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Release Date: October 24, 2005
Contact: Joseph I. Cassilly, State's Attorney, 410.638.3500, or Email statty@harfordcountymd.gov
WIFE SHOOTER SENTENCED TO 70 YEARS
Harford County State's Attorney Joseph Cassilly announced that William Mitchell was sentenced to serve seventy years in prison for shooting his wife and threatening a witness. Circuit Court Judge Emory Plitt sentenced Mitchell to forty-five years for the Attempted First Degree Murder of Tesheka Smythe and ten more years for the use of a handgun in a crime of violence. Mitchell received five more years for threatening Tim Bishop, a witness to the shooting, another five years for using a handgun in that assault and final five years for being a felon in possession of a handgun.
The shooting occurred on 10 January 2005 in the Darlington area of Harford County. The following afternoon Bishop reported to the Harford County Sheriff's Office that he had witnessed the shooting but deputes were unable to locate a victim or the defendant although they did locate the defendant's car with bloodstains, guns and ammunition. The victim and defendant were located on 14 January. The victim had been shot twice.
The trial before a jury lasted seven days in June and was tried by Assistant State's Attorney Tracey Delp. At sentencing the defendant described the prosecutor as the "Picasso of the devil". The judge commented on the frequent opportunities that Mitchell has received in previous charges to deal with his substance abuse problem and described Mitchell as a con-artist.
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