What to Know
Killing the mother of your children takes an especially evil person. William DeAndre-Kashawn Smith might be the poster child for these vile human beings. The Michigan father will spend the rest of his life in prison for killing Shi’Ana Gittens, the mother of his four children. Smith didn’t just kill Gittens. He brutally murdered her as she lay in bed with two of her young children sleeping beside her. Smith had zero regard for Gittens’ life or what his actions would do to his children. He’ll have plenty of time to think about his choices in prison.
Smith shot Gittens in cold blood.
WLNS News reported emergency crews responded to a home in Summit Township in Michigan following the report of an unresponsive woman. When they arrived, they found Gittens with a gunshot wound to the head. Investigators collected cell phone and vehicle data along with surveillance video that led them to Smith.
“We had the cell phones, we had the car stuff, we had the videos,” Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney Kelsey Guernsey said in court. “But there was also a really big emotional component to this case in that this woman was found by her then 8- and 6-year-old children.”
Smith’s team attempted to argue that there was not enough evidence to convict.
Defense attorney Andrew Kirkpatrick argued there was insufficient evidence to pin the crime on Smith, Law & Crime reported.
“There’s no eyewitnesses. They found a shell casing. There’s no DNA on the shell. The detective went through all the text messages, all the phones, all the information and there was no indication he ever admitted to doing this or he was ever involved in this,” Kirkpatrick said.
Even Smith tried to convince the jury by professing his innocence.
“I love her and I love my kids,” Smith said in court. “I don’t understand how I’m in the situation am in. I feel set up.”
The jury didn’t buy the defense.
In the end, Jackson County Circuit Judge John McBain let Smith know just how he felt about the man’s decision to kill the mother of his children, per MLive. The judge spared no feelings and gave Smith a quick preview of the rest of his life in prison.
“You shot her in the head with a .28-caliber round while your daughter was in this bed with her,” McBain said. “You just executed her in the presence of your two kids. You never have to worry about what a parole board will do with you because, all things being equal, you’re going to go into the front of the Jackson prison and they’re gonna take you out in a black bag at some point when you die.”
Gittens didn’t have a say in how her life would end, and her children certainly never expected to find their mother dead. McBain’s words are so hauntingly accurate. Smith doesn’t deserve to ever step foot outside the prison walls again.
