Despite a lack of physical evidence, Denver jurors Wednesday found state Capitol lobbyist Ron Smith guilty of stuffing chicken parts into his ex-wife’s air ducts and causing other damage to her Stapleton home.
Michelle Young was too sentimentally attached to targets of the vandalism — her laptop that contained family photos, a piano on which she had hoped her daughter would take lessons — for the crime to be self-inflicted, as the defense claimed.
Prosecutors Courtney Johnston and Shannon O’Connor built their case around increasingly spiteful texts and e-mails Smith sent Young in the run-up to the September 2010 break-in.
Jurors found Smith guilty on a Class 3 felony count of burglary, a Class 4 felony count of criminal mischief and a misdemeanor harassment charge. The most serious of the three carries a penalty of up to 18 years in prison. Smith is to be sentenced Nov. 18.
It wasn’t until Wednesday morning that the verdict began to take shape, said juror John Linquist, 29. Before then, the jury was evenly split.
“But it was too personal to be random. Any one piece of evidence alone didn’t incriminate him too much,” Linquist said after the verdict. “The piano was the ace of spades in this case.”
Young’s piano was destroyed by something caustic, her new hardwood floors were marred by bike cleats, and computer hard drives were wiped clean.
Investigators found no fingerprints or DNA linking Smith to the break-in. And Smith and Young lived so close to each other — about a mile and a half separated their homes — that linking him to the crime through cellphone data was difficult.
Defense attorney Michael Evans said he plans to review court proceedings for errors that could potentially lay a foundation for appeal.
Jessica Fender: 303-954-1244 or jfender@denverpost.com
