Dr. Arnold Smith will be back in court Tuesday so a judge can be briefed on the progress of the Greenwood oncologist’s mental evaluation.
Smith is charged with two counts of conspiring to kill Greenwood attorney Lee Abraham, against whom Smith has held a longstanding animosity. Smith was arrested on April 29, 2012, the day after a shootout at Abraham’s Market Street law office left one alleged hitman, Keaira Byrd, dead and another, Derrick Lacy, critically wounded.
Smith, 71, who is being held at the Mississippi State Hospital at Whitfield, will be transported to Greenwood for the hearing, which is scheduled for 3 p.m. Judge Breland Hilburn ordered that the doctor undergo psychological evaluation in January after a psychologist hired by the defense declared Smith unfit to stand trial.
Smith’s trial has been delayed indefinitely until the conclusion of the mental evaluation. If further evaluation is needed, the Leflore County Sheriff’s Department would return Smith to the State Hospital following the hearing.
The prosecution originally charged Smith with capital murder in the death of Byrd. Judge Hilburn dismissed that charge, though prosecutors will likely pursue the lesser charge of depraved heart murder in the alleged hitman’s death.
Byrd was felled by a bullet to the head by an unnamed investigator from Attorney General Jim Hood’s office. When Byrd and Lacy arrived at Abraham’s office, they were met by investigators who had allegedly been tipped off about the murder scheme beforehand.
