FAYETTEVILLE, WV (WOAY) – An Indiana woman has entered a Kennedy plea of guilty in connection to the murder of Michelle Smith, a Fayette County woman who was found handcuffed, beaten, and shot in her home.
Amanda Soultz’s plea was accepted by Judge Paul Blake today. It came as part of a plea agreement between the defense and the state. By entering a Kennedy plea, Soultz accepted the punishment of the murder charge without admitting or denying guilt of the crime itself. She now faces life in prison with the possibility of parole in 15 years.
As part of the agreement, the robbery and kidnapping charges that she was facing have been dropped.
Her co-defendant, Andres Torres, was found guilty of first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping, and conspiracy charges in October. The jury, which deliberated for less than an hour, returned the verdict without a recommendation of mercy. That means he will not have the opportunity to be paroled.
According to Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Jennifer Crane, the state was willing to extend the agreement to Soultz to make sure she was put behind bars and avoid another trial.
“Today’s result is a direct result of the family not wanting necessarily to go through another trial. There was more of a risk with Soultz going to trial. We do believe that she was not the shooter, that it was Mr. Torres. The jury might have drawn some distinctions because of that, even though legally they were equally responsible,” Crane said. “The family was here through the whole trial for Mr. Torres, and they were not willing to accept any lesser of a plea than first-degree murder for Amanda Soultz.”
The victim in the killing, Michelle Smith, was found handcuffed, beaten, and shot on the floor of her home by her son, who rushed her to the hospital.
Smith died from her injuries 43 days later.
Soultz was arrested with Torres shortly after Smith was discovered and taken to the hospital. Police found Smith’s credit cards and guns in their possession.
During his trial, Torres testified that he and Soultz came to Fayette County after stopping in Kentucky to investigate the murder of Soultz’s brother, where they stayed at a property owned by Soultz’s family.
During Torres’s trial and again today during proceedings for Soultz’s charges, the state said that Torres pawned a watch to the victim, Michelle Smith, for roughly fifty dollars.
According to Crane, Torres and Soultz went to Smith’s house to get the watch back. In the process, Smith was handcuffed, beaten, and shot.
Crane said Torres is an extremely dangerous criminal, and she believes that he is the one who ultimately pulled the trigger.
“The jury verdict for Mr. Torrez was a just result that came as an incredible relief to the family. We worked very hard to get the result for the family that they were looking for,” Crane said. “We felt fairly certain that he would harm someone else in the future.”
According to Crane, successfully bringing charges against both defendants sends a message that violent crime is not tolerated in Fayette County.
She said the investigation took a team effort by the Oak Hill Police Department, the West Virginia state police, the U.S. Marshal’s Service, the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department, and everyone else in the prosecutor’s office.
“We work with victims, especially in cases where there’s a homicide and they’re involved in all of the stages in any decision making. They’re pretty aware of what the evidence is. It’s a really important relationship that our office has with this community,” Crane said. “Our door is always open. We serve the citizens of our county, and this community can rest a little easier tonight knowing that both of these individuals have been held accountable for what they did to Michelle Smith.”
