EXCLUSIVE: Rapist who was shot dead by victim who lost her 'Stand Your Ground' defense had a history of domestic abuse against multiple women - and was arrested 71 TIMES for drugs, DUI, shoplifting and assaults
By Laura Collins
Daily Mail
February 19, 2020
Todd Smith was 'an evil monster' who terrorized friends and family in his hometown for more than two decades before being shot dead by the woman he allegedly raped, DailyMail.com can reveal.
In a case that has drawn national attention, Brittany Smith, 32, (no relation) claims that Smith beat, strangled and raped her in her home in Stevenson, Alabama, in January 2018 and that she shot him as he attempted to murder her brother who had come to her aid.
Last week Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Holt rejected the mother-of-four's attempt to have murder charges dismissed under the state's Stand Your Ground law.
That law states that a person no longer has 'a duty to retreat' and is justified in using deadly force if confronted with a similar imminent threat from an aggressor.
Now, as Brittany faces a murder trial and the possibility of life in prison, DailyMail.com has uncovered a disturbing history of violent crime and domestic assault committed by Smith against multiple women spanning decades.
Court and arrest records in his hometown of Jasper, Tennessee, just across the state border from Brittany's home in Alabama, reveal that Smith, 38, had been arrested a staggering 71 times since 1999.
In July 2002 he embarked on a brief and violent marriage to Paige Parker, 37. Smith was arrested five times in the course of the marriage that lasted less than one year and ended in divorce in June 2003.
Parker was, 'beaten, raped and sodomized.' Smith broke her nose within weeks of their marriage and in the course of the union he bit her on the face and went onto break her ribs and jaw.
Early last year she told an online radio host, 'I know what Brittany went through that night because I went through it for years.'
None of the charges brought by Parker resulted in jail time.
Approached by DailyMail.com, Parker initially agreed to talk about the man to whom she was so briefly married but changed her mind at the last minute.
She described Smith as, 'an evil monster,' and according to one close to her has struggled to put what she suffered at his hands behind her.
Parker filed for divorce in June 2003, but her mother told cops that Smith continued to terrorize her daughter. On one occasion he threatened to duct tape her to a chair and throw her in the Tennessee River. She got an Order of Protection against him in 2004.
One close to Parker said, 'I don't know what happened that night [with Brittany Smith] and Paige doesn't want to talk about that, but I can't say we're sorry he's gone. She just wants to be done with him.'
Smith also fathered a child by a woman, Amanda Reed, with whom his relationship was clearly every bit as turbulent.
He was charged with domestic assault against Reed three times, in 2012, 2015 and 2016, but on two of those occasions the charges were dismissed as, court records noted, 'Victim has not been coming to court dispite (sic) officer's best efforts.'
In 2015 both Smith and Reed were arrested in a drug bust at Smith's family home where cops found 20 marijuana plants and a grow operation.
Reed and Smith were no longer together at the time of his death.
Writing on the Tribute Wall of his obituary, referring to him affectionately by his nickname 'Wobbles,' Reed stated, 'May you rest in peace Wobbles my one and true love our daughter is in the best hand (sic) possible I'm so sorry I let you go lord knows if I wouldn't have you would still be here I love you from the bottom of my heart I just pray I've (sic) do the right thing.'
Reed did not respond to attempts to contact her.
But according to one friend who asked not to be named, Smith's 'lifestyle' had long been a source of worry and trouble.
Arrest records across the years are riddled with DUIs, drug charges, shoplifting, vandalism, trespass and assaults.
The history of alcohol and drug abuse is writ large and, according to Brittany, Smith was high on meth, Xanax, amphetamines and alcohol at the time of the alleged rape and assault.
Smith the source said, 'didn't have to work,' and lived at his parents' modest home. He bred pitbulls – 'his passion' – tended the garden and helped out about the house with odd-jobs.
According to the friend, 'Todd was never short of girlfriends, certainly not when he was younger.'
One who saw Brittany at Smith's house the day before he died told DailyMail.com that they had noticed nothing untoward in his demeanor nor any tension between him and Brittany.
They said, 'She was there the day before it all happened and it all seemed fine, nothing out of the usual. I saw Todd the week before too, just to say, 'Hi,' to and chat a bit.
'I never felt threatened by him ever. I know he had a violent side. I know he had a temper and I didn't approve of his lifestyle, but he never made me feel unsafe.
'But then I wasn't in some twisted romantic relationship with him.'
Brittany told cops that she and Smith were never romantically involved and that she instead rejected any overtures made by the long-time acquaintance.
Brittany had indeed visited Smith at his Jasper home on January 16, the day before the shooting, and left with a pitbull puppy.
He called her the next day from a city park, saying that he was cold and stranded and had nobody else to call and asking if she would pick him up and give him a ride.
Against her brother Chris McCallie's advice she did and allowed him to stay the night on the couch.
What Smith had not told Brittany, and what court records obtained by DailyMail.com show, is that his father had kicked him out of the family home following a violent assault and that he had been arrested and charged with aggravated domestic assault.
This was not the first time he had been charged with attacking his own father, Jimmy, 61.
In fact, Smith was arrested many times across the years for attacking his father who sought an Order of Protection against his son as long ago as 1999. The older man did not follow through with the court date and the application was dismissed.
In September 2002 Smith was sentenced to seven months in county jail for assaulting his father and four years probation on condition that he underwent anger management and alcohol abuse treatment and committed no further acts of violence against him.
They were conditions by which Smith was clearly unable to abide and his history shows a downward spiral of crime, violence and substance abuse.
Brittany herself had struggled with substance abuse and the two spoke about it on the night she allowed Smith to stay. She urged him to straighten himself out as she was trying to and according to her, that his when Smith's demeanor changed.
She claims he called her a bitch and headbutted her. In the violent attack that followed she lost consciousness only to regain it as he choked and raped her. She claims she thought he would kill her, and he told her that he would if she told anybody what had happened.
He said he wanted cigarettes and Brittany offered to call someone to drive them to get them as she didn't have a car. She called her mother who sent her brother McCallie.
Brittany managed to pass a note to the cashier at a gas station saying that Smith had beaten and raped her. When her brother dropped her and Smith back at her home she told him to go and see the cashier.
McCallie returned to Smith's house armed with the knowledge of his sister's allegation and a .22-caliber revolver.
He claims he told Smith to leave and that, when he would not, a fight broke out. As the men struggled, Brittany told investigators she was afraid Smith would kill them both. She claims she shot him as he had McCallie in a choke hold. A rape kit conducted on Brittany counted 33 separate injuries.
Lawyers for Brittany are appealing Judge Holt's decision to reject her 'Stand Your Ground,' defense and have asked for her trial to be postponed until that appeal is heard.
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