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Resentencing ordered for T.J. Smith
His 14-month prison federal prison sentence at an end, a former Putnam County sheriff's deputy learned Thursday he will face resentencing for violating the civil rights of two suspects.
In an opinion issued by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, the 14-month sentence given to Terry Joe "T.J." Smith was ruled to be insufficient.
"We find compelling reasons for vacating the sentence and thus requiring the district judge to resentence him," District Judge Richard A. Posner wrote on behalf of the court.
The 39-year-old Smith, who was also a Greencastle City Council member at the time of his September 2014 conviction in federal district court at Terre Haute, was later sentenced to 14 months in prison (two concurrent 14-month sentences), followed by two years of supervised probation, by federal Judge William T. Lawrence.
At issue for the court was Smith's appeal of his conviction, as well as the prosecution's cross-appeal that the original sentence was too lenient.
In considering Smith's appeal, Posner reviewed the facts of the two cases, calling them "violent, gratuitous and sadistic batteries."
The court considered the argument of Smith's lawyers, that the officers whose testimony was vital in the conviction were not expert witnesses.
Posner dismissed this, however, saying that the officers' testimony that Smith used excessive force was apparent even to a non-expert.
"It would have been absurd to require the police officers to be experts on the use of force," Posner wrote, "in order for them to be permitted to give testimony that a witness with no police training could have given with utter confidence."
The appeals judge also said the expert testimony was not necessary, as Smith's bragging about the injuries he caused was damning.
Finding no basis for reversing the conviction, Posner turned his attention to the cross-appeal.
Posner seriously questioned -- as did many lay observers at the time -- how Judge Lawrence went from the advisory sentence range of 33 to 41 months and instead issued a 14-month sentence, a prison term "less than half the bottom rung of the range."
Reviewing Lawrence's sentencing statement, Posner noted that the judge spent most of his time recounting similar cases to Smith's. Each cases cited by Lawrence, and subsequently by Posner, featured a sentence between 27 and 208 months.
Posner questioned why, when compared to the other cases, Smith received so much shorter a sentence.
"Were Smith's crimes so slight a fraction of theirs?" Posner asked. "In short, does the judge's review of these cases provide any basis for thinking 14 months a proper sentence for Smith?"
The appellate judge opined that Lawrence did not give sufficient reasons for the lighter sentence "apart from the judge's reference to anger management and comments on Smith's minor good works in the community."
Smith was released from federal custody on Thursday, pending his resentencing in the Southern District of Indiana. No date for the hearing has been set.
Smith reportedly has been on a work-release program out of Indianapolis, working in Plainfield. The Bureau of Prisons website listed Thursday (Jan. 28) as his release date.
Originally charged with four felonies relating to police brutality cases, Smith was found guilty on two counts.
The two incidents in question involve actions Smith took against men who were already restrained, either by other officers or with handcuffs.
In an incident on West Stardust Road, Smith punched a man in the face after other officers had already secured the victim's arms and legs.
The second offense at Lazy Acres Trailer Park near Greencastle involved Smith throwing a handcuffed man to the ground and driving his knee into the man's back as he lay on the ground.
"There is no excuse for punching or otherwise abusing people who are handcuffed," Judge Lawrence said during sentencing.
Throughout his sentencing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bradley Blackington talked about Smith's pattern of violent misconduct dating back to 1997, as well as the subsequent "breaks" the prosecutor said Smith received.
At the beginning of the Dec. 4, 2014 sentencing hearing, Lawrence reviewed sentencing guidelines, telling the court that adjustments such as Smith's position as a law officer, the restrained victims and the presence of multiple counts made the advisory sentence 33 to 41 months.
Meanwhile, Blackington argued for a 60-month sentence, citing Smith's two previous terminations as a Putnam County Jail officer, his termination as a correctional officer at the Indiana Boys Home and the 1999 battery of a three-year-old.
Defense attorney John Tompkins' request was for 24 months of supervised release, but no prison time.
"I think, fundamentally, T.J. was an officer who was overzealous but never had malicious intent," Tompkins said.