50 years in prison for killer who pimped out his wife
A Woodstock man was sentenced to 50 years in prison Thursday for the May 2011 shooting death of a man who answered an online ad to have sex with his wife for money.
According to prosecutors, Timothy S. Smith then staged a robbery at his home on the 4300 block of Doty Drive after gunning down Kurt Milliman, 48, a former court security officer and Island Lake bar owner.
Smith, who was 26 at the time and is now 34, was convicted of first-degree murder after a jury trial in February 2013 and later sentenced to 50 years in prison.
At trial, McHenry prosecutors argued that Smith was using his pregnant wife to make ends meet and Milliman answered an ad on Craigslist for sex. Defense attorneys argued Smith acted in self-defense after a much larger and intoxicated Milliman threatened her.
Smith's wife had testified at trial that she didn't want to go through with the arrangement and that Milliman had grabbed and slapped her, and that Smith came out of hiding and shot him.
An appeals court in 2015 overturned the verdict and ordered a new trial. The appellate court ruled that McHenry County Judge Sharon Prather should have let jurors consider convicting him of involuntary manslaughter instead of first-degree murder.
Earlier this year, Smith was again convicted - this time in a bench trial before Judge Sharon Prather - of first-degree murder in Milliman's death.
Under state law, Smith must serve 100 percent of his 50-year sentence and he gets credit for about 7½ years served in jail and prison so far.