John Eldon Smith
John Eldon Smith | |
|---|---|
John Eldon Smith (right), walking alongside Bibb County's Sheriff Bloodsworth after Smith was sentenced to death, January 1975 | |
| Born | September 17, 1930 Altoona, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | December 15, 1983 (aged 53) |
| Cause of death | Execution by electrocution |
| Other names |
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| Conviction | Murder (2 counts) |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Imprisoned at | Georgia State Prison (1974-1980) Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison (1980–1983) |
John Eldon Smith (September 17, 1930 – December 15, 1983), who frequently went by the alias Anthony Isalldo Michetti, was an American man who was convicted of the murders of Ronald and Juanita Akins. Smith's wife, Rebecca Turpin, had formerly been married to Akins and stood to gain $53,000 from Akins's life insurance policy if he were to be murdered. Rebecca, Smith, and an associate named John Maree conspired to ambush and murder Akins.
All three were captured, and partly due to his cooperation with authorities, Maree was sentenced to life imprisonment, while Smith and Rebecca were sentenced to death. Rebecca's sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment, while Smith was executed by the state of Georgia via electric chair at the age of 53, thus becoming the first person to be executed in Georgia since 1964, when the death penalty in the United States and after the Gregg v. Georgia case, which reaffirmed the death penalty nationwide.