By Jennifer Emily
The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Texas — A jury on Monday sentenced Charles Payne to life in prison for the murder of Dallas police Senior Cpl. Norm Smith in January 2009.
After State District Judge Rick Magnis read the jury’s verdict, Smith’s mother, Carolyn Long, smiled slightly and reached over and briefly clasped the hand of Dallas police Sr. Cpl. Teena Schultz.
Schultz held Smith, 43, in her arms as he died.
“Still, to this day, I still think about that. I have that vision,” Schultz testified during the trial. “It’s never going away.”
Schultz and Smith were members of the police gang unit that had gone to an east Oak Cliff apartment to serve an arrest warrant on Payne’s cousin. Payne shot Smith through the door.
Smith’s wife, Dallas police Lt. Regina Smith, has not attended the trial since before jurors found Payne, 29, guilty of murder instead of capital murder, making him ineligible for the death penalty.
The lead prosecutor in the case, David Alex, said the trial has been “too much” for the lieutenant emotionally.
Several of Payne’s family members, including his mother, Tommie Payne, began crying as they heard the sentence. Payne’s father, Gary Jobe, and grandmother, Mabel Jobe, instructed family members to calm down and leave the courtroom. The tears continued in the hallway.
Long declined to comment outside the courtroom. But during the trial, she testified that she has been able to cope with the emotions of the trial by thinking about what her son would say to her.
“He’d say, ‘Stiff upper lip, Mom,’” said Long. Smith, whose father was British, lived in Great Britain until he was 17.
Jurors left without commenting on their decision. They deliberated three days before finding Payne guilty and just a few hours before deciding his sentence.
Alex said jurors told the attorneys that their long deliberation to decide Payne’s guilt was because a majority wanted to find Payne guilty of capital murder, instead of murder. A capital murder verdict would have made Payne eligible for the death penalty. It also would have meant that jurors believed Payne knew that Smith was a police officer when he fired the shots through his door.
Alex declined to elaborate, saying the jurors should speak for themselves.
Payne’s defense attorney, Ed “Bubba” King, said: “The death of Senior Cpl. Norm Smith was a tragedy. Nobody won. … Neither side got what they wanted. That’s probably the definition of justice.”
The jury’s sentence indicated that it believed Payne did not act with “sudden passion” - that Payne was not provoked into shooting by Smith or another officer, and did not lack time for what the charge to the jury called “cool reflection.” Such a finding could have resulted in a sentence of two to 20 years for Payne.
But in convicting Payne of murder, the jury also rejected his claim of self-defense. Payne had testified that he thought he was being robbed and feared for his life when officers showed up at his door. Payne fired through the door, striking Smith near his left eye and killing him almost instantly.
After the verdict, another member of Smith’s gang unit, Sr. Cpl. John Puente, took the stand to make a victim impact statement. He showed a three-minute video clip that mixed footage of Smith in action with the Police Department and officers paying tribute to him as a police officer. The video was shot by the television show The First 48, which followed Dallas officers, including Smith, as they did their jobs.
“He’ll be missed,” said Puente.
The video showed former Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle saying Smith had the “heart of a warrior” and another officer memorializing Smith, saying, “You’re my hero.”
It also showed Smith at the door of a house, saying “police” and knocking on a door. He was also shown cracking jokes with colleagues.
Near the end of the video, Smith walked down a long hallway, past a large American flag and turned a corner.
Copyright 2011 The Dallas Morning News