Shannon Crawley

Case record: Shannon Crawley

Timeline

• January 2007 — Denita Smith was shot in the back of the head and later fell down a stairwell to the sidewalk at Campus Crossing Apartments in Durham; a maintenance man found her body.
• January 4, 2007 — Denita Monique Smith was shot and died.
• January 2007 — Durham police Tuesday arrested Shannon Elizabeth Crawley, a 911 dispatcher in Greensboro, in connection with Smith’s shooting death.
• May 2007 — Police recorded an interview in which Crawley told investigators about travel to Durham, hearing a gunshot, and events at Campus Crossing Apartments.
• Monday, February 22, 2010 — A jury found Shannon Crawley guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of NCCU graduate student Denita Smith; the judge immediately sentenced her to life in prison without parole.
• February 23, 2010 — After sentencing reporting described the love triangle and the contested taped “confessions.”
• February 22, 2013 — The sentence status was life in prison without parole.

Background

Shannon Crawley was a 911 dispatcher in Greensboro at the time of the crime. Investigators focused on her after she was named a person of interest.

Denita Monique Smith was a graduate student at North Carolina Central University. Smith was engaged to Greensboro police officer Jermeir Stroud. She lived at Campus Crossing Apartments in Durham.

The case involved a love triangle between Crawley, Smith, and Stroud. Prosecutors maintained a jealous motive connected to Crawley’s former relationship with Stroud.

Crawley maintained she was innocent and that Stroud was responsible for Smith’s death.

The offence

Denita Smith was shot in the head and then fell down a stairwell to the sidewalk at Campus Crossing Apartments in Durham, where a maintenance man found her body.

Police and prosecutors maintained that Crawley ambushed Smith and shot her in the back of the head.

Defense arguments portrayed a different sequence: Crawley feared Stroud and testified he drove her to Durham; Stroud got out briefly at an apartment complex, argued, a gunshot occurred, and Stroud then ran back and hid in the back seat before ordering her to drive off.

Investigation

Investigators interviewed more than a dozen people, including Smith’s family members, friends and neighbors. Investigators also spent several hours interviewing someone they identified only as a person of interest in the case.

During the trial, recorded telephone calls were central to the evidence issue. Crawley argued that the taped conversations attributed to Stroud were fake, while the prosecution and jury accepted that the evidence pointed to Crawley.

Arrest

Durham police arrested Shannon Elizabeth Crawley, a dispatcher for Guilford Metro 911 in Greensboro, in connection with Smith’s shooting death.

Shannon Elizabeth Crawley was arrested Tuesday evening in the slaying of Denita Monique Smith. She was led into the Durham County Jail late Tuesday evening.

Witnesses saw a woman driving away from the apartment complex in a burgundy Ford Explorer less than two hours before Smith’s body was found.

Trial

Charges and trial posture

A jury found Shannon Crawley guilty of first-degree murder in the 2008 shooting of NCCU graduate student Denita Smith. The judge sentenced her to life in prison without parole.

Crawley appeared stunned at the verdict and said nothing when the judge asked if she wanted to say anything.

During the trial Crawley maintained her innocence, testified in her own defense, and continued to point the finger at Smith’s fiancé, Jermeir Stroud, for the shooting.

Evidence regarding recorded calls and “confessions”

Jurors listened to recorded phone calls. The defense moved for a mistrial after jurors listened to phone calls that were not introduced into evidence, and the judge denied the motion.

Holmes complained that jurors were hearing more material on the tapes than they heard during the trial, and that the additional material had not been part of the state’s evidence presented to the jury. The judge denied the motion and allowed jurors to listen to the tapes, stating they were put into evidence in their entirety and that playing only portions during the trial was irrelevant.

During a taped interview, Crawley discussed what investigators recorded as her account after the murder. Jurors watched taped interview footage of Crawley’s interrogation by an investigator after the murder.

Testimony and defendant’s account

Crawley testified that she and Stroud had a sexual relationship and that Stroud became “controlling and erratic” before the murder. She testified she did not know Stroud and Smith were in a relationship.

Crawley said she got pregnant, had an abortion, and Stroud proposed to her but she turned him down.

She testified that Stroud started calling her constantly, leaving mean messages, and that he tried to chase her around Greensboro.

She testified:

• "We drove through Greensboro for at least 30, 45 minutes," Crawley testified. "He was right behind me, calling me nonstop, beeping the horn, running lights trying to keep up with me. When I got home and came down the driveway, I looked in the mirror and he was right behind my car again."

Crawley’s account stated that Stroud took her to Durham, killed Smith, and hid in her car.

In recorded call evidence, Crawley and a caller exchanged the following statements verbatim:

• Crawley: "No, you know I didn't do anything, you need to tell the truth."
• Caller: "Baby, I ain't going to jail."
• Crawley: "And I'm supposed to for something I didn't do?"
• Crawley: "You're gonna kill me, too?"
• Caller: "You keep talking, you know I will."

Stroud denied it was him in the calls.

Defense contentions and mistrial request

Holmes grilled an investigator, Shawn Pace, about why Stroud was never a suspect in Smith’s death. Pace responded:

• "I cannot (agree) nor disagree,” Pate responded, adding that police never searched Stroud's car or home.

Holmes called for a mistrial after jurors asked to listen again to the tapes, including some jurors had not heard previously. Stephens said Crawley had had access to the tapes for the past two years and could have addressed any portion during the trial.

The defense presented efforts to pin the murder on Stroud, and Stroud denied involvement.

Witnesses and other disputed aspects

A former supervisor testified about Crawley arriving at work three hours late on the day Smith was shot to death. Crawley had blamed Smith’s fiancé, Jermeir Stroud, who was described as a Greensboro police officer.

A witness, Ronald Simpson, testified that he sold Crawley a gun to ease her fears over Stroud or another intruder breaking into her home, and he said he taught Crawley how to use the gun. The defense insisted she was afraid of weapons.

Superior Court Judge Ronald Stephens ruled that Crawley’s statements to police about an abortion before she and Stroud broke up and her claim that Stroud raped her more than a year after Smith’s death may be admitted as evidence in the trial.

Crawley contended Stroud stalked her and killed Smith, and she said she feared Stroud and did what he said only to protect her children.

Sentencing

On February 22, 2010, Superior Court Judge Ronald Stephens sentenced Shannon Crawley to life in prison without parole immediately after the verdict.

During sentencing, Denita Smith’s parents addressed Crawley:

• "Because of what Shannon did there is a void. You took her away from me," said Smith's mother.
• "Someday I may forgive you, but right now I don't and I hope you rot in hell. You're vile. You don't deserve to be a mother."
• "You took my baby away from me, and she wasn't yours to take," said Sharon Smith.
• "There's no man worth anything like that. Someday, I may forgive you, but I don't. Right now, I hope you rot in hell. You're vile." Crawley said nothing when Stephens gave her the chance to speak before sentencing.

In an impromptu news conference after Crawley’s sentencing, Anne Crawley said:

• "My daughter, who is the perfect victim for someone like Jermeir Stroud, now has to spend the rest of her life in prison," Anne Crawley said.

Stephens characterized the case as caused by the actions of Jermeir Stroud and described Stroud as having walked away from the situation after causing it:

• "Jermeir Stroud caused a perfect storm to happen and walked away from it," said Superior Court Judge Ronald Stephens, after a 12-member jury found Stroud's former mistress, Shannon Crawley, guilty of killing his fiancee, Denita Smith.
• "Jermeir Stroud caused a perfect storm to happen and then walked away from it, and that was unfortunate for everyone in this case,” Stephens said as he sentenced Crawley.

Appeals

No appeal outcome was stated in the provided material. Holmes said he planned to appeal the verdict.

Outcome

The jury found Shannon Crawley guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of NCCU graduate student Denita Smith. The judge sentenced Crawley to life in prison without parole.

Other details

Shannon Crawley was described as 27 at the time of arrest and 28 at the time of trial. Denita Smith was described as 25.

A maintenance man heard what sounded like gun shots and saw a woman crying hysterically, but failed to identify Crawley.

During trial testimony, Crawley said she was a 911 operator in Greensboro at the time of the crime.

Investigators stated the murder did not appear to be a random act of violence.

The N.C. Central chancellor James H. Ammons said:

• "What happened to Denita was unconscionable. She was an outstanding and promising young student whose life has been cut short. The arrest of a suspect will help us to begin the process of healing."

Smith’s funeral was scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday at University Park Baptist Church in Charlotte.

Greensboro Police Chief Tim Bellamy said Stroud was never a suspect in Smith’s death, and that he never heard any allegations linking the officer to the case until Crawley’s defense brought it up in the trial.