Kirk Smith Jr. acquitted of murder

Kirk Smith Jr.

Twenty-two year old Kirk Smith Jr., who has been on remand for almost four years walked free late this afternoon from a charge of murder.   Smith was accused of the August 2010 murder of thirty-five year old Eyan Arnold, a janitor employed at the time at Wesley College. After Justice Adolph Lucas directed the twelve-member jury, Smith was acquitted and walked out of the court a free man. His attorney, Bryan Neal, made several submissions including that the evidence before the court was weak and uncorroborated. He told the court that there is no DNA linking Smith to the crime scene and no proper identification was made by the crown’s only witness. Police Corporal Antonio Pop said in court that he saw Smith only fleetingly and from a distance. Smith also maintained that he was not in the City at the time of the murder and that in fact he was in Hattieville with his aunt who raised him.  Prosecutor Shanice Lovelle called seven witnesses, but the only one who placed Smith at the scene was P.C. Pop. On August fifteenth, 2010, Arnold was gunned down in front of his home on Berkley Street and shot multiple times to the body; he succumbed to those injuries.