Smith

HOLLIDAYSBURG — A former Tyrone-area man was convicted Thursday of raping and sexually assaulting his ex-girlfriend’s 14-year-old daughter when he lived with them in 2019 in their Snyder Township residence.

James G. Smith Jr., 39, Nanty Glo, shook his head no in Blair County court, where guilty verdicts were announced to address 11 charges filed against him in 2023 based on a state police investigation that developed after the victim, in 2022, made an unexpected statement at school.

The victim, now 19 years old and seated in the gallery of the courtroom where she testified Tuesday and described how she was raped and sexually assaulted, began crying upon hearing the initial guilty verdicts.

She then buried her head against her mother, who provided a comforting embrace as each of the remaining guilty verdicts were announced.

Smith, who was convicted of felony counts of rape by force, statutory sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, sexual assault, endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of minors and related misdemeanor counts, is scheduled for sentencing on Aug. 8.

President Judge Wade A. Kagarise, who presided over the three-day trial, ordered a pre-sentence investigation for what’s expected to lead to a lengthy state prison sentence. The judge also indicated that he would sign an order for Smith to be evaluated by the state Sexual Offenders Assessment Board.

“You made (the victim’s) voice heard,” the mother said later to Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Mays, who asked the jury for convictions.

Smith, who took the stand in his own defense, denied the allegations and gathered evidence of his whereabouts in an attempt to convince the jury that he wasn’t guilty.

“He’s telling you he didn’t do it because that’s the truth,” defense attorney Ted Krol said in wrapping up his case.

Mays told the jurors in his closing that they had to decide who to believe and that their choice should be based on the evidence.

“Stop and think about this case,” the prosecutor said. “The more you do, the more credible (the victim) becomes and the more guilty the defendant becomes.”

‘The world just stopped’

The victim told the jury that she was 14 years old and in eighth grade when Smith came into her bedroom while she was playing online games. She recalled thinking he was going to yell at her for being too loud. But instead she said he closed the door, took off his pants and held her to the bed and raped her as she smelled the alcohol on his breath.

When Smith testified, he spoke of drinking alcohol while working outdoors with a family member when living with the mother and her daughter.

The daughter told the jury that when she was raped, she was frozen and unable to move while enduring the pain.

“It was like the world just stopped,” she said.

She also described a second incident, when she said Smith offered to show her a computer game, then shoved his hand down her pants and sexually assaulted her.

Krol criticized the prosecution’s case by pointing out that the criminal charges police filed against Smith indicated that these incidents occurred between Dec. 1, 2017, and Nov. 22, 2019. But testimony indicated that Smith didn’t meet the girl’s mother until sometime in 2018, the same year he moved in with her and her daughter.

Mays relied on a state police-videotaped interview of Smith — in 2023 when he was under investigation — to confirm that the daughter’s behavior and demeanor changed during the time he lived in her household.

In that interview, Smith told Cpl. Kim Ronan of the Hollidaysburg barracks that when he moved in, the daughter was “a good kid” who didn’t get into trouble and always went to school.

But when Smith moved out in June 2022, he said he wanted the mother to get help for her daughter, who had started cutting herself and moved out to live with grandparents.

Krol suggested to the jury that the daughter was an ultra-dependent child who felt threatened when Smith became an important part of her mother’s life and with the arrival of her baby sister.

Mays told the jury to reject the excuses offered in Smith’s defense, including Smith’s suggestion that the victim came up with the allegations to get him out of the house.

Smith was no longer living in the house when the allegations surfaced in November 2022, Mays said.

Mays also displayed, during his closing, the pictures and words that the victim created during a Jan. 23, 2023, interview at the Altoona Child Advocacy Center. They included a drawing with the words: “I can’t breathe” and “I feel like I’m drowning.”

It was during that same interview when she stated: “I was hurt, the R-word. I don’t like saying that.”

Smith, who has been free on bail awaiting trial, was escorted from the courtroom to the county prison to await sentencing.

Kagarise rebuffed Krol’s request to permit Smith to remain out of prison pending sentence in light of having no bail violations for almost two years.

Instead, the judge granted Mays’ request for bail to be revoked and ordered Smith to be remanded, prompting sheriff deputies to put handcuffs around his wrists.

“I can’t give my family a hug or nothing?” Smith said as deputies directed him toward the door.

The victim, who wiped away tears as she accepted hugs and praise from family, friends and those who testified on her behalf, said she intends to focus on her college classes and get a degree in social work.

“I have a bunch of support here,” she said.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.