Guilty plea in shotgun slaying
Schuylkill Twp. man admits fatally shooting his girlfriend
WEST CHESTER » Just days before a Chester County Court jury was scheduled to be chosen in his murder trial, a Schuylkill Township man entered a plea that spared him a possible life sentence, but will keep him behind bars for more than two decades.
Keith Robert Smith pleaded guilty before Common Pleas Court Judge William P. Mahon to charges of third-degree murder, endangering the welfare of children, recklessly endangering another person, and possession of an instrument of crime for fatally shooting his girlfriend in the township home they shared with his son and her two children.
After firing a single shot from the gun into the chest of 40-yearold Wesley Webb, Smith report-
edly said, “How’s that? That’s where we just went.”
Smith was sentenced to 28 to 56 years in state prison in the shotgun killing, which took place while Webb recorded their confrontation on her cell phone. The deal was part of an agreement worked out between the prosecution and Smith’s defense attorney.
After firing a single shot from the gun into her chest, Smith reportedly said “How’s that? That’s where we just went.” He then turned the weapon on himself, but misfired; the discharge wounded him in the face and sent projectiles into the ceiling above, into rooms where the children were playing.
His trial had been scheduled to start on Monday, with Mahon setting aside two weeks to complete it. But Assistant District Attorney Alex Gosfield, who was prosecuting the case with colleague Assistant District Attorney Samantha Ryan, and defense attorney
John J. Flannery Jr. of Media told Mahon that they had reached an agreement over the course of this week.
“Obviously, this came together very late in the process,” said Gosfield.
Flannery said that Smith’s concern for his son and Webb’s children precipitated his decision to enter the guilty plea. A pre-trial hearing was set for this week to determine whether the children would be allowed to testify at trial.
“He does not want to put anyone’s children, his own or Miss Webb’s, through a trial,” Flannery told Mahon, who accepted the plea and approved the sentence.
Smith, 45, who appeared in court dressed in a pale green shirt, with closecropped hair and a greying beard, will be formally sentenced at a later date. He agreed that he would not attempt to withdrawn his guilty plea before the formal sentencing, which was delayed to give Webb’s family a chance to gather and attend the proceeding to present victims’ statements to Mahon in court.
Webb’s mother, Elizabeth McCaffrey, was in the
courtroom when Smith pleaded guilty. Gosfield, who did not address why the prosecution had decided to offer Smith the opportunity to enter a plea to third-degree murder, a lesser offense than first-degree, said that Webb’s family was in agreement with the disposition.
Besides answering Mahon’s questions about his decision to give up his right to a trial and plead guilty, Smith said nothing about the case.
According to Gosfield, Smith and Webb were at their home on Buckwalter Road in Schuylkill, outside
Phoenixville, around 11:30 p.m on May 2, 2016. They were arguing about their relationship, with Smith’s son asleep upstairs and her two children awake. All of the children were under 14.
Webb allegedly said that she was going to take her children and leave the house they shared. She began recording their argument on her cell phone, leading Smith to comment, “Oh, you’re recording this now,” according to Gosfield. He picked up the 12-gauge shotgun, cocked it, pointed it at her chest, and fired. She died immediately. When the children
heard the gunshots, they came downstairs and called 911.
Smith bears a scar on his left cheek from the gunshot with which he tried to take his own life.
Before accepting the plea, Mahon had to clear up some confusion as to who was representing Smith. Another attorney, Michael Quinn of Philadelphia, had represented him at previous hearings. But Flannery entered the case in December, he said for the purpose of negotiating with the D.A.’s Office over the case.
Flannery told Mahon that disagreements that he had previously with Quinn, which led him to file a request to withdraw from the case last month, had been resolved. Smiths said he was satisfied with the representation of both men, and that he wanted to resolve the case without going to trial.
“Are you pleading guilty to these charges because you are in fact guilty of them?” Mahon asked.
“Yes,” Smith answered.