Eric Smith apologizes as he pleads guilty to obstruction of justice
Eric Smith apologized and accepted responsibility for attempting to persuade three people to lie to federal authorities about his illicit use of nearly $70,000 in campaign funds.
Smith, 54, the former Macomb County prosecutor, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice Wednesday during a remote hearing held in front of Judge Linda Parker in U.S. District Court in Detroit.
“I fully accept responsibility for my actions,” Smith told the judge. “I acted alone. I acted for my own benefit. I deeply regret my actions and the shame that I’ve brought to my wife and my children and the office I have spent working for almost 30 years, and the people of Macomb County.”
Smith is scheduled to be sentenced April 27, where he faces a likely term of between 15 and 21 months, per the plea agreement with U.S. Attorneys. The maximum penalty for obstruction is 20 years.
Smith also agreed to pay $69,950 in restitution by his sentencing.
Smith, who served as prosecutor for more than 15 years, was charged by U.S. Attorneys in September after he resigned in March, three days after he was charged with 10 felonies in a separate case in which he is accused by the
Michigan Attorney General’s Office of illegal expenditure of up to $600,000 in a county forfeiture fund. He faces a three-day preliminary examination April 21-23 in 41B District Court in Clinton Township.
For Wednesday’s hearing, Smith appeared by video in a conference room with his two attorneys, Marty Crandell and John Dakmak.
Smith, dressed in a sport jacket and sporting a beard, appeared solemn and contrite.
In the federal case, Smith admitted he asked three “friends” to lie to federal investigators and/ or a federal grand jury last year regarding his theft of $69,950 in campaign funds.
“I intended to have three friends of mine give inaccurate information to the government regarding actions
I had taken,” he said. “I shouldn’t have done that. I knew it was wrong.”
“You attempted to influence their testimony,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Moran asked Smith. “Yes,” Smith said.
“You attempted to persuade him (one of his associates) to tell a lie, is that correct?” said Moran, a former assistant prosecutor in Wayne County.
“Yes, that is correct,”
Smith replied.
Detroit-based U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider, who leaves office Monday, said the case should demonstrate that corrupt authorities will be rooted out.
“Some may view Smith’s conviction as a reason to lack confidence in our elected officials or our prosecutors,” Schneider said in a news release. “But the opposite is true. This case shows that our system works. When there is a rare case where a law enforcement officer commits crimes, he or she will be held accountable. Smith’s case is that kind of case. No one is above the law in Michigan — and that includes those who enforce the law.”
“Any attempt to hinder a criminal investigation is a very serious matter,” added Timothy Waters, special agent in charge of the FBI in Detroit. “This case, a man who had taken an oath to uphold the law, was actively encouraging others to break it. That Mr. Smith was unsuccessful in his attempt to undermine the investigation is a testament to the determination of the FBI to hold individuals accountable when they break the law.”
Smith’s attempts to get people to lie for him were part of two schemes to steal a total of $75,000 from the fund that he was required by law to pay for his re-election campaign from.
In one scheme, according to U.S. Attorneys, Smith falsely claimed that he was using campaign funds to pay rent on a campaign office. However, Smith never used the office in Shelby Township but instead wrote dozens of fraudulent checks over seven years to a friend, the building owner, worth nearly $55,000. The friend then kicked back cash from all of the cashed checks to Smith to use for his personal expenses.