Life in prison for robber who killed Cottage Grove man
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EUGENE, Ore. - A robber who shot and killed a man during a home invasion robbery in January 2012 will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Robert P. Smith, 35, pleaded guilty Friday to aggravated murder in the death of Terry Fruichantie, 48, of Cottage Grove.
Smith's accomplice, Kenneth Robert Lee, pleaded guilty to robbery, burglary and felon in possesion of a firearm. His sentencing date has not been set.
"He was growing medical marijuana, and they thought he had money," said Barbara Preuss, Fruichantie's mother.
The robbers left with nothing that night.
Preuss said her son was a truck driver for 25 years. He loved his dogs and the outdoors.
"We used to talk on the phone every day," she said. "I love him, I miss him, I just miss him more than anything."
Fruichantie was shot and killed January 13, 2012, by one of the masked men who forced their way into his home, demanding money.
"It was a home invasion robbery turned homicide," Detective Spence Slater said a day after the killing.
Smith and Lee were arrested 5 months later.
Smith faces life in prison for the killing. He was also sentenced to an additional 22 1/2 years on other charges.
Preuss would have preferred her son's killer got the death penalty.
"I'm tired of paying taxes for people like this that are getting 3 meals a day in jail, a nice warm place to sleep," she said, "while my son is 6 feet under the ground with a slab of granite on top of him."
@Vetzero Do you really believe that justice should be fit only for the wealthy. That man was the guy I considerded "dad". And now he's gone an your gonna toss in your opinions, well if you were not wealthy & a similiar situation where to happen, wouldn't you want justice? A sentence you feel is right, eye for an eye, ect.? So how about a quote, "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU THINK".Â
The victim was not high enough in social class to warrant executing the murderer. Now, if he had been wealthy, in politics, a CEO or something like that then maybe justice could have been bought to pay for the killer's execution.Â
Guess not, so the killer gets three hots and a cot, crime school, medical/dental care, legal aid...for life.
He won't hardly have to hit a lick from now on in Salem because if he's made to work against his will, at hard labor, it might be against his civil rights, too cruel and unusual...never mind the fact that his victim is dead as a hammer.
The headline should read, " Smith Skates."
Oregon justice...'soft on crime, everytime'
Had enough yet ?
We should execute this guy.
Here's hoping this HUSKYDUMP dies a painful death in jail....SOON !