Death Penalty for Professor’s Trial Ruled Out

Prosecutors Friday dropped allegations of special circumstances against a Cal State Fullerton philosophy professor charged with murdering the estranged husband of a woman he was dating, thus sparing the professor a possible death sentence.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Eric Snethen said a review of evidence led his office to drop a charge that Richard L. Smith killed Donald Lee Matters, 38, after “lying in wait,” which is one of the special circumstances that under state law can result in a sentence of death or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for a convicted murderer.

“We did it because we felt the evidence wasn’t sufficient to take him (Smith) to trial on lying-in-wait special circumstances,” Snethen said.

Superior Court Judge Francisco P. Briseno then set bail of $200,000 for Smith, who has been jailed without bail since his arrest last May on charges of killing Matters outside the victim’s apartment building in Orange.

Smith’s attorney, Gary Proctor, said members of Smith’s family hoped to post bail over the weekend or next week. He said Smith now faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

Proctor said the prosecution dropped the special circumstance allegation after he filed court papers contending that evidence at the preliminary hearing for Smith did not indicate the gunman lay in wait for Matters. Police said Smith had been dating Matters’ wife, Consuela, and that the couple had been divorced the day before Matters was shot.

No witnesses to the actual shooting have come forward, although a prosecution witness, Timothy Hokinson, testified at last September’s preliminary hearing that he was awakened by a shot on May 3, then heard a scream and more shots.

Hokinson said he went to his bedroom window and saw a man wearing a hooded sweat shirt and a trench coat get into a blue Camaro and drive away. A rental car agency employee testified that Consuela Matters rented a blue Camaro to Smith four days before the killing.

Smith, 43, taught philosophy at the university for 13 years and was at one time chairman of the philosophy department.