Women’s rights champion, attorney Smith dies

Bill Gang

Tuesday, Aug. 4, 1998 | 11:33 a.m.

A memorial service is scheduled Friday for Las Vegas attorney William Smith, who championed women's rights and co-authored a book on domestic violence.

Smith, 45, died of a heart attack Friday while attending a party.

At well over six feet tall, Smith was an imposing figure in court, but his soft voice, easy manner and professionalism garnered him a reputation as a "true gentleman," according to Justice of the Peace Debbie Lippis.

He was voted one of the best criminal defense attorneys in Clark County in the 1998 Review-Journal reader's poll.

"He was a very fine attorney, but most mimprtantly, he was a gentleman," said Deputy District Attorney David Roger. "His death is a great loss to myself as well as to the legal community."

"He had a trait which lawyers try to attain -- he was a man of his word," added defense attorney Bill Terry.

"I've known him for years and he will be deeply missed," said District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski.

Born in Germany and raised in Tennessee, Smith was a 1975 graduate of Davidson College and a 1978 graduate of Loyola School of Law in Los Angeles.

He returned to Germany to practice law -- defending U.S. servicemen facing courts martial -- before coming to Las Vegas to work for prominent attorney Oscar Goodman in 1984.

Smith opened his own practice down the hall from Goodman's office on South Fourth Street in 1987, handling primarily criminal defense.

He won a not-guilty verdict from a jury at the trial of Beth Sipe on charges she murdered her estranged husband when he came to her home.

The defense was based on battered woman syndrome and was the basis for his portion of the book "I'm Not Your Victim" that he co-authored with Las Vegas marriage and family therapist Dr. Evelyn Hall.

In the case, Sipe stunned her spouse by hitting him with a flower pot before shooting him several times. She was prosecuted because she could have fled rather than grabbing her gun, but the jury decided she was justified.

Smith will be buried Wednesday next to his father in Tennessee, but memorial services are scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at Christ Church Episcopal, at Maryland Parkway and St. Louis Avenue.

In lieu of flowers, donations are sought for the Animal Foundation in Las Vegas.