Overview
- Smith died in his sleep in late June 2026 at 60 West, a Connecticut nursing facility for justice-involved elders, and was later cremated, facility spokespeople told reporters.
- He was convicted of first-degree murder in 1950 for the 1949 killing of night watchman Grover Hart and was sentenced to death before the Connecticut Board of Pardons commuted his sentence to life in 1954.
- Officials and contemporaneous reporting say Smith faced scheduled executions that were repeatedly called off and that he was served what were described as final meals on eight occasions before the commutation.
- Questions about the case persisted for decades: key witnesses later recanted, another inmate at one point claimed responsibility, and Major Leo Carroll, an investigator, told the Board of Pardons he doubted Smith had been at the crime scene; Smith never received a new trial or an official exoneration.
- Smith spent more than seven decades in custody with three brief periods outside prison, including a 1967 escape and a 1975 parole reversal, and accepted supervised parole in 2020 to move to 60 West, a pathway that highlights challenges in handling aging and infirm people who remain under sentence.