Bond reduced for Alabama woman charged in Tennessee man's shooting death

Brittany Joyce Smith
Brittany Joyce Smith

A Jackson County, Ala., woman charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a Tennessee man has received a reduced bond.

Stevenson resident Brittany Joyce Smith, 30, was originally facing a bond of $250,000, but it was reduced this week to $100,000, records at the Jackson County Jail show. The bond for her brother, 26-year-old Christopher Kenneth McCallie, was reduced to $50,000 on Feb. 14 and he was released the next day, according to Jackson County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Rocky Harnen.

Smith and McCallie each are charged with murder in the Jan. 16 slaying of 38-year-old Jasper, Tenn., resident Joshua Todd Smith.

photo Brittany Joyce Smith
photo Authorities in Jackson County say Stevenson police officers found 38-year-old Jasper resident Joshua Todd Smith about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday dead inside a home at 211 Sharon Drive in Stevenson. Christopher Kenneth McCallie, 26, of Stevenson, is charged with murder and is being held at the Jackson County Jail without bond, according to authorities.

Brittany Joyce Smith remains jailed on the reduced bond, records showed Thursday.

Harnen said the charges against Smith and McCallie have been bound over and are among cases being presented to the Jackson County grand jury this week for possible indictments.

Brittany Joyce Smith's bond hearing was held March 7 and the order issued reducing it was signed March 8, Circuit Court Clerk's Office officials said.

Her bond was still twice as much as McCallie's because, according to the court order, "the defendant's past criminal history and history with this court requires a higher bond than her codefendant who was unknown to the court."

There was no specific explanation of that history.

Circuit Court Clerk's Office officials said the results of the grand jury presentation of Brittany Joyce Smith's and McCallie's cases won't be known until next week at the earliest.

McCallie was arrested Jan. 16 after Joshua Todd Smith's body was found inside a home on Sharon Lane. Brittany Smith was originally booked on Jan. 17, records show.

Sheriff Chuck Phillips said in January that Brittany Smith lived in the home where the shooting occurred. She is not related to the victim, officials said.

Smith's body was sent to the Department of Forensic Sciences' Huntsville lab for an autopsy but there was no word on whether there were findings yet, according to officials.

Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569. Follow him on Twitter @BenBenton or at facebook.com/benbenton1.

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