KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — Following a two-day trial earlier this month, a Kaufman County jury convicted 53-year-old David Monroe Smitherman of criminal solicitation of a minor and unlawful restraint of a child less than 17 years of age, second-degree and state-jail felony charges, respectively.
KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — Following a two-day trial earlier this month, a Kaufman County jury convicted 53-year-old David Monroe Smitherman of criminal solicitation of a minor and unlawful restraint of a child less than 17 years of age, second-degree and state-jail felony charges, respectively.
Smitherman had previously been indicted by a Kaufman County grand jury on the offenses on August 14, 2020.
On March 2, 2021, following the two-day trial before 422nd District Court Judge Shelton T.W. Gibbs, the jury found Smitherman guilty of the charges.
Following deliberation during the punishment phase, the jury sentenced Smitherman to 15 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on the criminal solicitation charge and two years on the unlawful restraint charge, to be served concurrently. He had faced two to 20 on the second-degree felony and six months to two years on the state-jail felony.
Assistant Criminal District Attorneys Heather Ragsdale and Robyn Beckham led the prosecution with the assistance of District Attorney Investigator Daniel Hargrove.
"We would like to recognize the Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Chad Higgins and Deputy Kevin Shaw, Kaufman County Children’s Advocacy Center, and other state agencies that assisted with the prosecution of this case, and helped send a clear message that crimes against children are not tolerated in Kaufman County," read a statement from the Kaufman County District Attorney's Office.