Sarasota man convicted of second degree murder
Francesco Abbruzzino, The Uncensored Report, LLC
State Attorney 12th Judicial
State Attorney Ed Brodsky announced on 04/11/25 that Howard China Smith III was convicted after jury trial of murder in the second degree with a firearm and attempted robbery with a firearm. The crimes were committed on January 20, 2018, and investigated by the Sarasota Police Department. The trial was held at the Sarasota County Courthouse between April 7, 2025, and April 11, 2025.
The crimes carried a maximum possible sentence of life in prison.
The minimum mandatory sentence was 25 years.
The defendant was sentenced to life in prison following the verdict.
Todd Reaves had just returned to his parents’ home on January 20, 2018, when figures emerged from the brush and darkness and fatally shot Mr. Reaves. Two months later detectives at the Sarasota Police Department recovered the murder weapon during the execution of an unrelated search warrant at the defendant’s house. It would take many more years, however, for someone to come forward with an explanation for the murder – “I had to shoot him because he tried to buck the jack.” It was the defendant’s own statement made to a confidant but overheard by a witness that provided the answers detectives had been seeking: the defendant attempted to rob Mr. Reaves, and when he resisted, the defendant fatally shot him. When questioned, the defendant, caught off guard, sealed his own fate by denying undeniable facts that only someone involved in the murder would need to deny. In the end, the murder weapon had been found in the defendant’s home, ammunition matching the physical evidence at the scene was on his bed, and the vehicle used to flee the scene was in his driveway. After a four-day trial, the jury deliberated for five hours before returning a verdict of guilty as charged on all counts.
The lead prosecutor in the case, Assistant State Attorney Brian Chambers commented, “Seven years, two months, and 22 days after the killing of Todd Reaves, a Sarasota jury and the Honorable Judge Haworth delivered the justice the Reaves family has been waiting for. Our community owes a thanks to the teamwork of the Sarasota Police Department, and the dedicated pursuit of answers by Detectives DeFrancisco and Llovio, as they brought light to the unsolved murder of Mr. Reaves as he stood by his parents’ driveway. It is my hope that this verdict brings some peace to the Reaves family and provides comfort to his friends and neighbors traumatized by the defendant’s indifference to human life.”
If you have any questions or would like further information, please contact Assistant State Attorney Brian Chambers or Karen Fraivillig in the Sarasota County office at 941-861-4400.