WOODSTOCK – Prosecutors rested their case Wednesday after calling a murder suspect’s wife, who said that her husband pimped her out on the Internet, but didn’t mean to kill the man who answered an ad for sex with her.
Timothy S. Smith, 28, is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the May 28, 2011, shooting of Kurt Milliman, 48, of Prairie Grove, a former courthouse security officer and Island Lake bar owner.
Forced to testify after prosecutors granted her immunity in her own case for whatever she said on the stand, Kimberly A. Smith, 30, said that it was her husband’s idea for her to have sex with men for money.
Over about six months, she had sex with about 50 men, Kimberly Smith said.
The night of the shooting, Kimberly Smith said, she hadn’t been aware that Milliman would be coming to the couple’s home on Doty Road, but her husband “said basically to get it done so we could go out.”
Kimberly Smith, who was about two months pregnant at the time, said she very briefly had sex with Milliman before stopping.
“I didn’t want to continue doing what I was doing,” she said. “I didn’t feel comfortable.”
There was no argument, but Milliman looked aggravated, Kimberly Smith said.
After using the bathroom, Milliman tried to hand her money to continue, but she said she wanted him to leave. While by the front door, he grabbed her arm and pulled her back, she said, also slapping her in the face.
Kimberly Smith said she asked Milliman to get his hands off of her, and that’s when her husband came around the corner.
“He said, ‘Get your hands off my wife,’ ” Kimberly Smith said.
“And then what happened?” McHenry County Assistant State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally asked.
“The gun went off,” she said.
Nothing was done to resolve the situation without resorting to deadly violence, Kimberly Smith said.
“He said he didn’t mean it and the gun just went off and I had to help him,” she said.
In a videotaped interrogation that had been shown to jurors earlier in the day, Timothy Smith insisted that he shot Milliman while defending his wife.
Timothy Smith initially told police that he didn’t know why Milliman was in his home on Doty Road near Woodstock, and that Kimberly Smith called him in a panic. But he eventually admitted that he was in the home the entire time. Timothy Smith said he was embarrassed that they had turned to prostitution to make money, with his wife sometimes keeping the cash and other times putting it in a jar to save for whatever they needed.
Timothy Smith said that he worked hard, but earned $12 an hour.
“This is something we both agreed to do to help each other out,” he said. “It’s embarrassing. ... I’m a better man than that.”
Timothy Smith said that Milliman was threatening his wife, and he heard her tell Milliman to get his hands off of her.
“I gave him fair notice and he still didn’t leave or move,” Timothy Smith said. “The guy’s huge.”
The forensic pathologist who performed Milliman’s autopsy said Milliman was 6 feet 6 inches tall and weighed 378 pounds. He was shot once in the back, with the bullet entering near his right shoulder blade and traveling across the body, lodging near the left collarbone.
“I’m not a killer. I’m not a murderer,” Timothy Smith said. “I’m a guy who protects his family at all costs.”
Kimberly Smith has been charged with several offenses including prostitution, but not murder. Her case is pending.
Closing arguments in Timothy Smith’s trial are expected today.
