The courtroom was packed for Friday's sentencing of a man who had bragged to police about killing two Alaska Native women.
Brian Smith walks out of the courtroom after receiving what amounts to two separate life sentences. Anchorage Superior Court Judge Kevin Saxby said Smith, who was convicted of killing two Alaska Native women, was beyond rehabilitation.
Wiseman is related to Veronica Abouchuk, one of the women Smith was convicted of killing. The jury also found Smith guilty in the death of another woman, Kathleen Jo Henry. Both were from small western Alaska villages but struggled to survive in Anchorage. Smith told detectives he preyed upon them, because they were vulnerable.
Saxby recapped a series of videos that were played during the trial. They came from a cellphone, stolen from Smith by a sex worker. She copied the images, which Smith shot and narrated, and turned them over to police. They captured Kathleen Henry’s last moments at a Midtown hotel, as Smith tormented her.
Kristy Grimaldi, the daughter of Veronica Abouchuk, was the only person to testify at Brian Smith’s sentencing. Grimaldi told the court it was a relief to know that Smith would rot in prison for killing her mother. “I hope he is swarmed with guilt someday knowing he stalled so many people’s joy,” she said.
Antonia Commack, an MMIP activist, stands next to a forensic artist’s rendering of an unidentified woman believed to be Brian’s Smith’s third victim. Commack posts regular updates about the case on her Facebook page, where she broke the story about the prosecution’s release of images of the woman, a week before Smith’s sentencing. They were found on one of Smith’s cell phone in 2019.
Another juror, Michael Stewart, also attended the sentencing. He said he’s glad the judge, rather than just throwing the book at Smith, “threw a pallet full of encyclopedias.”
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