LaKeith Smith Case: Felony Murder, 65-Year Sentence, and Appeal

The LaKeith Smith case is the Alabama prosecution of a 15-year-old who was convicted of murder and sentenced to 65 years in prison for the death of his 16-year-old friend A’Donte Washington, who was shot and killed by a Millbrook police officer during a February 2015 burglary. Smith never fired a weapon. Under Alabama’s felony murder rule, that did not matter. His sentence was later cut to 55 years, then to 30, and his lawyers were still trying to reopen an appeal in 2025.

What Happened in Millbrook

On February 23, 2015, Smith and four other teenagers broke into a home on Clearview Lane in Millbrook, Alabama, to steal electronics. A neighbor called the police. When officers arrived, the teens tried to flee out the back, and a shootout followed.¹

Washington, 16, was shot in the neck and killed as he cleared a backyard fence. Police said he had pointed a gun at the officer who fired. The officer was never publicly identified. After the State Bureau of Investigation reviewed the shooting, an Elmore County grand jury declined to indict the officer, finding the use of force justified. Chief Deputy District Attorney C.J. Robinson, who presented the case to the grand jury, said the preliminary report backed that conclusion, and Millbrook’s then-mayor called the shooting “110% justified.”²

Why Smith Was Charged With Murder

Smith was charged under Alabama’s felony murder statute, Ala. Code § 13A-6-2. The law lets prosecutors charge anyone taking part in certain felonies with murder when a death occurs during the crime, even if the defendant did not cause the death and did not intend for anyone to die.³

Alabama is one of roughly 14 states that follow the “proximate cause” theory of felony murder. Under that approach, a defendant can be convicted of murder even when the fatal shot is fired by a third party such as a bystander, a store clerk, or, as in Smith’s case, a police officer.⁴ Alabama law provides no affirmative defenses for felony murder, so a defendant cannot argue they were unarmed, acting under duress, or had no reason to expect violence.³

Prosecutors moved Smith out of juvenile court and tried him as an adult. Under Alabama law at the time, a prosecutor could make that transfer decision for certain offenses, and once a juvenile was transferred, juvenile court jurisdiction ended permanently.⁵

The 65-Year Sentence

Smith was offered a plea deal of 25 years. He turned it down and went to trial.¹ The three surviving co-defendants pleaded guilty and received sentences ranging from 17 to 28 years.⁶

Smith, the youngest of the group, was convicted and sentenced by Elmore County Circuit Judge Sibley Reynolds to 65 years, broken down as:⁷

30 years for felony murder
15 years for first-degree burglary
10 years for each of two theft convictions

All four terms ran consecutively. District Attorney Randall Houston defended the outcome: “If you’re gonna bring a gun and commit a crime and somebody dies, there’s consequences in Alabama — it’s felony-murder.”¹

How the Sentence Was Reduced

In 2019, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals found that two of Smith’s theft sentences could not properly run consecutively with the burglary conviction. Judge Reynolds modified the sentence so that one of the 10-year theft terms ran concurrently, cutting the total from 65 years to 55.⁷

In 2021, Smith’s legal team filed a Rule 32 petition for post-conviction relief, arguing his original trial attorney had been ineffective at sentencing by failing to present mitigating evidence about Smith’s age, background, home life, and intellectual deficits.⁸ The new District Attorney, C.J. Robinson, who had succeeded Houston after his 2022 retirement, agreed that the original lawyer had done an “inadequate job at sentencing.”⁹

On March 21, 2023, Judge Reynolds resentenced Smith to 30 years for felony murder and ordered the burglary and theft sentences to run concurrently.¹⁰ Smith’s attorney, Leroy Maxwell, said the result still fell short. “What he received today was not justice. It was clearly an over-sentence,” Maxwell told reporters, calling Smith the “poster child” for misuse of felony murder laws.⁹

The 2025 Appeal Effort

The defense missed the deadline to appeal the 30-year sentence by two days. On April 3, 2025, Smith appeared before Judge Reynolds again, represented by attorney Gabrielle Humber. The defense filed a new Rule 32 petition arguing that the 2023 resentencing was a new sentence that should open a fresh appeal window, and that the 30-year term amounts to cruel and unusual punishment and violates due process.¹¹

Robinson pushed back. He called the hearing “very procedural in nature” and told reporters he was not aware of “any valid argument there other than the fact that ‘we want to appeal hoping that something miraculous would happen.'”¹² Judge Reynolds recessed to review the arguments and had not ruled as of the hearing date.¹¹

The Law Itself Has Not Changed

Alabama’s felony murder rule remains on the books as it was applied to Smith. In 2024, state Representative Chris England introduced House Bill 32, which would have carved out an exception when the person killed was a participant in the underlying crime. The Alabama House Judiciary Committee rejected the bill on March 20, 2024. Opponents, including Shelby County District Attorney Matt Casey, argued the statute remains a necessary tool for holding all participants in violent felonies accountable.⁴

Between 2009 and 2017, 83% of people charged with felony murder in Alabama were Black, while Black residents make up about 27% of the state’s population. Felony murder charges accounted for nearly 10% of all murder charges statewide over that period, and 70% of those charged were ultimately convicted.³

Smith remains incarcerated and is serving the 30-year sentence.

1
BBC News. Lakeith Smith: Alabama Teen Convicted of Murder of Friend Killed by Police
2
WSFA. Teens Family Left With Questions After Deadly Millbrook Police Shooting
3
Felony Murder Reporting Project. Alabama Felony Murder
4
Alabama Reflector. Bill to Overhaul Felony Murder Charges Rejected by Alabama House Committee
5
ACLU of Tennessee. Lakeith Smith Case Demonstrates Systems Brokenness
6
Mother Jones. Police Killed His Friend and Blamed Him. He Got 65 Years. He Was 15.
7
Montgomery Advertiser. Lakeith Smith Sentence Reduced 10 Years
8
AL.com. Lakeith Smith Resentenced to 30 Years
9
WKRG. Lakeith Smith Resentencing Alabama
10
Montgomery Advertiser. Whats Next for Lakeith Smith Resentenced in Homicide of Friend
11
Elmore Autauga News. 10 Years After Millbrook Home Invasion Resulted in Death Lakeith Smith Back in Court
12
WSFA. Lakeith Smith Returns to Court to Appeal 30-Year Sentence