may have had a negative impact in this instance as the “social pressure” of paying it off could have led to Smith drinking again, “Which is exactly why we’re here in the first place.”