WILLMAR -- A Kandiyohi County district judge has vacated the four convictions against a 51-year-old New London man charged with molesting three girls in the early to mid-1990s.
A jury convicted Patrick Harold Smith Sr. on Sept. 21 on four counts of criminal sexual conduct in the second degree. Smith originally faced six second-degree charges for the abuse. He was set to be sentenced on all four convictions Nov. 6 until a court order issued in early October raised some concerns about the jury's verdicts.
In a post-trial court order filed Oct. 6 by Judge Donald M. Spilseth, all four convictions against Smith were vacated. The vacation of the convictions frees Smith from all penalties of the convictions.
Spilseth stated in the order that after reviewing the verdicts from the jury, the court initially accepted the verdicts and convicted the defendant. However, Spilseth went on to say that some of the charges may overlap.
Charges were originally filed against Smith in August of 2005 after the three girls came forward to authorities that they had been sexually abused as children. The girls, now 26, 22 and 20, all reported being abused between the ages of 7 and 12
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Of the four charges on which Smith was convicted, two stem from the sexual assault of the now 26-year-old and two from the sexual assault of the now 22-year-old. Spilseth posed the question of whether Smith could be convicted of multiple charges for acts against the same girl, or if those acts constitute one incident.
"(Smith) cannot be convicted or punished for more than one offense arising from the same behavioral incident," Spilseth said.
Because of the possible overlapping, Spilseth vacated the convictions and ordered Smith to appear for sentencing. At the sentencing hearing, the court will consider argument concerning whether any of the charges involve multiple punishment for the same behavioral incident.
While vacating convictions is sometimes used in court proceedings, the vacation of all four of Smith's guilty verdicts initially raised some concerns as to whether he would be sentenced or not.
Kandiyohi County Attorney Boyd Beccue and First Assistant County Attorney Connie Crowell were both confident that Smith would be sentenced on at least two of the charges.
"We're confident there will be two convictions," Beccue said.
Crowell said the judge will not adjudicate guilt on Smith until he considers arguments on whether any of the counts overlapped. Beccue said that this is a common issue that needs to be sorted out before Smith is sentenced.
Beccue went on to say that the vacation of all four convictions --instead of just the ones in question -- may have been somewhat unusual. But Beccue was adamant that Smith would be convicted of at least two charges. "It doesn't change the end results," he said.
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Smith is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 6. The judge will consider arguments on the vacated convictions at the sentencing hearing.
