Smith found guilty of murdering estranged girlfriend

Lacon man could face life in prison for shooting woman to death with shotgun

Tony Smith could face life in prison after being found guilty Friday afternoon of murdering his estranged girlfriend in a highway intersection in Sparland last spring.

A jury of nine men and three women who had heard four days of testimony deliberated only about 50 minutes before finding the Lacon native guilty of first-degree murder in the brutal shotgun slaying of former Chillicothean Judith Berchtold.

"It was pretty much cut and dried," the jury foreman said afterward.

The quick verdict meant that jurors briskly rejected Smith's last-minute testimony claiming that Berchtold had been killed by an accidental gunshot after a struggle over his shotgun.

Nor were they swayed by defense lawyers' challenging of prosecution witnesses in an effort to suggest that authorities had too swiftly assumed Smith's guilt without fully investigating the case.

"I was very impressed with the professionalism of the people who did testify for the prosecution," said the foreman, who asked that his name not be used.

The jury also made separate factual findings that will make Smith eligible for a prison term of natural life without parole. Those included the finding that his actions were "especially brutal and heinous" and "indicative of wanton cruelty."

Berchtold, 49, was shot five times at close range with a 12-gauge shotgun, suffering wounds to her chest, back and both legs, as well as an instantly fatal blast to the back of her head, according to a forensic pathologist. Witnesses also said Smith beat her body with the weapon, though there was no physical evidence of that.

"He shot her, and shot her, and shot her, and shot her, and shot her," co-prosecutor Steven Nate told jurors in a closing argument.

In his own testimony, Smith maintained that Berchtold was killed by an accidental discharge of the gun after a struggle. He claimed Berchtold had initiated that sequence by grabbing the weapon and shells from his pickup truck as they argued in a grassy triangle at the intersection of Illinois Routes 17 and 29.

"I was trying to get the gun away so no one would get hurt," he testified.

The gun went off four times during the struggle, Smith continued. After he got it away from her, it discharged again as he braced it on his hip in an effort to remove the last shell, he contended.

"The gun accidentally went off. I never intended to shoot her in the head," said Smith, who started to cry when he said he realized she was dead only after seeing her on the ground. He had no explanation for how three of the other shots could have struck her from behind during a struggle for the gun.

State's Attorney Paul Bauer ridiculed Smith's testimony in aggressive and angry cross-examination. He pointed out that Berchtold herself had told a 911 dispatcher that Smith shot her after ramming her car.

"If you listen to that 911 tape, she's yelling for her life, because you're killing her," Bauer told Smith.

Public Defender Patrick Murphy told jurors that Smith's testimony was enough to create reasonable doubt about his guilt. If found guilty at all, it should be only for the lesser offense of second-degree murder, Murphy argued in his closing.

"This was a tragedy. There was no intent to kill Judy," he said. "If there's no intent, then it's not first-degree murder."

Smith's testimony followed a reversal of his decision the previous day not to take the stand at all. But it gained him no traction with jurors, said the foreman, who was asked whether Smith's version was taken seriously.

"Not at all," he quickly said.

Smith's sentencing was set for March 4. He will face a minimum of 45 years in prison.