MIAMI, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- A suspected serial killer from South Florida will spend the rest of his life in prison after his guilty plea Wednesday ended a case that spanned 19 years.
Reginald Smith pleaded guilty to the vicious 1994 beating death of Dorothy Cooper, a 79-year-old widow in Miami, and the attempted murder and robbery of Virginia Hoffman, a 73-year-old woman who was a nature guide. As part of his plea deal, which took the death penalty off the table in exchange for two consecutive life terms without parole, Smith will give prosecutors information about at least two other elderly women killed in November and December 1994 that police had long suspected he committed but could never prove, The Miami Herald reported.
Smith served 44 months in prison for an armed robbery of a hair salon about the same time, the Herald said. He was recently released from prison after serving 36 months on an unrelated gun possession charge.
Police said Smith was addicted to crack cocaine at the time of the incidents, all of which began as home invasion robberies.
Smith's attorney, Jimmy Dellaferra, said of the plea deal: "The fact that he has taken responsibility for his crimes, and will be leaving prison in a body bag, is appropriate justice."
"It should never have gone on for 19 years," said Judy Cooper, a relative of Smith's victim.
The death penalty case lingered through several prosecutors, judges and a parade of defense lawyers who worked on the case.
