Jay C. Smith
Dr. Jay C. Smith (c. 1929 – May 12, 2009)[1] was a Pennsylvania high school principal who was convicted and sentenced to death in 1986 for the 1979 murder of Susan Reinert and her two children. He spent six years on Pennsylvania's death row until his conviction was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court due to prosecutorial misconduct.
Smith was principal of Upper Merion Area High School in King of Prussia, Upper Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Reinert and her coworker, William Bradfield, were teachers at the same school, where Reinert taught English. In 1983, Bradfield was convicted of conspiracy to commit the same murders, as he was the sole beneficiary of Reinert's life insurance. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and died in 1998. Smith died on May 12, 2009 of a heart condition.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Martin, Douglas (May 14, 2009). "Jay C. Smith, Convict Later Freed in Murder Case, Dies at 80"The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/us/15smith.html. Retrieved May 16, 2009.
- ^ Former Upper Merion Principal Jay Smith Dies, retrieved from KYW1060, 14 May 2009
- Principal Suspect by William Costopoulos
- Echoes in the Darkness by Joseph Wambaugh
[edit] External links
- 2009 deaths
- American prisoners sentenced to death
- American people convicted of murder
- Overturned convictions in the United States
- People convicted of murder by Pennsylvania
- People from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
- Prisoners sentenced to death by Pennsylvania
- School principals and headteachers
- Year of birth uncertain
