Murder defendant’s mother tells of his troubled youth

Bill Gang

Tuesday, June 22, 1999 | 10:55 a.m.

Sikia Smith's mother told the jury that must decide her son's fate how she was a crack cocaine addict while raising him to age 8 before abandoning him for the next eight years into the custody of his grandmother.

It wasn't until Smith was 16 that Ann Alexander said she again took responsibility for the boy, who three years later is charged with murder in a robbery and execution-style slaying of four young men.

As the defense continued its case, the jury also heard evidence from psychologist Phil Colosimo that Smith has a 73 IQ, placing him near the threshold of mental retardation.

Colosimo also determined the 19-year-old defendant has suffered brain damage, likely from drug abuse, and attention deficit disorder.

Defense attorney Tony Sgro told the jury during opening statements last week that Smith's mental limitations made him incapable of resisting the manipulations and directions of those who orchestrated the quadruple murder.

The trial of Smith, the first defendant of three charged in the August murders of Jeffrey Biddle, 19, Tracey Gorringe, 20, Matthew Mowen, 19, and Peter Salamantez, 17, is expected to end by Wednesday.

If he is convicted of first-degree murder, the same jury will be asked to decide if the sentence should be death by lethal injection or life in prison with or without the possibility of parole.

The jury in District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski's courtroom already has heard a tape recording of Smith's confession to Metro homicide detectives and a variety of other evidence linking him to the crime.

Defense attorneys aren't disputing that Smith was involved. The issue for them is whether Smith could form the intent to commit the crime that is legally necessary for a first-degree murder conviction.

The jury will also have the option of convicting Smith of second-degree murder, which would give him a chance at parole.

In the statement to police, Smith told how he and three others planned the assault on a home where there were supposed to be about $6,000 in cash and a quantity of drugs, although few drugs and only about $200 were found.

Smith admitted that as the plans were finalized it was understood that everyone in the house would have to be killed.