Brown County man convicted in wife's death

NASHVILLE, Ind. — Jurors convicted a Brown County man of charges that he strangled his wife in their hot tub and then claimed she died accidentally.\nThe jury deliberated about three hours Monday before returning the guilty verdict against Michael B. Smith, 61, after hearing 10 days of testimony.\nProsecutors maintained that Smith killed his 55-year-old wife, Linda, as their business was failing and he wanted to collect more than $300,000 from her life insurance policies.\nBrown County Prosecutor Jim Oliver said during closing arguments Monday that while defense attorneys had raised several opposing theories about Linda Smith's death, no one else had a motive to kill her.\n"Michael Smith had 312,000 motives to kill Linda Smith," Oliver said.\nThe couple co-owned Custom Mats of America, which made floor mats and wall hangings with corporate logos.\nSmith, who did not testify during the murder trial, called 911 for help in the early hours of Nov. 9, 2003, saying there had been an accident at his home in northern Brown County, about 40 miles south of Indianapolis. He was not charged until February of this year.\nDefense attorney Andrew Roesener asked jurors to consider nearly a dozen alternative theories as to how Linda Smith died, ranging from a slip-and-fall accident to a drug addict searching for something to steal who happened upon her in the hot tub in an outbuilding on the couple's property.\n"There is an appalling lack of evidence in this case," Roesener said.\nA pathologist for the prosecution testified Linda Smith was strangled, while a pathologist called by defense attorneys said he believed that she had drowned in an accident.\nThe judge scheduled sentencing for Sept. 21, with Smith facing a prison term of 45 to 65 years.