NEW ORLEANS — In a deadly botched robbery on Freret Street on October 29, 1985, two New Orleans families were left devastated, and a growing new business corridor was shaken to the core.
The family of Bill Long, Jr. was rocked by its patriarch’s murder in front of Long’s Bakery and Delicatessen, the store he operated for since the 1940s.
And the family of 15-year-old Jerome “Skee” “Smith was equally crushed when he was arrested shortly after the killing and convicted of murder a year later in 1986.
Smith was spared the death penalty by the vote of a single juror.
But the teenager claimed his innocence from the beginning and fought tooth-and-nail to get back in court. His appeals over the years went nowhere until 2022 when evidence that had been withheld by prosecutors was discovered, changing the trajectory of the case.
Smith’s legal team filed a motion to dismiss his murder conviction based on the new evidence. A resolution to the case was quietly hatched just before Christmas and, today, Smith is a free man.
“Wooh. It's been long overdue,” Smith said from his family’s home on Jena Street where he grew up, and not far from where the murder took place. “It's hard to summarize into words.”
The once-lanky kid is now a man of 54, standing well over six feet tall, his head shaved bald and his beard flecked with gray.
“Thirty-eight years is a long time. Thirty-eight years, two months and 21 days,” he said. “That's a long time.”
The evidence that re-opened the case pinpointed the time of the shooting in a way that supported Smith's long-held alibi that he was somewhere else at the time.
It was nightfall on Dec. 21 when Smith was released from Angola State Penitentiary and into the arms of his 80-year-old mother Thelma.
“It was time to come home,” Smith said.
It was a moment that looked remote just over a year ago, when an earlier deal that would have led to Smith's release collapsed.
Smith’s family was ready to pick him up from prison in October 2022. All that was left was what they thought would be a last perfunctory court hearing to clear his conviction and finalize his release.
In preparation for leaving Angola, Smith said he gave away all of his belongings.
“The understanding that we all had was that it was just a court signature on October 12th and it would be over with. And I gave all my stuff away, man. I gave my phone and everything away,” he said.
With dismissal off the table and the case at a standstill, attorney Alex J. Washington Jr. of Shreveport joined Smith's legal team.
“He feels – and I feel – that the evidence supports that he's innocent and it was supported by his alibi,” Washington said. “I’m a litigator and I was prepared to litigate.”
Confident that they could prevail if the case came down to a courtroom confrontation, Washington and Smith’s previous attorney, Rachel Conner, began negotiating a new plea deal.
Smith was offered a new chance at release if he would plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. He refused. More than once. But then, right before Christmas, things changed.
Thelma’s health began faltering.
“When nature takes its course, you've got grown-folk questions you've got to answer. And I had to make a decision,” Smith said. “It was time to come home. I have to take care of my mama.”
Smith agreed to enter what is known as an Alford plea, a conviction that doesn't require an admission of guilt. He was resentenced to 21 years for manslaughter and armed robbery.
“It worked out perfectly,” Washington said. “And we were able to give his mom one of the best Christmas gifts she ever had in her entire life.
Smith, nursing his mom at the home where she raised him and his younger brother, said “Do I regret it? No, I'm here with my mama. And she needs me,” Smith said.
The victim's son, Bill Long III, said the family is satisfied with the outcome.
“We have a conviction, even though it was an Alford plea,” he said. “And District Attorney Jason Williams and his office did everything we asked them to do.”