TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Kate Prince on Apr 12, 2022

Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Angelita Blackshear Dalton yesterday denied a petition to reopen the case of death row inmate Oscar Smith, who is set to be executed later this month for murdering his estranged wife and her two sons in 1989, the Associated Press reports. Smith’s attorneys said in the petition that newly available technology led to the discovery of unknown DNA left on an awl found at the crime scene. However, Dalton ruled yesterday that the evidence of Smith’s guilt was overwhelming and the DNA evidence does not tip the scales in his favor. Smith, who has maintained his innocence, is set to die by lethal injection on April 21.