Arrogant teen turns down plea deal, ends up with 65-year prison sentence

An arrogant young man laughed during his sentencing hearing Thursday, despite being sentenced to 65 years in prison.

The tragic irony is that Lakeith Smith, 19, could have saved himself an additional 40 years in prison had he accepted a 25-year-old plea agreement previously offered to him by the court. But instead the arrogant teen had rejected the deal, according to the Montgomery Advertiser.

At his sentencing hearing Thursday in front of Judge Sibley Reynolds, Smith’s already defiant behavior deteriorated even further.

“I don’t have time for this,” he said while waiting for the judge to call him forward.

“You got plenty of time for this,” Reynolds replied. “When I called the case earlier you said you ain’t got time for this, so I didn’t know if you had time for this now?”

This spurred the punk teen into bursting out laughing, to which Reynolds replied by bluntly stating, “You just don’t get it, do you?”

No, he certainly didn’t.

The kid was subsequently sentenced to 65 years in prison on charges of felony murder, armed burglary, second-degree theft and third-degree theft.

(Screenshot)

The Montgomery Advertiser notes that the crimes occurred during a string of armed burglaries in 2015 involving both Smith and four of his cohorts.

After local authorities arrived on the scene, a shootout reportedly broke out between them and Smith’s band of robbers. During the shootout one of Smith’s peers, A’Donte Washington, 16, wound up dead.

Though Smith wasn’t personally responsible for Washington’s death, a relatively new accomplice liability law says in effect that he and his peers are “criminally responsible for the acts that led to Washington’s death,” USA Today reported.

It makes sense given that had Smith and his four cohorts not chosen to pull off a string of armed robberies, Washington would still be alive today.

Speaking with New Orleans station WVUE after the verdict, Chief District Attorney C.J. Robinson expressed surprise at Smith’s lack of remorse.

“After the jury verdict, he was laughing. Today in court he was laughing. I have yet to understand what was so funny,” he said.

Yet he felt compassion for Smith’s family.

“Standing there in court, I couldn’t help but have compassion for his grandfather, for his family. Because of his stupidity, they have lost him for 65 years.”

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