Father, daughter arrested for murder

BALTIMORE: Keith and Valeria Smith, the father and daughter who Baltimore police say killed Keith Smith’s wife and blamed it on a panhandler, were ordered held without bail yesterday.

Keith Smith (52) and his daughter, Valeria Smith (28) are charged with murdering Jacquelyn Smith, (54), who was stabbed to death in December in Baltimore.

After fleeing to Texas, the Smiths returned to Maryland with Baltimore Police officers yesterday.

Keith Smith appeared on a video feed with several other defendants yesterday for a bail hearing in Baltimore District Court before Judge Joyce M. BaylorThompson.

The judge called Smith ‘‘an extreme flight risk’’ because he had fled to Texas and ‘‘an extreme risk to the community’’ based on the nature of the charges.

She ordered him held without bail.

The Smiths previously told police and media that all three had been out dancing at an East Baltimore American Legion and were driving home when Jacquelyn Smith gave money to a woman panhandling.

A man then grabbed Jacquelyn’s purse and stabbed her through the car window, the Smiths had said.

Baltimore police now say their story was a ruse, and charged Keith and Valeria Smith with murdering Jacquelyn.

They were arrested earlier this month at a South Texas truck stop 20 minutes from the Mexican border.

Keith Smith’s attorney Natalie Finegar said after his brief hearing that her client remains innocent.

‘‘I haven’t seen anything yet that proves him guilty,’’ she said.

Ms Finegar said her client had been unfairly tried in the media where assumptions are made based on allegations and not the evidence.

The attention given to the case will make it difficult to pick a jury that will result in a fair trial, she said, and she questioned the evidence in the case.

Valeria Smith was denied bail at a separate hearing yesterday. — TCA