Man Gets 50 Years In Prison For Killing Man He Pimped To His Pregnant Wife
WOODSTOCK, Ill. (STMW) -- Timothy Smith tearfully apologized Thursday for pimping his pregnant wife and for gunning down an unarmed man who came to their McHenry County home seeking sex.
It did him little good.
Judge Sharon Prather minutes later sentenced Smith to 50 years in prison for the 2011 shooting that killed Kurt Milliman, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
And Milliman's brother, Scott, methodically plugged his ears with his fingers and lowered his head as the 28-year-old Smith spoke in the Woodstock courtroom.
"I'm sorry that I screwed up so much trying so hard to be someone I'm not," said Smith, his voice quivering. "I am sorry from the bottom of my heart."
Immediately after the May 28, 2011 killing, Smith smashed a window and overturned some furniture, then called police to report he had stopped an intruder who was attacking his pregnant wife.
Later, Smith told police the 6-foot-6, 378-pound Milliman had come to his house near Woodstock after responding to an online ad in which Smith offered paid sexual encounters with his wife.
During his trial last February, Smith contended he unintentionally shot Milliman once in the back while trying to protect his wife, Kimberly, who was about two months pregnant.
Kimberly Smith testified she refused to have sex with the 48-year-old former McHenry County courthouse security officer and tavern owner, whom she claimed then grabbed and slapped her.
Prosecutors insisted Timothy Smith shot Milliman because he attempted to leave the house without paying for the unfinished sexual encounter.
Kimberly Smith, 30, is charged with filing a false police report.
In seeking a 50-year prison term for Timothy Smith, prosecutors asked Prather to consider how his bizarre scheme to make money by offering his wife for sex ultimately prompted the deadly shooting.
"If that's not egregious enough, he shoots an unarmed man in the back," Assistant State's Attorney Michael Combs said. "For the safety of this community, he needs to be behind bars."
Prather apparently agreed, minutes later imposing the 50-year term that likely will keep Smith behind bars until he is 76.
Smith, who in part blamed alcohol and mental health problems for his actions, sat calmly as he was sentenced. He had faced a 45- to 85-year prison term.
Milliman's relatives and friends declined to comment on the prison term, though his fiancée, Karen Pratscher, earlier blasted Smith for his "perverse entrepreneurial endeavors."
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2013. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
