Woodstock man again found guilty of murder as he pimped wife
A Woodstock man has again been convicted of a fatal shooting while trying to pimp out his pregnant wife in 2011.
In a bench trial before McHenry County Judge Sharon Prather, Timothy S. Smith was convicted of the first-degree murder of Kurt Milliman, 48, of Prairie Grove, a former courthouse security officer and Island Lake bar owner. Prather issued her verdict Thursday, according to McHenry Court records.
Smith was originally convicted of murder after a jury trial in February 2013, but an appeals court in 2017 overturned the verdict, ruling jurors should have had the option of convicting Smith of involuntary manslaughter.
In the first trial, prosecutors argued Smith placed an advertisement on Craigslist to have paid sex with his pregnant wife, Kimberly, in May 2011 at their house on the 4300 block of Doty Road, to try to make ends meet.
Kimberly Smith, who was granted immunity for her testimony, said a drunken 6-foot, 6-inch Milliman came to the house for sex, but she changed her mind. She testified that Milliman began to threaten and hit her, that her husband came to her aid and that the shooting was not intentional.
But prosecutors said Timothy Smith's argument of self defense was invalid because he tried to cover up the scene to make it appear Milliman was actually trying to rob the Smiths' house. Timothy Smith called sheriff's deputies May 18, 2011, for a burglary in progress, prosecutors said, but later said the shooting was an accident and in defense of his wife.
McHenry County assistant state's attorneys Michael Combs and Robert Zalud prosecuted Smith's retrial.
Not only was Smith convicted again of murder, but Prather also determined he personally discharged the .38-caliber firearm that killed Milliman. Under state law, that adds another 25 years to the murder punishment, which is 20 to 60 years.
Smith will be sentenced Oct. 18. He faces 45 to 85 years in prison and must serve 100 percent of any sentence.
He was originally sentenced to 50 years in prison after the guilty verdict in his first trial.