By Paul Best
Published May 5, 2022

A California judge ordered a south Los Angeles mom this week to stand
trial for allegedly torturing and murdering her 4-year-old daughter in
August 2020.

Akira Keyshell Smith, 36, is facing charges for murder, assault on a
child, and torture in the death of Eternity Smith.

Smith has two previous felony strikes on her record after being
convicted of inflicting corporal injury to a spouse in 2014 and assault
with a deadly weapon in a separate incident in September 2016.

If Smith is convicted of a third felony for allegedly murdering her
daughter, the third strike would mandate a 25-year minimum sentence.

Deputy District Attorney Jon Hatami, who is prosecuting Smith, told Fox
News Digital that Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón
tried to have Smith's two previous strikes removed on Dec. 7, 2020.

"On Dec 15, 2020, at a Preliminary Hearing Setting, I refused to remove
the strikes. Three days later, George Gascon called me ‘unfit’ and ‘delusional’ and said I was going to be disciplined. The public now can
see all the evidence presented at the preliminary hearing and can [make
their] own decision," Hatami, a frequent critic of Gascón, said
Thursday.

"I will continue to do my job by following the law, the evidence, and
doing the right thing for the child victim."

Cut!

About two months after Hatami said that Gascón tried to get Smith's
prior strikes removed, LA County Superior Court Judge James Chalfant
ordered Gascón to comply with the three-strikes law.

"The District Attorney’s disregard of the Three Strikes ‘plead and
prove’ requirement is unlawful, as is requiring deputy district
attorneys to seek dismissal of pending sentencing enhancements without
lawful bias," Chalfant wrote in the preliminary injunction.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/gascon-tried-reduce-potential-sentencing-enhancements-mother-accused-murdering-daughter

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