Lemuel Smith is a New York serial killer who murdered at least five people between 1958 and 1981, including a corrections officer he killed inside Green Haven Correctional Facility while already serving two consecutive life sentences for a double murder in Albany. Now in his eighties and confined to a wheelchair, he is incarcerated at Wende Correctional Facility in Erie County, New York, serving life without the possibility of parole.1Times Union. Capital Region Serial Killer Wants Isolation
The Killings Attributed to Him
Smith grew up in Amsterdam, New York. A Radford University case study records violent behavior beginning in his teens, including stalking and assaulting girls between the ages of 10 and 17, and a December 1957 indictment for burglarizing two Amsterdam shops when he was 16.2Radford University. Lemuel Smith Serial Killer Case Study
On January 21, 1958, Dorothy Waterstreet was murdered in Amsterdam. Smith, then 17, was brought in for questioning two days later, though available records do not indicate he was ever formally charged or convicted in her death.2Radford University. Lemuel Smith Serial Killer Case Study Later that year he beat a woman named Edna Johnson in Schenectady, and in April 1959 he was sentenced to a maximum of 20 years for that assault.
After his release, Smith killed four people in the Capital Region over roughly eight months. On November 24, 1976, the night before Thanksgiving, he entered the Hedderman Religious Shop at 50 Columbia Street in Albany and killed owner Robert Hedderman and employee Margaret Byron. Both were stabbed multiple times in the chest and had their throats slit. Witness William Weber identified Smith near Byron’s body inside the store, Maureen Toomey identified him leaving, and an FBI hair analysis matched a hair found on Smith’s sweater to Byron.3Midpage. People v. Smith, 59 N.Y.2d 156
On December 23, 1976, Smith abducted and murdered Joan Richburg at Colonie Center, a shopping mall near Albany.1Times Union. Capital Region Serial Killer Wants Isolation In July 1977 he stabbed Marilee Wilson to death in Schenectady. Prosecutors chose not to try him for either killing because he was already serving multiple life sentences.
Smith was indicted for the Hedderman and Byron murders only after a recorded March 5, 1978 meeting in which he admitted the killings, and after his psychiatrist Dr. Zvi Klopott testified before a grand jury in October 1978.4CaseMine. People v. Smith At that meeting Smith claimed that a dead infant brother named “John” lived within him and was responsible for his violence. Clinicians had reached conflicting conclusions about his mental health: a 1976 parole officer diagnosed schizophrenia, Dr. Klopott diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia in 1977, and social worker Eleanor Lee described multiple personality disorder.2Radford University. Lemuel Smith Serial Killer Case Study His insanity defense was unsuccessful. A jury convicted him of the Albany murders and he received consecutive sentences of 25 years to life for each, affirmed by the New York Court of Appeals on June 7, 1983.3Midpage. People v. Smith, 59 N.Y.2d 156
The Prison Murder of Donna Payant
On May 15, 1981, while serving the two consecutive 25-to-life sentences at Green Haven Correctional Facility in Dutchess County, Smith murdered corrections officer Donna Payant. She was 31, a mother of three, and had been on the job for roughly one month. Her husband was a guard at another state prison, and her father had worked at the Dannemora facility for over 28 years.5Corrections1. 1981 Murder at Green Haven Followed Prison Dysfunction
Payant reportedly answered a phone call during her shift, handed her keys and radio to a colleague, and walked toward the Catholic chaplain’s office where Smith was assigned to work. She was reported missing five hours later. Her body was found the next day at a landfill in Amenia, about 25 miles away, wrapped in trash bags. She had been strangled, severely bitten, and sexually mutilated.6CBS6 Albany. Son of Murdered Prison Guard Wants Smith Case Reopened It was the first on-duty killing of a female prison guard in New York State.5Corrections1. 1981 Murder at Green Haven Followed Prison Dysfunction
Investigators focused on Smith immediately. Testimony placed him entering the chaplain’s office with Payant that day.6CBS6 Albany. Son of Murdered Prison Guard Wants Smith Case Reopened On May 25, 1981, authorities obtained a court order to seize his false teeth for comparison to bite marks on the victim.7vLex. People v. Smith, Pretrial Decision Forensic dentist Dr. Lowell J. Levine, who had testified in over 200 cases, compared photographs of the wounds to a 1978 dental cast of Smith and concluded the marks matched. He also testified that the bite marks on Payant appeared identical to those on Marilee Wilson, the Schenectady victim from 1977.8New York Times. Tooth Marks of Suspect Key in Murder of Guard
Death Sentence Overturned
Smith was tried in State Supreme Court in Dutchess County before Justice Albert M. Rosenblatt, represented by William M. Kunstler and C. Vernon Mason. The defense moved for resubmission to a grand jury, alleging prosecutors had withheld two anonymous calls claiming Payant was killed by prison guards.9New York Times. Plea of Not Guilty in Guard’s Slaying Kunstler argued that Payant had threatened to expose a marijuana ring involving guards. Mason challenged the bite mark evidence as potentially fabricated and cited racial prejudice in the investigation.8New York Times. Tooth Marks of Suspect Key in Murder of Guard
On April 22, 1983, after four days of deliberation, the jury found Smith guilty of first-degree murder. On hearing the verdict he said, “I feel good, I have God’s peace. I didn’t do anything.”10New York Times. Convicted Killer Is Found Guilty in Guard Death Under New York’s 1974 statute, the murder of a corrections officer by an inmate serving a life sentence carried an automatic death penalty. On June 10, 1983, Justice Rosenblatt sentenced him to death by electrocution, with the execution initially set for the week of July 10.11New York Times. Convict Is Sentenced to Death for Murder of a Prison Guard Kunstler’s appeal stayed the sentence automatically.
On July 2, 1984, the New York Court of Appeals struck down the state’s mandatory death penalty law as unconstitutional in a 4-to-3 decision written by Judge Judith Kaye.12vLex. People v. Smith, 63 N.Y.2d 41 Smith was the lone occupant of New York’s death row at the time. The court upheld his conviction but vacated the death sentence, remanding for resentencing.13Washington Post. Death Penalty Law Rejected He was resentenced to life without parole.
Four Decades in Isolation and the 2024 Settlement
Smith spent most of the next four decades held in some form of isolation, including administrative segregation from September 1996 through September 2020. He later sued three retired Department of Corrections and Community Supervision officials in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, alleging that nearly 40 years in solitary confinement amounted to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. His attorneys, Tracy Burnett and Jonathan Jeremias of McLaughlin & Stern, said they were not seeking release, only a transfer to less restrictive conditions.1Times Union. Capital Region Serial Killer Wants Isolation
Trial was set to begin February 26, 2024, before Chief Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford. A settlement was reached that same day with the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James.14CBS6 Albany. Settlement Reached in Capital Region Serial Killer Lawsuit A related settlement filed March 20 provided $5,000 to Smith and $5,000 to his legal counsel, with the state admitting no wrongdoing. The agreement called for a physical therapist to evaluate Smith for an appropriate wheelchair.15WNYT. Serial Killer Who Sued Over Solitary Confinement to Get $5,000, New Wheelchair
Lingering Doubts From the Victim’s Son
Chris Payant, Donna Payant’s son, worked 28 years as a prison guard himself. He has publicly called for the case to be reexamined, arguing that his mother was targeted by corrupt corrections officers who wanted her to join a prison drug ring and killed her when she refused or threatened to expose them.6CBS6 Albany. Son of Murdered Prison Guard Wants Smith Case Reopened He questions the bite mark evidence, noting that Smith’s dental impressions had been taken before the murder and could, in his view, have been used to stage physical evidence.
Albany defense attorney Paul DerOhannesian said “there has always been a question whether someone else was involved from inside the system,” but added that the passage of time, potential loss of evidence, and the substantial evidence against Smith make reopening the case difficult.6CBS6 Albany. Son of Murdered Prison Guard Wants Smith Case Reopened Smith filed multiple appeals after his 1983 conviction, challenging the evidence and the adequacy of his legal representation. The verdict was upheld each time.
Where He Is Now
As of early 2024, Smith is incarcerated at Wende Correctional Facility in Erie County, New York. He is in his eighties, uses a wheelchair, has been described as immobile, and takes medication for a heart condition, high blood pressure, and prostate cancer.15WNYT. Serial Killer Who Sued Over Solitary Confinement to Get $5,000, New Wheelchair After the federal lawsuit was resolved, corrections officials reported that Smith had been moved into the general population rather than restrictive custody.1Times Union. Capital Region Serial Killer Wants Isolation He is serving life without parole and has no prospect of release.