Jury in case of NJ wife slaying will not be told of husband's previous murder conviction
A judge has decided that jurors who are asked to decide whether a man killed his wife in New Jersey will not be told that he was convicted earlier of having killed his first wife in Ohio. NJ.com reports that the decision last week by Judge Peter Warshaw is a significant blow to Mercer County prosecutors trying to convict 71-year-old John David Smith III of having killed 49-year-old Fran Gladden-Smith in 1991 when they lived in West Windsor. Her body has never been found, but a grand jury indicted Smith in 2019.