State of Alabama vs. Brittany Smith (2022)

[bunniefuu]

There's absolutely
nothing to do around here.

So, instead of doing drugs,
I go out in the woods.

Even though people think
that I'm cra...

I probably do look crazy
out there digging for rocks.

But I... I really like
looking for rocks and fossils.

I think it's cool, so whatever.

I have some cool fossils except
for the one that turned out to be dog poo.

I look for
just a few different types of crystals.

Healing powers, your chakra.

It helps me clear my mind.

I was arrested for m*rder.

The man was in my home.

I did what I thought I had to do,

what I did have to do,
no doubt in my mind.

'Cause If I wouldn't have, my brother
and I would both be dead right now.

I'm ready
for my Stand Your Ground hearing.

If they let me tell my story,
I believe that I'll win.

I've covered
Stand Your Ground cases before,

and almost all of them, they were men.

Stand Your Ground
is a self-defense law in Alabama.

And so, the police may go to a scene,
you know, find that someone's been k*lled,

and then they'll just say
it was justified.

And they often dismiss cases.

In Brittany's case,
she was charged with k*lling a man

who she accused of raping her.

And, if she is convicted,
she could face up to life in prison.

And so the most compelling thing
to me was,

"Are women able
to use the system to defend themselves

in the way that men are?"

I have two kids.

- There's my lovely brother.
- Brittany and Chris.

Say hi, Chris!

Their father and I divorced
when they were four and eight.

I was a single mom.

In Jackson County,
it's hard to be a single mom

because there's
not much financial assistance whatsoever

for a single mom.

I worked anywhere
from 12 to 16 hours a day,

sometimes more
if I could get more in, you know.

But we ended up living in the projects.

Brittany, she was smart as a whip.

I mean, that child
could pass a test, any test,

without ever even crackin' a book.

She was just really a honor roll student.

Brittany got married. I guess she was 19.

And then her husband left
and went back to his mom's.

They got back together,
they separated, they got back together.

I quit keeping up
because it was just like,

"Just let me know how many plates to set,"
you know, or...

She has four kids,

and she's had some hardships
being a single mom.

Trying to work,
trying to take care of the kids,

and then depression,
it really hit her hard.

When Brittany had Baby Will,

Baby Will had, uh, Potter's syndrome.

It... it's a genetic disorder.

He just lived 45 minutes.

When she lost a full-born child,
Brittany went out in left field

and found peace somewhere else
with addiction.

Oh, it's raining.

It's gotten really bad in Jackson County,
as a whole, with the drugs.

And it wasn't that way when I was a kid,
you know, growin' up.

When I noticed my daughter
started lookin' like a toothpick...

She started hanging out
with different people...

Can I take your order?

Do y'all want anything?

You good? Um...

I need two sausage,
egg, and cheese McGriddles.

- Thanks.
- Have a good day.

You too.

But, um, anyway, um,
it was just one hell of a ride.

I'm just gonna tell you.

I started using methamphetamine.

And then, just a few months in,
I lost my kids.

My world was gone.

When she lost child custody,
she hit rock bottom.

We did support and help her
as... as much as we could.

And she struggled.
She relapsed a couple of times.

But she pulled herself back up.

She did get clean, and she stayed clean.

And, I mean,
she was workin' at a home, doin' good.

And on January the 10th of 2018,

Brittany had a home evaluation done
on her home.

Made sure everything was safe
for the kids, and, um, she passed it.

The lady told her she was proud of her.

- Wow!
- Brittany was super excited.

We had waited so long
to get these kids back.

So you had a good time, huh?
Which one was your favorite animal to see?

The llama!

The llama? Did it try to spit on you?

Brittany was looking
to buy a puppy.

She wanted that puppy for the kids.

Todd Smith, he was a pit bull breeder.

She had met Todd
back in, like, high school days.

Brittany arranged with him to purchase
a pit bull puppy, which she did.

It was only just a couple of days later
that the sh**ting happened.

I get a call from Todd asking
if I would come and get him from the park

because his ride had dropped him off,
and they wouldn't come back and get him.

So I told him, you know,
"All right, we'll come and get you."

"You can stay on my couch for one night,
but tomorrow you have got to leave."

"You can't just hole up at my house.
It's not a crash house."

"I'm about to get my kids home."

And we talked for a little while.

And I wasn't trying to brag,
but I was like,

"You know, I'm working.
I'm about to get my children back."

"Things are looking forward for me."

And then...

...I don't know what happened.
Something snapped inside of this man.

And he jumped up
and started screaming at me.

And he headbutts me.

So I take off runnin' through the hallway
to my bedroom, and I slam the door.

And, um, he busted through the door
and tackled me on the bed

and started choking me.

And then I saw black, and I thought,

"This is what it's like to die.
God, please don't let me die."

And, uh, I woke up, and I peed on myself.

And my pants are off,

and he's raping me.

And he's still choking me.

And he says, "If you say one F-ing word,
I will k*ll you."

He said, "If you even breathe wrong,
I will k*ll you."

Brittany called, I guess, about 12:40.

And she said, um,

"Mama, will you bring me
a pack of cigarettes?"

And I said, um,

"Baby, I don't have any money
till Wednesday or Thursday," you know?

And, uh, she said, "Mama, I've got money."

She said, "Just... just get over here
and take me to the store."

'Cause we were down
to the one car, you know.

I was so tired.

I had worked that day.

It was freezing cold and snowin'.

My hair was wet, and I was like,

"Chris, can you just go take your sister
to the store to get some cigarettes?"

I'm a little bit irritated
because I'm tired.

But I... I get up,
and I head to Brittany's house.

I thought it was just gonna be
me and her going to the store.

But then Todd comes out behind Brittany,
and Brittany gets in the front seat.

Brittany was not talking as much,
but I didn't pay much attention.

I drive over into MAPCO.

While she's in the store,
me and Todd are talkin' in the car.

I was taking care of a customer,
and Brittany comes in.

She is, like, all out of sorts.

You could tell
she looked like she'd been in a fight.

And then I'm like, "What happened to you?"

And then, as soon as I said that,
she was like, "Shh."

You know, "Don't draw any attention."

And that's when she started telling me
what happened to her.

That she was being held hostage,

that she had been r*ped,
beaten by Todd Smith.

And I was like,
"Just stay here. Like, get in this room."

And she said,
"I can't. My brother's in the car."

"If I don't go back out there,
he's gonna hurt my brother."

After a minute, she comes out,

and I go to pull off
to take them back home.

Todd gets out of the car first and starts
to walk upstairs to go in the house,

and Brittany, before she gets out,

she tells me that I need to go back
to the MAPCO to talk to one of the clerks.

He was clueless.
Like, he had no idea.

And I started tellin' him,
and he was like, "What?"

So, I'm driving back
over to the house.

I always had my p*stol right here
on my side.

I... I went in the back door,

and... and Todd's in the kitchen,
gettin' something to drink.

I told him that he needed
to get his stuff and leave.

He's just standing there, not movin'.

I just wanted Todd gone.

I put my g*n on the counter

and try to physically remove him
from the house,

and then... then that's
when the fight started.

I run into the kitchen,
and they're fighting.

And Todd has my brother, choking him out.

I picked up the g*n,
and I said, "Todd, stop."

"I don't want to have to sh**t anybody.
Please let my brother go."

And he wouldn't, so I fired the g*n.

And nothing happened.

And so I shot again.

With the third time,
my brother and him fell down.

Jackson County 911.

Hi. I need an ambulance.
Someone just, um, got shot.

Where's the person
that shot him?

He's right here with me.
He's my brother. He's not going to jail.

He's like... he was trying to protect me.

What the f*ck do I do? Please help me.

Okay, you're gonna pump
his chest hard and fast 30 times.

One, two, three, four...

Please send an ambulance. Please.

They're on the way
and comin' as fast as they can, okay?

Okay. I'm going to the road.

- In here!
- Where... Who's the sh**ter?

- Who's the sh**ter?
- It's my brother.

Where's he at?
Come out of the house!

- Don't sh**t.
- Come on!

He shot him 'cause he choked me.

- Come on out!
- He r*ped me.

Hold a minute.
Is there anybody in the house?

- No.
- Stay here.

Found him downstairs.

- No pulse.
- No pulse. No pulse. Okay.

You know, I was raised
to do the right thing,

even though the rest of the world
may not see it like that.

In Jackson County,
women don't get treated fairly in general.

So I thought, "If I don't take the blame,
she's never gonna get her kids back."

The next morning, I woke up.
My heart sank.

I told Mom, "I have to go turn myself in."

What you originally told us,
that your brother shot him.

Yes.

Now you're saying
it was actually you

that actually shot him.

I should a told the truth
from the beginning.

She never should have been took
to jail. None of that is fair.

I taught her to fight, fight back
with everything you've got, and she did.

And I'm proud of her for it.

Ooh, they're all pretty. Swirl 'em up.

Look at that big one.

Like, I went everywhere,
and nobody will give me a job right now.

And the only thing that ke...
that makes me happy

is spending time with my kids.

And I can't even do that, for real?

You want to?

I want to be able to do what
I'm able to do with my neighbor's kids.

Oh, that's funny! Look at that.

I can't do this
with my own babies.

Bubbles!

"Further grounds will be set forth

in more detail
at the time of the hearings..."

Stand Your Ground,
when I first heard of it, I thought,

"That fits her situation perfectly."

She was arrested for self-defense.

I studied it.
I went online. I got a law book.

I thought, "Yes, this is her law
that's gonna get her out of this."

Wow.

- That's good news.
- Is that your cup?

Yep.

And we'll have the Stand Your Ground,

and then we're gonna ask
for those charges to be dismissed.

She had every right.
She was in her own home.

This is classic Stand Your Ground.

I think Brittany's story is very credible,
and we had the law on our side.

She's not engaged in an unlawful activity.
She's not the initial aggressor.

She's basically at the house.
The brother is being choked out by Todd.

Choke hold is deadly force.

She was justified in that.

I think we had
a strong Stand Your Ground case.

The DA got with Todd's family,

and they wanted me
to take a 25-year plea deal.

I told 'em
I'm not pleading out to anything. No.

Because I'm innocent,
and I will go to jail an innocent woman

before I'll plea out to anything
that I did not do.

Brittany's perspective was,
"I'm not gonna plead guilty."

"We're taking
the Stand Your Ground hearing."

I... I enjoy working
with Ron Smith as a private investigator.

And I'm former law enforcement.

I got out of law enforcement
several years ago

because I thought that there was
a need also for cases on the defense side.

There's people that live
in low-income areas.

They don't have
an investigator for their side,

so that's where that need is filled.

Typically in the South
in your Stand Your Ground,

it's a man standin' up and protecting
their life, liberty, property,

all of this that we've always heard.

Men get praised for that.

Where, if a woman does that or a minority,

it's viewed a lot different.

I think, in the South,
a lot of times people don't believe that

there's a problem
with sexual abuse and domestic violence.

Why is it okay
for a woman to sustain injuries

and continue to endure that
before something's done?

I'm for the underdog.

You know, I think I've always been
for the underdog.

We actually got a date
for the Stand Your Ground hearing.

It's, uh, January 14th, 2020.

And we're excited.

Praying, praying that this will be over.
This nightmare will be over.

I'm hoping that this goes through

because it shouldn't just be
a law for men.

Period.

When Brittany testified,
you could a heard a pin drop in that room.

It was just silent.

"Now, Brittany." "Yes, sir."

"Todd had come over initially
with permission?"

"Yes, sir."

"When he was attacking you in your house,
did he still have permission to be there?"

"No, sir."

"When attacking your brother,
did he have permission?"

"No, sir."

"Were you afraid he would hurt you?"

"He did hurt me."

The sexual as*ault nurse examiner

testified to 33 injuries on Brittany.

And the nurse's testimony
was very compelling.

"There were two abrasions
on the left side of the chin,

and they were consistent
with a bite mark."

"There were wounds to the chest,
to the breasts, legs, arms, feet."

And then, "She had a contusion
that was consistent with a hand print."

And then, "She had contusions
to the back of the neck."

"I would say my findings
were consistent with a strangulation."

Wow.

I mean, just cried like a baby.

Because that was my baby girl
on that paper.

The nurse also testified
that she could not say with certainty

that Brittany had been sexually assaulted.

But the nurse was clear about that,

that it's not unusual
in sexual as*ault cases

that you can't say with any certainty,
you know, that someone was r*ped.

Her story is corroborated
by her injuries.

I don't know what to do. I, like...

- I've been choked almost dead, like...
- Yes.

...r*ped almost in my bed twice.

So, he did r*pe you?

No, he did not r*pe me.
He was trying to.

In the 911 call, Brittany said
that she had not been r*ped.

Prosecutor Jason Pierce asked Brittany,

"Why would you lie about not being r*ped?"

Brittany, "I don't know."

Brittany's lawyers brought in information

that Brittany had been diagnosed
with PTSD

and that something like,
you know, saying in the moment,

"No, I wasn't r*ped,"
wouldn't be out of the question

for somebody who had been traumatized.

Do you want
to just spill your guts to... to a stranger

and tell 'em, "Okay, yeah,
I just got sexually assaulted and r*ped."

A lot of r*pe victims
don't disclose immediately.

It might be years.

Prosecutor Jason Pierce says,
"It seems like you have selective memory."

I mean, obviously, the... the whole point
of... of the prosecution

was to cast doubt right on her story.

She was obviously being asked
about some really difficult things,

but I would say she was really measured.

The prosecutor asked Brittany,

"You hadn't seen him
with a weapon of any sort that evening?"

Brittany answers, "His hands."

Mr. Pierce says,
"Okay. And that would be..."

Brittany cuts in
and says, "And his p*nis."

"And his mouth."

"I saw several weapons."

Todd Smith had very high levels
of methamphetamine in his system.

Extremely high.

The toxicologist testifies
that 200 would be, like, a common amount

that you would see in a DUI case
where someone is on meth.

If you see a video,

and there's somebody trying
to be restrained by the police,

and there's five officers tasing him
and hitting him with their clubs,

and the guy keeps fighting like Superman,

she said that is similar

to what that level of meth
in your system would produce.

I asked him, "What's that
make you feel like?" He said, "Superman."

Me and Todd, we were real close.
He's like a brother to me.

I remember having our four-wheelers
and motorcycles up the mountain.

There's a little creek there.

We'd always get us a drink of water there
out of the spring.

If you really didn't know Todd,
weren't around him every day,

you wouldn't understand him.

Todd was a totally different person
if it hadn't been for drugs.

This is, like,
a criminal history printout

for Todd Smith.

There are definitely
dozens of arrests here.

Some of these are
domestic violence charges.

There's another as*ault.

Aggravated as*ault.

Todd's ex-wife knows
what I went through.

She's lucky to be alive,
and she's a very brave soul.

I was held c*ptive numerous times
by Todd and beaten over the years.

The last story I had
that reminded me so much of Brittany was

I was duct-taped and tied to a chair.

I had been held c*ptive by him for days.
Beaten, r*ped, sodomized.

Everything Brittany had went through
and... and more.

During
the Stand Your Ground hearing,

like, repeatedly brought up
by her prosecutor, Jason Pierce,

was the question of,
"Is Brittany credible?"

The night that the as*ault happened,

Brittany initially just reached out
to her mom.

She didn't call the police.

Todd said, "If you call the police,
I will k*ll you."

But I had to get some help somehow.

So I said, "Let's go smoke a cigarette."

I knew I didn't have cigarettes.

I knew I was gonna have to call somebody
'cause I didn't have a car at the time.

That night, when she called me,
he had it on speakerphone.

He could hear what she was sayin'.

'Cause he didn't want her
lettin' anybody know what had happened.

Also, Paige Painter testified
about being at work,

uh, the night
that Brittany came into the store

and told her that she had been assaulted.

Brittany said, "Give me
a piece of paper and a pen."

And she started writing down
names and phone numbers.

She said, "If something happens to me,
Todd Smith did it."

And, uh, she said, "Call... call my mom
and tell her to come get me."

"Can you explain that, please?"

"Somehow, you believed your mother
would be in a better position

to handle violent, angry Todd
than a police officer?"

I really wanted my mom.

Because, in Jackson County, I feel like
the police are always on the man's side,

but, um, I know that my mother
would have got him out of that house.

I've seen police officers show up
in Jackson County

to a domestic violence call
and tell people,

"Look, both of y'all
are gonna go to jail."

"It's not gonna be one of y'all.
Both of you are gonna go."

Instead of actually trying
to figure out what happened.

Around here, usually,
women get the short end of the stick.

My mom,
her and her ex-husband fought constantly,

like, beating each other up.

And my mom would... she would go to jail
every single time.

So I am not shocked at all
that Brittany wanted me to call her mom.

During the trial,
there was a lot of women

that were marching for Brittany.

And there was a lot of stories
that were told that day.

Women are coming out and talking more
about what has happened to them

and how the justice system
has failed them as well.

But, you know, they're willing
to stand up and fight now.

They're... they're ready to see a change.

There's been so many women
reach out to me and share their stories.

People that are minorities,

different races,
different sexualities, religions.

Everybody reaching out to me,
telling me that they've been abused,

and they've went to the police,
but the police wouldn't make an arrest.

And some of them are women in jail
for fighting back.

A lot were from Alabama,

and they've been from North Carolina,
from New York, New Mexico,

from just everywhere.

The Stand Your Ground law is
for white men only, from what I've seen.

It's not for minorities.
It's not for women. It's for white men.

And I don't think that's fair.

They've lit a fire in me.

We're just little nobodies over here.
That's the way we're viewed.

But when you get
a ton of little nobodies together...

especially pissed-off women,

they become somebody big.

We are somebody.

We have a voice. We're fixing to use it.

I want to get my children back.

I want them to know
that Mommy's not a m*rder*r,

that Mommy defended herself,

and that
you should always defend yourself.

I pray. I pray that everything goes okay.

It will.

It will.

A few weeks
after the Stand Your Ground hearing,

Judge Holt issued a 19-page order
denying Stand Your Ground immunity.

And essentially, the judge wrote
that Brittany had not proven

that she was legally justified
in pulling the trigger.

Did Todd attack Brittany Smith?

Well, it... it seems pretty clear
that he did.

The judge probably believed
the attack happened.

Of course, that's not
when Brittany Smith shot Todd.

Was she justified in believing

that Todd was going to k*ll
or going to seriously injure her brother?

That's the issue,
and I think the judge thought

it was an important factor
when she denied our motion.

Upon consideration
of all the evidence,

the court finds that the defendant
has given inconsistent accounts

"of the events surrounding Todd's death."

For example, Brittany's initial lie

that her brother had been
the one who pulled the trigger

did kind of come back to haunt her.

In the eyes of the judge,
it did harm, like, her credibility.

And so I think it was pretty clear

that the judge
did not believe her testimony.

It's gonna be okay. Okay?

It's gonna be okay.

Most of the reaction
that I recall getting from readers

was just, like,
"I still think she's innocent."

They didn't care what the judge said.

I hate that Todd
had to get shot and k*lled over it,

but I really do believe
she was defending herself.

Probably feels funny for me saying that,
'cause I'm Todd's cousin, but...

I don't want to see her go to prison.
I really don't.

You say it's okay
for women to defend themselves,

but when they do,
be ready for what society has for you.

It's not the law per se
that needs to change.

It's our perceptions of how
we think women should fit into the mold.

And for them to use aggression

even against an attacker of r*pe
or anything like that,

it's the way we perceive that.

And when you've got cases
that are involving minorities, women,

let's look at why people are not given
the same consideration.

That's a society problem.
That's a stereotype problem.

My attorneys showed me the last offer,
and I was just like, "What would you do?"

They said, "I would take it."

"Because you're not gonna
get away with no time."

Well, I know that I did it for my kids.

They'll feel better
knowing that it's over with.

You know? Like, I made a good decision.

My mom's okay. My brother's...
Everybody's okay.

And my kids are okay.

I'll be okay. I'm just...

Mentally, I'm trying
to just stay sane back here.

She said that she felt, like,
essentially backed into a corner

because, if she went to trial,
the judge who would sentence her

if she was convicted is the judge
who had written a 19-page order

questioning her credibility.

And so, the way she described it to me

was that she took
kind of the lesser of... of the evils

and... and took the... the plea deal.

She would get credit for time
that she had already served in jail,

awaiting her trial.

So it was a six-month sentence,
essentially, for m*rder.

And then the next 18 months,
she would be on house arrest.

Do you risk it all?

Do you play Russian roulette

with people that you don't even know
to decide your fate?

So I understand
why she took a plea agreement.

I don't know.
I mean, I can't fault her for that.

It's just disheartening.

It'll always be on her record that she has
a felony conviction for m*rder.

And that'll... that'll always follow her.

It makes no sense to me that
the plea deals that were offered to me

were six months for m*rder
and, uh, a lot more time for manslaughter.

I do not understand how a m*rder charge

is less than... than a manslaughter.
It doesn't make sense to me.

They were... The court system here
wanted me to take that m*rder charge

just to say that I took that charge.

I was so dead set on saying,

"I'm not pleading guilty
to that m*rder charge."

And I feel like
I let a lot of people down.

And I did let myself down too,

but it's something
that I fought with every day.

Hi, baby.

What are you doing?

- You're so pretty.
- No, I'm not.

How are you doing in there?

It was fun on Halloween.

We dressed up, and, um... Hold on.

- Well, Lynn.
- What?

Lynn was a black-eyed pea.

She colored her eye black...
...and put a "P" on her shirt.

Lauren was a "cereal" k*ller.

She had a cereal bag...

...around her neck,
and it said "k*ller" on the inside of it.

I was the Statue of Liberty.

To be stuck in jail
and away from your kids on Halloween...

It was... it was the best Halloween
I could've had in here.

I'm gonna have to go get me
a, um... a DUI or something

or a public intoxication

just so I can see you and give you a hug.

Your time's up, baby.

Ten seconds.

- I love you.
- I love you.

All right.

The Christmas lights make me sad.

You see everybody else.
They're running around here,

talking about what they're gonna buy
their kids for Christmas,

and I'm gonna be worried about,

"Is she gonna even get a dinner
for Christmas or Thanksgiving?"

Brittany didn't deserve what she got.

She's been r*ped
and beaten by him and almost k*lled.

And now, she's been r*ped
and beaten by the system.

If you think
that Todd was a victim,

do you consider what Brittany got justice?

And if you don't think Todd was,
and you think she was the victim,

then I can't imagine
you think that she got justice either.

It's like, no matter
whose side you were on,

I don't know that you really will find
justice in this story.