The anticipated trial for Dr. Arnold Smith is still in limbo as two events stand in its way.
The trial in the murder-for-hire case against the Greenwood oncologist had been scheduled to begin today, but it has been postponed indefinitely by specially appointed Circuit Judge Breland Hilburn.
The rescheduling, according to Leflore County Circuit Clerk Elmus Stockstill, is waiting on Smith’s evaluation at a state mental facility and another hearing to determine whether the 71-year-old physician is entitled to bond.
In January, Hilburn ordered Smith be sent to the Mississippi State Hospital at Whitfield for a psychological evaluation after his defense team proclaimed the doctor mentally incompetent to stand trial.
Earlier this month, Hilburn heard yet another bond argument for Smith, who is being held at the Leflore County Jail. The physician has been repeatedly denied bail since his arrest April 29, 2012, the day after a violent confrontation left one alleged hitman dead and another critically injured. The standoff took place at the Market Street law office of Greenwood attorney Lee Abraham, toward whom Smith has had a longstanding animosity. Abraham was not injured in the shooting.
Smith is supposed to be evaluated this week, and another hearing to consider the doctor’s bond will follow, according to Stockstill.
The circuit clerk did not know when a new trial date would be scheduled.
Smith is accused of offering Keaira Byrd $20,000 to kill Abraham. Byrd, 23, was felled by a bullet to the head fired by an investigator with Attorney General Jim Hood’s office.
At the time of his initial indictment, Smith was also charged with capital murder in the death of Byrd. In a previous hearing, though, Hilburn said he would reduce the charge to depraved heart murder, which describes an act so careless and callous as to lead to a person’s death. That lesser charge does not carry the prospect of the death penalty.
After Smith is evaluated at Whitfield, Hilburn will determine whether the doctor poses a great enough danger to be kept behind bars while he awaits trial.
• Contact Jeanie Riess at 581-7235 or jriess@gwcommonwealth.com.
