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Trumbull prosecutor opposes parole for pregnant wife killer
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins again is opposing parole for Paul W. Smith, 48, who shot his 21-year-old pregnant wife, Gina, to death July 29, 1987, in the McDonald’s restaurant in McKinley Heights where she worked.
Watkins wrote to the Ohio Parole Board recently, saying Ohio law in 1987 did not allow Smith to be convicted of murder in the deaths of the twins his wife was carrying but should be considered when deciding whether to parole him.
“In 1987, it was not murder to purposefully cause the unlawful termination of another’s pregnancy; however, for many years now in Ohio, to murder your wife and unborn children is three murders with three life sentences,” Watkins said.
Smith, a 1984 Newton Falls High School graduate, has served 27 years of a 15-years-to-life sentence. Watkins opposed Smith’s parole in 2003, 2008 and 2010. Smith is eligible for parole again in January.
Smith, then 21, and his wife of seven months lived in Lordstown and with Gina’s parents in Hubbard in the months leading up to the murder. Gina Smith, the oldest of the four children of Carol and Luigi Femia of Hubbard, was a 1983 Hubbard High School graduate.
The couple had been estranged leading up to the murder, Smith said, adding that he intended just to talk to his wife July 29, 1987, but took a rifle with him at 5 a.m.
Co-workers of Gina Smith’s said Paul Smith tried getting into the locked restaurant, but Gina Smith told them to keep the doors closed.
Co-worker Ray Deluga said Gina Smith started screaming when Paul Smith broke in, causing many of the workers to hide in the basement. Paul Smith pointed the gun at Deluga and another male employee and said, “Where is she?” Deluga said. “The look on his face was scary,” Deluga told police.
Smith killed his wife with one shot to the head and one to the buttock as she hid in the basement. “I just lost control of myself,” Smith said in a written statement to police.
Smith fled in his car after the shooting, eluding police by hiding at a house in Girard for two days before being captured.
Officials said Gina Smith was less than three months pregnant at the time of her death, according to Vindicator archives. The couple also had a son who was less than 1 year old.