Smith pleads no contest on sex charge

Tim Leeds Havre Daily News [email protected]

Kenneth W. Smith of Havre, born in 1954, pleaded no contest in state District Court in Havre Friday in a plea agreement to a charge of sexual assault. The sentence recommended in the plea agreement is a five-year deferred imposition of sentence. Judge David Rice scheduled sentencing in the case for June 26. According to a court document, the Hill County attorney filed two felony charges of sexual assault on Aug. 25 after Smith was accused of, on several occasions, touching a young girl. Under the plea agreement, the first charge of sexual assault will be dismissed by the Hill County attorney. The initially reported incident occurred on Dec. 31, 2007, or Jan. 1, 2008, the document said. The girl was sleeping while some members of her family were in another room. She said that while she was sleeping, Smith placed her hand inside his underwear, the document said. According to the document, the girl later said Smith had, one night some Three weeks before the other incident, placed his hand over her “private area” twice before. Under the plea agreement Smith signed, he will be sentenced to a five year deferred imposition of sentence if that corresponds with the results of a psychosexual evaluation that will be conducted prior to sentencing. Smith will be required to attend sex offender treatment and not have unsupervised contact with children younger than 18 during the deferred imposition. The judge is not required to follow the sentencing recommendations in the plea agreement. If Smith is sentenced to a deferred imposition of sentence and if he abides by all conditions of his release during the five years he can petition to have the charge struck from his record.