PARAGOULD — Donald Schmidt Sr. thought the flashlight shining through his window during the early hours of April 13, 2011, was his son, Trumann police officer Jonathan Schmidt, trying to signal him, he testified Friday.
Jonathan Schmidt worked the night shift as a patrol officer and often shined his light in his father’s home when stopping by.
That night, the light wasn’t from his son.
It was from two Poinsett County deputies who had arrived to tell him his son had been shot.
“They told me Jonathan had been shot in the face and was dead,” Schmidt said Friday during a sentencing hearing for the man convicted of killing the officer.
“Our life would never be the same,” he said.
Family members read prepared statements to tell jurors of the pain they’ve suffered since Jonathan Schmidt was shot during a traffic stop.
Jerry Lard, 38, of Trumann was convicted Thursday of capital murder and attempted capital murder for shooting at Schmidt’s colleague, Sgt. Corey Overstreet. He also was convicted of possession of methamphetamine.
Lard shot Schmidt after the officer pulled over a car driven by Brian Keith Elumbaugh at about 11:30 p.m. April 12, 2011. Lard was a passenger in the car.
A dispatcher told Schmidt that Lard was wanted on a rape warrant. When the officer opened a passenger-side door to talk to Lard, Lard shot Schmidt in the face with his .25-caliber handgun.
Lard shot Schmidt twice more with the .25-caliber gun, then shot the officer in the face at close range with Schmidt’s .40-caliber service weapon.
Overstreet, who was not injured, shot Lard.
Schmidt died in a Jonesboro hospital later that night.
It took jurors less than an hour to convict Lard on Thursday afternoon. They returned to court Friday for the sentencing phase of the trial.
Defense attorneys put 21 witnesses on the stand Friday in an attempt to persuade the jury of seven women and five men to spare Lard’s life. Lard could receive the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
The defense rested its case about 6:30 p.m. Friday. At 7 p.m., attorneys began debating about sentencing instructions for jurors. Just before 8 p.m., Circuit Judge Brent Davis sent jurors home with instructions to return today at 8 a.m.
Earlier, Donald Schmidt Sr. read portions of a diary he kept after his son was slain.
“Day One,” he read, referring to April 13, 2011, the day after Lard shot Schmidt. “All we can think about is how he murdered our son for no reason.”
Schmidt’s father also recalled the day of his son’s funeral and attending his grandson’s first baseball game on May 5, 2011.
On May 8, 2011, Mother’s Day, Donald Schmidt Sr. wrote: “All I can see at night when I close my eyes is this man killing my son. I can’t get it out of my mind.”
Schmidt Sr. read in court that he noted on Day 258 — Christmas Day, 2011 — that “to lose a child is to lose a piece of yourself.”
Donald Schmidt Jr., Jonathan Schmidt’s brother, broke down on the stand.
“Death truly has a sting, and I felt it to the depths with my brother’s death,” he said.
“Yes, we still are a family,” he said. “But we are one special member short.”
About 30 family members and friends cried during the testimony.
Andrea Schmidt, the slain officer’s wife, showed photographs of her husband and family to jurors.
“Our family has forever changed,” she said. “My lot in happiness was instantly shadowed by a cloud of sorrow and deprivation.”
Witnesses for the defense testified Friday that Lard grew up in an abusive home and once saw his mother shoot his father.
“It was bad,” Ricky Lard, Jerry Lard’s half brother, said of life as a child. “Ain’t no words to describe seeing your momma getting beaten, covered in blood.”
Others testified that Jerry Lard’s stepfather, Jerry Dement, often verbally abused Lard.
“It wasn’t a pleasant place,” Wayne Boyd, a friend of Lard’s, testified about Lard’s home life as a child.
Defense attorneys also called several Craighead County jailers, who testified that Lard did not create problems while held in the Jonesboro jail after his arrest.
On Thursday, a booking officer testified that Lard said he was upset that he was only able to shoot Schmidt and not Overstreet.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 07/28/2012