Carol Stream man gets 31 years for shooting wife

A Carol Stream man was sentenced Tuesday to 31 years in prison for the 2011 roadside shooting of his wife in Oakbrook Terrace.

Ronald D. Smith, 38, of the 700 block of Bluff Street, pleaded guilty on Nov. 13 to attempted first-degree murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm. His plea came days before he was to stand trial for the shooting.

Prosecutors said Smith was armed and waiting for Aiesha Thomas in an Elmhurst parking lot outside her workplace just after 3 p.m. on July 5, 2011, when Thomas was picked up by her sister and two passengers.

After Smith gave chase, officials said, the vehicle carrying Thomas lost control at a high rate of speed and spun out along Butterfield Road near Route 83. At that point, Smith approached with a handgun and fired into the back seat at Thomas.

Smith shot Thomas once as she raised her arms in self-defense, but his attempts to keep firing were thwarted when the gun jammed. Thomas then climbed into a pickup truck driven by a good Samaritan who had just witnessed the shooting.

Smith continued to follow the truck and opened fire again, striking the truck as the driver turned in the direction of the Oakbrook Terrace police station.

Prosecutors said Smith surrendered to police about 7:30 that night and confessed he shot his wife with a gun he'd purchased in Maywood with the intent to kill himself.

They said he was distraught over his declining relationship with Thomas.

"The fact that (Smith) opened fire in the middle of the afternoon on a busy thoroughfare demonstrates his complete disregard for human life," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said in a written statement. "This is not the wild west, we live in DuPage County where public safety is our top priority. Smith's outrageous behavior should remind us all that domestic violence is not always confined to the home. It can happen anywhere at any time."

Smith has been held in DuPage County jail on $500,000 bail since the shooting. He will now serve at least 85 percent or 26 years of the sentence.