A three-justice panel turned down Derek Paul Smyer’s claim that his sentence is unconstitutional and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment given his age — 20 — at the time of the crime.…
In a ruling Tuesday, a three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal turned down Derek Paul Smyer’s claim that his sentence is unconstitutional and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment given his age — 20 — at the time of the crime.
While behind bars in state prison for an unrelated murder, co-defendant Skyler Moore confessed to Los Angeles police detectives that he had killed the 27-year-old woman at Smyer’s behest. He was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy. Moore was also sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
He said Moore was hoping to get “some of the benefits they were offering” and gave a “false confession.”Prosecutors told jurors that the victim’s pregnancy was “the motive for the murder,” and that Smyer “needed someone else to do it for him.” The two defendants met at the basketball courts at Anderson Park in Redondo Beach, according to prosecutors.
Smyer’s trial lawyer, Calvin Schneider III, said after the jury’s verdict that he thought it was “clear that somebody else committed the crime” and was “disappointed that the jurors didn’t find that there was reasonable doubt.” In an April 2019 ruling, a three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that there were errors in the pair’s trial.
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