Joshua Ryan Smith wanted to die on March 11, 2009, his attorney said yesterday.
Authorities said he fired a shotgun 20 times during a standoff that day with police at his parents' house off Peace Haven Road, taunting police to shoot him.
They didn't.
"They (police officers) treated this as a mental-health crisis instead of a mad bomber," said Pete Clary, Smith's attorney.
Smith, 19, of 525 Barrett Road, pleaded guilty yesterday in Forsyth Superior Court to five counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon on a government official and several misdemeanor charges, including discharge of a firearm in city limits, resisting arrest and hit-and-run, causing property damage.
Judge William Z. Wood of Forsyth Superior Court sentenced Smith to 26 to 32 months in prison. That sentence was suspended, and Wood put Smith on supervised probation for four years.
Smith has been in the Forsyth County Jail for about 15 months, awaiting trial.
Shortly after 8 a.m. March 11, 2009, Smith was involved in a hit-and-run accident near the intersection of Peace Haven and Country Club roads.
Police Cpl. Scott Lichtenhan went to the accident, where he was able to get Smith's license plate. He tracked down Smith outside his parents' house, which is near where the accident occurred.
Lichtenhan tried to talk to Smith about the accident, and Smith reacted in an erratic and irrational way, Assistant District Attorney Mike Silver said.
Lichtenhan called for backup, and when the other officers arrived, Smith went inside the house and began breaking windows. He yelled out, "come and get me," and "go ahead and take me out," Silver said in court.
Smith then fired the shotgun from a window several times, Silver said. As he fired, he repeatedly told officers to "take me out," and "drop me or I'll take you out."
Smith fired from the front and back of the house as officers set up a perimeter around it. He fired 20 rounds at officers, but no one was injured, Silver said. Bullets struck a house across the street as well as his parent's house.
After 3½ hours, police fired tear gas into the house. Members of the police department's Special Enforcement Team entered the house and grabbed Smith.
Investigators seized two shotguns, three rifles, 21 spent ammunition casings, 683 unfired bullets and five cloth gun cases.
Clary said that Smith had a psychotic blackout that was caused by heavy use of alcohol. Smith likely had a blood-alcohol level of .26. The legal limit is .08.
Smith had no intention of hurting anyone and was trying to commit suicide by getting the officers to shoot him, Clary said.
Roger Smith, Joshua Smith's father, said in court that he and his wife, Sheila Smith, were grateful that officers didn't shoot their son. He said his son had been struggling with drugs.
Joshua Smith said in court that the incident has changed his life and assured Wood that he would never use drugs again.
He apologized for what he had done. "I don't plan on associating with anyone who will get me in trouble," he said.
Wood told Smith that he was a lucky man and ordered him to write a thank-you letter to the Winston-Salem Police Department.
"A different officer on a different day, and you could have been dead," Wood said.
mhewlett@wsjournal.com | 727-7326
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