Wood County Constable Found Not Guilty

A federal court jury found Wood County Pct. 3 Constable Kelly Smith is not guilty of unnecessarily using force in deploying his K9 partner or falsifying a report about the incident.

After a week of hearing testimony from both sides, the jury unanimously found Smith not guilty on a charge of deprivation of rights under color of law. Smith was indicted in November 2022 after federal prosecutors accused him of using unnecessary force on July 25, 2022, when deploying his K9 partner to apprehend Robert Evans, a then-fugitive with a felony warrant out for his arrest.

The jury deliberated about 2.5 hours after closing arguments concluded around 3:00 Friday afternoon.