After comparing her suffering at the hands of the media and the Internet to that of Christ on the cross, Tammi Smith, the would-be adoptive mother of Baby Gabriel, was sentenced Friday to a 30-day jail term and three years’ probation for trying to help the child’s mother dodge a custody ruling.
Last month, a jury found Smith guilty of forgery and conspiracy to commit custodial interference.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joseph Kreamer said Friday that a prison term for Smith was unwarranted given she had no previous criminal record and given the nature of the offenses.
Kreamer imposed a second, “deferred†30-day jail sentence that Smith will serve only if she doesn’t stay out of trouble, and he ordered her into mental-health counseling.
And he scolded her for hiding behind her professed piety instead of apologizing outright to the family of Baby Gabriel.
“I don’t think you fully understand and accept the harm you have done,†Kreamer said.
[...]
“With respect to the letters from people who don’t have any personal part in this case … I’m simply not going to consider what people think around the country,†Kreamer said.
Kreamer also insisted that Smith was not being sentenced for Baby Gabriel’s disappearance, only for her interference in custody matters and for filing a forged document in court.
Deputy County Attorney Angela Andrews asked the judge to impose a sentence of 21/2 years in prison for the conspiracy charge and four years’ probation on the forgery charge.
Frank McQueary, the missing child’s grandfather, told the judge that Smith seemed not to show any remorse, and he accused her of hiding behind religion to justify her actions.
“She set out to take this boy from a family,†he said.
Smith’s attorney, Mike Lee, said Johnson was the real villain of the case, and he opined that the child is dead and only Johnson knows how he died.
As for Smith, Lee said, “She had no malice in her heart then, and she has none now.â€
When it was her turn to address the judge, Smith gave a long and rambling speech focused on her devout Christian beliefs and went so far as to invoke the words of Chirst on the cross: “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.â€
Of Johnson, she said, “I held her hand through it, thinking I was doing the right thing by helping a mother who wanted to keep her child.â€
In the end, Kreamer said that the conviction did not call for prison. He sentenced Smith to three years of probation and 30 days in jail on the conspiracy charge, and a concurrent three years of probation on the forgery charge. The deferred jail sentence goes with the forgery charge.
And he ruled that Smith will be allowed to leave jail on work release.
Then, Smith was taken into custody. She surrendered her jewelry and was fingerprinted, and then was led from the courtroom, the standard-issue Maricopa County pink handcuffs contrasting sharply with her bright red dress.