Smith-Ashe entered the plea bargain under the Alford doctrine, meaning he didn’t admit guilt, but acknowledged the prosecution’s evidence was sufficient for a conviction at trial.
That evidence included identification by the stabbing victim, who told police he had been stabbed by “Jerelle Smith” and later identified a single picture of Smith-Ashe as the assailant, according to an affidavit by Hartford Police Detective Amanda Lisnow.
Under the plea bargain, Smith-Ashe could have faced up to four years and three months in prison, but the deal gave his public defender, Brian R. Pear, the right to argue for a shorter prison term.
Pear could not be reached for comment about the arguments he made in support of the 18-month reduction in the prison term.
Under the sentence, Smith-Ashe will be on probation for three years after he is released from prison, facing up to five years and three months of additional prison time if he violates release conditions.
The stabbing was reported to police just before 11 p.m. on Nov. 10, 2021, Lisnow reported. Smith-Ashe was arrested on Feb. 7, 2022, and was held in lieu of $250,000 bond while the case was in court, records show.
At one point, a judge directed that he receive medical and mental health attention in jail, according to the records.
Police officers found the victim, who was 33 at the time, at Hartford Hospital “suffering from a serious stab wound to his chest,” Lisnow reported. Before being rushed into emergency surgery, the man told police he had been stabbed in the 500 block of Hudson Street in Hartford, the detective wrote in the report.
The detective reported that police found a substance resembling blood on the sidewalk in the 500 block of Hudson Street, then reviewed surveillance video that showed the victim, another man and a woman standing outside a parking garage. The video shows the man “hitting” the victim in the chest, according to the report. The suspect and the woman were then seen on the video walking away and entering a building in the 500 block of Hudson Street, the report stated.
Police located a woman fitting the description of the person in the video and she claimed she knew the man seen with her only as “Kevin” and denied seeing the stabbing, the report stated.
Property management of the Hudson Street building where the suspect and the woman were seen entering provided video footage of the man throwing an object in a dumpster, according to the report. The property management also said the man was living with the woman in the building, the report stated.
Lisnow reported that a fellow detective checked the dumpster and found a 12-inch kitchen knife with a black and purple handle covered in a substance resembling blood.