Charlie Smith reported in the Greenwood Commonwealth Dr. Arnold Smith has a bad month. First the medical board suspended his license. The Mississippi Supreme Court denies his appeal for bond last week. Then attorney Lee Abraham sues him for changes to his "lifestyle" due to the alleged murder for hire plot".
"Lee Abraham is suing Dr. Arnold Smith for civil conspiracy, saying he’s had to alter his daily actions and lost enjoyment of his normal life as a result of a plot to murder him.
The three-page lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Leflore County Circuit Court.
It provides little detail but does give a glimpse into Abraham’s reaction to the attempt on his life, which culminated with a shootout between hit men and agents from the state Attorney General’s Office on April 28 at his Market Street law office.
Defendants in the suit are:
• Smith
• The North Central Mississippi Regional Cancer Center, a Greenwood clinic owned by Smith
• Unknown other conspirators
The lawsuit states that the defendants reached a “meeting of the minds” and entered into a conspiracy to kill Abraham, which included hiring hit men Keaira Byrd and Derrick Lacy.
Evidence of that conspiracy includes a video, recorded by Smith himself inside the Cancer Center, of him telling a man identified by police as Byrd to “take a (expletive) picture with a hole between his eyes” after the assassin shoots Abraham.
According to investigators, Byrd arranged to meet with Abraham at the attorney’s office with a guise of selling Abraham some evidence in an ongoing investigation against Smith being conducted by the Attorney General’s Office. Abraham arranged with Attorney General Jim Hood for three agents to be present at the exchange.
But Byrd arrived wearing a ski mask and carrying an assault weapon, and shots began flying just inside the law office doors. Byrd died, and Lacy was critically wounded. One agent was grazed by a bullet, but Abraham wasn’t harmed.
“Defendants’ actions were defeated, but not without causing Plaintiff Abraham substantial harm including but not limited to mental and emotional distress. Defendants’ actions were so heinous as to cause outrage and revulsion,” the lawsuit states.
As a result of the conspiracy, Abraham “has been and is altering normal daily actions and, therefore, has suffered the loss of enjoyment of his normal life,” it said.
Abraham is seeking compensatory and punitive damages as well as court expenses. No specific amount is being requested.
He’s represented by attorneys Scot Spragins of Oxford and Ralph Chapman of Clarksdale.
Circuit Judge Ashley Hines of Greenville has been assigned to hear the case.
It’s the latest blow in what has been a bad July for Smith.
On July 10, the Mississippi Board of Medical Licensure prohibited the oncologist from practicing medicine pending an independent mental exam. Dr. Vann Craig, the board’s executive director, could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.
But Smith, 70, hasn’t been able to see patients since April 29 because he’s been held without bond at the Leflore County Jail. On Thursday, the state Supreme Court denied the oncologist’s petition to have bail set.
He’s awaiting the action of a grand jury, which convenes in August, on charges of the capital murder of Byrd and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder against Abraham, against whom Smith has long held a grudge and accused of holding strong economic and political power.....
Monday, July 23, 2012
GW: DR. Smith has a bad month
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22 comments:
Well, Lee did finally have to trim the thick bushes and low-hanging limbs in his yard to deprive future contract killers of places to lay and wait. Clearly he deserves compensation for hiring a yardboy...
Having been a cancer patient myself, I'm wondering who's tending the store now that Dr. Smith is behind bars.
Recalling the cancer doctor who was recently convicted for 'cutting' patient cancer meds, I'm left to wonder just what level of competent care his patients were getting anyway. Some will suggest he was a caring, competent, efficient physician while also being a total nutcase otherwise. I reckon a full moon affects us all differently.
Pugnacious: my guess is 1) someone competent and 2) not a(n allegedly) murderous psychopath.
I hope y'all up there can adjust to that severe change ;-)
I never knew that Dr. Smith's medical competency was ever in question. Have you a link?
If General Hood has questions about his cancer therapy treatments--shorting doses or whatever- it is just a matter of obtaining the cancer drug company records and comparing them to what Dr. Smith has dispensed to his patients. It would certainly be another nail in Dr. Smith's coffin.
Coincidentally, there was a re-run on MSNBC's American Greed last night that profiled a doctor that engaged in shorting cancer doses to his patients...and the cancer drug supplier, Eli Lilly, was aware that the doctor was "shorting" dosages. Lilly settled out of court for tens of millions of dollars.
The "Doctor" in question was actually the pharmacist that supplied the cancer drugs to the treating physician. No link was made to the treating physician.
There is an update to the drug company settlement.
http://www.chron.com/news/article/Diluted-drugs-victims-want-civil-suit-reopened-3412563.php
I'd like to see General Hood's own hitmen put under oath and cross-examined.
Sadly, there are no Gerry Spences or Ramsey Clarks around around anymore.
Dr. Smith's self-imposed dilemma has nothing to do with his treatment of cancer patients. That the man is a nutcase when not in his white coat, simply makes me wonder how he can change his personna when he puts it back on. Is Puggy suggesting that 'General Hood' should have cut the good doctor some slack because of his medical status in the neighborhood?
And, yes, thank God there are no Ramsey Clark's around any more. But Holder puts him in the shade.
I was not aware that Ramsey Clark, unlike Eric Holder and the POTUS, was on record for sanctioning the continued torture of the inmates at Guantanamo.
Can you provide a link?
Is Puggy suggesting that 'General Hood' should have cut the good doctor some slack because of his medical status in the neighborhood?~Shadow...
Yes, until it is proven in a court of law that he is guilty of the charges against him. And let his patients choose if they wish to continue to avail themselves of his services as their "cancer doctor."
the thread hijack is now over.
Awwww, KF - I was looking forward to seeing Pugnacious dig this hole deeper. Defending Smith - yes, I understand the innocent until proven guilty concept - but I would be leaving him in jail based on nothing but the video. And God forgive me for saying something nice about AG Conway, but I'm not sure I understand what her gripe is about his activities in this case.
FYI: Dr. Smith's patients are being treated by the other oncologist in Greenwood, who was also threatened with violence by Dr. Smith when their office split up several years ago.
I can't imagine what it would be like to have a hit man actually try to kill me in my office... Much less the toll the aftermath of the shooting would have on me, my family and friends... Not to mention employees and coworkers... I'm not sure I would want to go back in that building again. WTG Mr. Abraham. Nice countermeasure.
Kingfish~
I've watched your Dr. Smith video--it reminds me of the Errol Morris documentaries-- on YouTube for the third time. And I've read Dr. Smith's letter to Governor Byrant post by Jon Pittman Hey. I'll admit that the comments seem bizarre(some say delusional), but I cannot take the quantum leap to conclude that Dr. Smith would then hire local black street toughs in Greenwood to carry out such a high profile hit on Abraham.
In your video Dr. Smith claims that he hired Rex Armistead to investigate his suspicions of a conspiracy against him. But I've seen nothing in the press or blogs related to Armistead's role in the affair. Is he now deceased? He'd be up in his late eighties by now.
The other matter that bothers me is the claim that the FBI refused to get involved in a matter involving the murder-for-hire hit allegation by a Abraham, so they took the matter to Hood. At what level of the US DOJ was that command decision made? Did the FBI monitor Hood's trap for the alleged assassins?
And the double-tapping coup de gras of the "hitman" also raises eyebrows.
Henry David Thoreau said, that there are times when the circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find the trout in the milk."
I have yet to see the "trout in the milk."
On Rex Armistead:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crimemyths/message/12940?var=0
Leave it to a left wing nut bag to condone Smith's actions.
This guy Pug doesn't seem to understand the clear distinction between protection of Constitutionally mandated legal concepts (e.g. presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law), and the legal responsibilities laid on a board that administers a PRIVILEGE (e.g., a medical license).
What I do not know is WHY Dr. Smith's privilege to practice medicine was suspended by the Mississippi Board of Medical Licensure? Apparently, you are privy to information not made available to the public.
The fact is that Dr. Arnold Smith is being held without bond, based soley upon scuttlebutt and hearsay "testimony." And General Hood's "agents" have whacked the prime witness against him in a pre-arranged ambush.
What medical-related infraction(s) did the Board deem grounds for suspending his license? It is true that Dr. Smith was not treating patients under his care who were suffering from life-threatening illnesses while he was locked behind bars without bond, through no fault of his own.
I like to see what grounds the Board has for dismissal based upon the cloud of "suspicious speculation." The only information that I have seen as to an investigation by the Board into Dr. Smith's activities was a report that an agent from the Board, Mickey Boyette, was sent to Greenwood after Dr. Smith had reported a robbery and assault.
And I hope that the grand jury will demand to view all the cellphone tower evidence(including that of General Hood and his agents) to see who was WHERE and WHEN before and after the ambush came down in Abraham's office on a Saturday night.
Unfortunately, Mississippi is the only State in the Nation that does NOT allow juror's questions in trials. Texas does NOT allow juror's questions in criminal cases.
I do not know what prompted Tom Freeland to delete all the comments( including the Arnold Smith Topic byline itself )from his blog It was a hate fest over there against Dr. Arnold Smith, with the old gang spewing out their venomous comments reminiscent of the pre-sentencing hearings for the families of the victims of serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer and the Green River killer.
If there is ever an independent investigation into the pre-arranged ambush whacking of Byrd by General Hood's "agents," there may be elected officials in high places "whose goose is cooked."
Bert Case outta' be on this story like white-on-rice, beginning with an interview with Dr. Arnold Smith. Where is he being caged, anyway? God, I hoped he hasn't been put on suicide watch! I've heard the horror stories of what goes on at those Mississippi "suicide watch" rendentions... all prescribed drugs confiscated, stripped naked, put in solitary confinement with blaring lights 24/7 and forced to sleep on a concrete slab. This happened to a friend from Noxubee county who was falsely accused of knowlingly buying a stolen air conditioner from a black man who had stolen it from a black church. His black court appointed public defender told him to plead guilty because there is no way that a white man could get a fair trial in Noxubee county, and that he could be facing twenty years in Parchman prison. He was 50 years old and his only infraction of the law was one speeding ticket in his lifetime.Upon pleading guilty, Judge Lee Howard fined him and sentenced him to five years probation.
A short time later, a SWAT team converged on his home at night--he and his wife lived in a small room attached to their store building which was located near the Tombigbee River. They claimed that they were looking for a "sawed-off shotgun that he was reported to have owned. It was a lie. No sawed off shotgun was found.
Still, Byron Weeks was hauled off to West Point. There the living Hell for him and his wife began and went on for four years at the Rankin County Correctional Center, after Judge Lee Howard revoked his probation and sent him to Parchman for the "rendition."
I had not seen this video before now. The comment about submitting proof via a cellphone photo of a "bullet between the eyes" comment might be that "trout in the milk," I must confess. Hard to explain the comment being taken out of context.
I hope that this trial makes its way to TruTV.
http://www.clarionledger.com/VideoNetwork/1656625819001/Hearing-for-Greenwood-doctor
Hattiesburg's WDAM television-- in a report on Dr. Smith's latest failure to have Judge Hilburn removed as the trial judge in the murder charges against him--reported that the Federals were involved in the ambush slaying of Byrd...a suspicion that I already had entertained, based upon the double-tapping of Byrd--the bullet entering the top of the skull and exiting the lower jaw.
I will call Randy Swan today for clarification of that report. How many days does it take for Whitfield doctors to determine if someone is sane enough to stand trial? It is not generally known, but the State of New York has reinstituted the practice of shock therapy. The doctor called by Judge Hilburn to
evaluate Dr. Smith's "sanity" is New York-based. The Mad Poet," Ezra Pound, underwent years of shock therapy at the hands of the Federals at DC's Saint Elizabeth Mental hospital, while he was incarcerated there from 1945 to 1958.
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