Two Day Withdrawal: Man Shoots Stepdaughter's Friend
Summary:
Paragraph 14 reads: "Smith, McBride added, suffers from depression over the death of a sister, was drinking and had been off anti-depressants for two days when he shot Flowers. McBride said Truong denied any testimony about his client's mental health.
SSRI Stories Note: The Physicians Desk Reference states that antidepressants can cause a craving for alcohol and can cause alcohol abuse. Also, the liver cannot metabolize the antidepressant and the alcohol simultaneously, thus leading to higher levels of both alcohol and the antidepressant in the human body.
Oklahoma County jury recommends life without parole for Wayne Roger Smith
Wayne Roger Smith claimed self-defense in the killing of Timothy Flowers.
BY TIM WILLERT twillert@opubco.com Oklahoman Published: September 15, 2011
A jury deliberated less than an hour Wednesday before convicting a man of first-degree murder and choosing life without the possibility of parole in the shooting death of a former friend and employee who dated his stepdaughter.
Flowers was found shot to death inside his house at 2424 SE 10 in Oklahoma City. He was shot three times with a sawed-off shotgun.
Smith, who testified that he shot Flowers in self-defense, disapproved of Flowers' relationship with his then 19-year-old stepdaughter, Tia Simic, and blamed him for breaking up his marriage to Simic's mother, Bonnie Smith.
Simic, who had been dating Flowers for a couple of months at the time of his death, said Smith kicked her out after she refused to stop seeing Flowers. Bonnie Smith also moved out after her daughter told her Smith had been hitting on girls when he and Flowers went to bars one night.
Smith testified that he was trying to get back with his wife and went over to Flowers' house to talk to him about “lying” to his estranged wife.
“I just wanted him to tell her the truth, that he was trying to get me back for disapproving of his relationship (with Tia),” Smith said.
Prosecutors argued that Smith intended to kill Flowers when he parked behind his house and jumped over the backyard fence carrying a sawed-off shotgun.
Flowers, who was armed with a .22-caliber pistol, was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher pleading for help when he was shot to death. His 9-year-old daughter was asleep in the next room.
The recording was played more than once the three-day trial.
“His life spiraled out of control and he blamed the victim and he came back to take care of it,” Deputy District Attorney Ed Blau said.
Smith declined to comment on the verdict. Simic said justice was served. “It was a good end to the year,” she said.
Defense attorney Michael McBride said he plans to appeal because Truong denied a self-defense claim without Smith's testimony, which “sealed his fate.”
Smith, McBride added, suffers from depression over the death of a sister, was drinking and had been off anti-depressants for two days when he shot Flowers. McBride said Truong denied any testimony about his client's mental health.
“Basically she wasn't going to give us any defense if he didn't testify.”
“It was pretty cut-and-dried,” said one juror, who did not want to be identified. “What got me was when he cut the gun barrel off.”