State v. Smith

Defendant, Shelley Sue Smith, challenges her conviction for conspiracy to commit first degree murder on the basis that the "to convict” instruction omitted an element of the crime and was thus constitutionally defective. Defendant was convicted of attempted murder of her flaneé, James Jeffers, and conspiracy to commit murder of her ex-husband, David Smith.

Defendant drove Jeffers to a remote area on Thanksgiving evening, 1992, where Jeffers was shot and seriously wounded by a third person. During the course of the investigation of the Jeffers shooting, Jeffers told police that Defendant had…