CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Mason County man accused of sexually assaulting an infant and filming it appeared in court on Thursday for pretrial.
Jury selection in the trial Richard Wilson Smith II is scheduled to begin Monday in Kanawha County Circuit Court.
On Thursday, Judge Tera Salango denied a motion from the defense of suppression of the defendant’s statement to troopers the night he was arrested on a separate charge in 2018.
“I’m going to deny the motion to suppress the defendant’s statement,” Salango said. “I find the defendant knowingly and intelligently waived his Miranda Rights. It’s clear from the statement given and the testimony that was presented.”
The statement given on Thursday was the full recording of Smith being questioned by West Virginia State Police Sgt. George Burnem.
According to Burnem, who took the stand on Thursday, the night Smith was taken in for a domestic violence warrant he told police he had been wanting to talk to them about something else.
“He acknowledges he was advised of his rights, he specifically stated he was there voluntarily, he specifically stated that no one was coercing him that he wasn’t threatened,” Assistant Kanawha County Prosecutors Debra Rusnak said.
“The defense counsel is reaching because that’s all he can do.”
Matthew Victor, the defense attorney representing Smith said they were not reaching for the motion.
“Maintaining him in custody over this violation of DVP is a pretext,” Victor said. “To obtain a confession in the case for which the state already knew he would be charged with.”
Previous to the arrest, police had received tips that Smith could have child pornography in his home. Police also obtained three search warrants to the South Charleston home, where the alleged crimes occurred.
Troopers found several videos and pictures made in 2015 they say showed Smith and Roseanna Thompson, his then- girlfriend, molesting an infant girl.
The infant girl that troopers say was in the video was Thompson’s granddaughter, which Smith and her babysat regularly.
Smith faces eight counts of possession of child porn, first-degree sexual assault, and first-degree sexual abuse, along with exploitation and filming of a minor. The same charges face Thompson plus an incest charge.