A man convicted in July for the 2011 kidnapping, robbery and murder of an Anniston school teacher is set to be formally sentenced Tuesday.

Posted by WLJS News Jacksonville on 8/31/2013 at 10:22 P.M.

By: Ed Moore III, WLJS 91.9 FM Anchor edmoorewljs@yahoo.com

Anniston, Alabama (WLJS) -- A man found guilty earlier this summer in the April 2011 kidnapping, robbing and stabbing death of Wellborn Elementary School teacher Kevin Thompson, is set to be formally sentenced Tuesday, eight weeks after a Calhoun County jury recommended in an 11-1 vote to have him executed.

24-year-old Nicholas Daniel Smith is scheduled to be sentenced inside the courtroom of Calhoun County Circuit Court Judge Brian Howell after jurors found him guilty in July of committing an intentional murder during a kidnapping in the first degree and committing an intentional murder during a robbery in the first degree in the death of Thompson, 29, who was a third grade teacher at the Anniston school.

Prosecutors say on Wednesday, April 20, 2011, Smith, along with Jovon Dwayne Gaston, 22, of Anniston, and Tyrone Christopher Thompson, 29, of Weaver, kidnapped Kevin Thompson from his home at Jackson Trace Apartments on the 500 block of Whites Gap Road in Jacksonville.

After which, prosecutors say Smith, Gaston and Tyrone Thompson drove Kevin Thompson around to several ATM's in Jacksonville and Anniston, forcing him to withdraw $400 at gunpoint.

According to a taped confession by Smith that was played for jurors in open court, after the robbery, Smith says he and the two men drove out to Cherokee County and it was there where he says Tyrone Thompson passed him a knife, instructing him to kill Kevin Thompson. In the video, Smith says he slit Kevin Thompson’s throat, then stabbed him to death, leaving his body behind a guardrail near mile marker 166 on U.S. Highway 278, where he was discovered by Cherokee County Sherriff’s deputies in the early morning hours of Saturday, April 23, 2011.

Tyrone Thompson and Gaston were also charged with capital murder in the death of Kevin Thompson and are awaiting trial while being held at the Calhoun County Jail in Anniston.

Although jurors gave the 11-1 recommendation to execute Smith, his sentence ultimately lies in the hands of Judge Howell. Howell's ruling on Tuesday will be based on a sentencing investigation conducted by the court since the jury's vote, a completed review of evidence presented during the trial, a pre-sentence interview with Smith as well as a completed review of Smith's criminal history.

WLJS news anchor Ed Moore III spoke to Kevin Thompson’s mother, Frances Curry, back on July 10, the day the jury of 12 recommended to have Smith sentenced to death. Here were her thoughts:

“If Kevin had just gone to bed and not woken up, it [would] be different, but for someone to step in and take God’s place and to do God’s job for him, was not easy for me.

"I have no vindictiveness in my heart. I do realize that Kevin was born of an imperfect mom. He lived an imperfect life. The way he died was imperfect. The perfectness came when he went home to Jesus.

"Life is never going to be the same for me. Kevin was such a huge part of my life. For [the first] 10 years [of his life] it was just he and I. We struggled [together]. We were poor, but we never went lacking for anything. We had a saying that said 'stick with me kid and we’ll go places.

"[When Kevin went missing], I never thought in a million years that my child had been murdered. I thought maybe [he was in] a wreck, or maybe he [was] sick and couldn't get to the phone. Everything ran through my mind. That never ran through my mind. I just seen my baby the day before.

"I don’t know [why Kevin was killed]. I really, really don’t. I want to rely on my faith to get me through this trying time. I [must] have my grieving time. Even [though] Mary knew Jesus came to die, she still had to have time [to grieve].

"I would also like to thank all of the prosecutors in the case. All three of them fought for me. They fought for justice for Kevin.

"[Remember to] love your child unconditionally. Teach your children to respect life. Once you teach them that, raise them in a Godly fashion. They may not do everything you want them to do. They may not be everything you want them to be, but they do come home and you have to show them what love is all about.

"Whatever Kevin did for someone, he never talked about it. That was the kind of child he blessed me with.

"Our children are a blessing. We need to treasure that.”


(C) 2013 - This report was made through WLJS News in Jacksonville, Alabama