- FOX 16
- NASH: After the assault.
The two men charged with assaulting Gould Mayor Earnest Nash last July will not face jail time, according to the Gould Citizens Advisory Council. Don Smith saw his felony assault charge reduced to misdemeanor battery and faces 12 months of unsupervised probation. His brother Decarlos Smith saw his charges dismissed altogether.
The Smiths are related Rosieanna Smith-Lee, a member of the Gould city council, which has been battling with Mayor Nash for several years. In an interview with the Times last year, Nash said Smith-Lee and her fellow city council member Sonja Farley and Harry Hall were present at the time of the attack.
Formed almost a decade ago, the civic group Gould Citizens Advisory Council received national attention last year after the Gould city council passed ordinances restricting the GCAC from meeting within city limits and prohibiting the creation of new civic organizations without council approval. The council also passed an ordinance prohibiting the mayor from meeting with any citizen group without council approval. The unconstitutional ordinances were later overturned.
“The message seems to be, if you try to resolve political disputes with violence, then the most you can
expect is a slap on the wrist. I just don’t understand that,” said GCAC president Curtis Mangrum of the sentencing of the Smiths in a statement, which you can read in full on the jump.