Richard Marvin SmithA jury has found a 53-year-old Dalton, Georgia, man guilty of rape and criminal attempt to commit kidnapping stemming from events on March 30, 2019.
Richard Marvin Smith faces 25 years to life in prison for rape, with the possibility of life without parole, plus an additional one-to-10 years for the attempted kidnapping conviction. He was found not guilty of theft and false imprisonment.
The victim in the case, a former methamphetamine addict, and an acquaintance of hers - Amy Jones - had been using meth together for days leading up to March 30. The two went to Smith's trailer on Shirley Way where drug use was taking place.
At the trailer, Jones' ex-boyfriend Marlon Bradford "Marty" Burk of Chatsworth recognized the victim as an informant who had worked with local law enforcement years earlier. Burk had thought the woman was responsible for him being sent to prison years earlier.
Everyone at the trailer - including Jones, Burk, Smith, Richard Forrest and Forrest's ex-girlfriend Lindsey Lowe - held the victim against her will while they decided what to do with her, authorities said.
While she was held captive, she was struck in the face, threatened with additional physical violence and death, strip searched, deprived of her phone and vehicle and kept from leaving the residence, according to testimony and law enforcement interviews.
Burk and Jones left the trailer for a period of time, leaving Forrest and Smith with instructions to keep the victim detained. This was when the victim testified Richard Forrest forced her to perform sex acts. After this, Forrest encouraged Smith to sexually assault the victim, authorities said.
The victim was able to escape the trailer, ran to the McDonald's off of East Walnut Avenue and reported the incident to law enforcement later that day.
Jones and Burk, who before the trial pleaded guilty to false imprisonment, testified for the state and corroborated the victim's account of the events and her part of the unlawful detention, according to District Attorney Bert Poston.
Lowe also testified in the trial and corroborated many details of the victim's account. Burk and Lowe both testified that Smith admitted in their presence to having sexual intercourse with the victim.
Forrest was not called by either the state or defense as a witness and is serving a 30-year sentence, including 12 years without the possibility of parole, for aggravated sodomy of the victim in this case, Poston said. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Sept. 20, 2019.
Assistant District Attorney Mark Higgins presented the case for the state and was assisted by Detective Dewayne Holmes of the Whitfield County Sheriff's Office.
"This was one of the most difficult cases I have handled in my 25-year career as a prosecutor. Sexual assault cases are among the most difficult cases to successfully prosecute, and that difficulty was enhanced in this case by the unlawful activities and histories of those who testified in this case," Higgins said in a statement. "I am extremely pleased that the jury was able to sort through all that was presented and render a verdict that acknowledged that justice cannot exist solely for those who always make the right decisions in life."
The jury trial took place over four days last week. Jury instructions and deliberations began Thursday and concluded with the verdict being announced in the early evening.
Judge Scott Minter set the sentencing for June 15.
Contact Patrick Filbin at pfilbin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476. Follow him on Twitter @PatrickFilbin.