Doughton expected to rule in Kalvin Michael Smith hearing Thursday

On Thursday, Jan. 8, Forsyth Superior Court Judge Richard L. Doughton is expected to rule on whether newly uncovered evidence in the Silk Plant Forest case warrants a new trial for defendant Kalvin Michael Smith. Doughton's ruling will come after three days of dramatic testimony from Smith, lead investigator Donald R. Williams, two state's witnesses that testified in the December 1997 trial, current and former Winston-Salem police investigators involved in the case and Smith's trial attorney William Speaks. Smith was convicted of brutally assaulting Jill Marker, a pregnant store clerk, with a deadly weapon while robbing the Silk Plant Forest in December 1995. He is currently serving a sentence of 23 to 29 years. 

Smith's attorney, David Pishko, made his case for a new trial for his client during Monday and Tuesday's sessions. On Monday, Pishko questioned Speaks as to why he didn't view an Oct. 31, 1996 videotaped interview with Marker in its entirety. The videotape, which was played twice in Doughton's courtroom during the hearing, revealed former Winston-Salem detective Donald Williams showing Marker a lineup of photos of potential suspects. During questioning by Pishko, Williams said he did not believe Marker made a positive identification of any of of the suspects' photos. Williams acknowledged that Kalvin Michael Smith's photo was included in the photo lineup.  "There was nothing on the video that was helpful to Kalvin," Speaks said. 

During Monday's testimony, Eugene Littlejohn said he lied when he testified at Smith's 1997 trial that he entered the Silk Plant Forest with Smith in December 2005 and saw Smith put his hands on Marker. Littlejohn went on to say Detective Williams coerced him into making false statements by threatening him with jail time. Pamela Moore, another witness for the state during the 1997 trial, also recanted her statement Monday that she heard Smith say he had to "beat down" a woman to get out of a store.

On Wednesday, Pishko questioned Lonnie Maines, a former Winston-Salem detective. Maines accompanied Det. Williams on a trip to Ohio in 1997 to interview Marker. Maines, who administered polygraph tests for the police department, said he administered two lie-detector tests to Eugene Littlejohn in the course of his investigation. Both tests revealed Littlejohn to be telling the truth when he said he did not see Smith assault Marker. Littlejohn's statements during the polygraph examination stand in direct contradiction to his statements during the trial. Maines said he did not administer a polygraph to Kalvin Michael Smith, but was asked to score the results of the polygraph during a review of police procedure in the case. Maines said he scored the results as Smith being deceptive. However, under cross-examination, Pishko pointed out that Det. Williams' report stated that Maines had administered the polygraph to Smith, and told Williams he was being truthful when he denied involvement in the assault.

"So Detective Williams' report is wrong?" Pishko asked Maines. 

"Human error," Maines responded.

To comment on this story, e-mail Keith T. Barber at keith@yesweekly.com.

 
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