[chris]

Roderick L. Smith was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of extended supervision on November 17, 2022, after pleading guilty to first-degree intentional homicide in the shotgun killing of his girlfriend, Gia Martin, in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Smith, 41 at sentencing, later tried to withdraw his plea, but Judge Jason Rossell denied the request. Under the plea agreement, the counts of hiding a corpse, possession of a firearm by a felon and resisting or obstructing an officer were dismissed. Martin's mother spoke at sentencing. Rossell said Smith's conduct after the killing showed no true remorse and declined to set a date on which he could seek release.

Smith was 39 when the case began. He lived with Martin, 40, in a home near 14th Avenue and 52nd Street. Her name was also reported as Gia Buccieri Martin. She was last seen on the night of January 25, 2021, and was reported missing the next day. According to the criminal complaint, she was shot at their home. The autopsy found birdshot-type wounds, including a shotgun wound to her back, and investigators concluded she was shot from behind at very close range.

When police first visited on January 26, Smith said he did not know where Martin was. Police returned on February 13, 2021, for a follow-up, and an officer smelled a foul odor from a city garbage can at the curb outside the residence. Martin's decomposing body was inside, covered with garbage, her hands bound with electrical tape. Empty bottles of ammonia and bleach were in the trash, and a shotgun was found inside the home. Other reports at the time dated the discovery February 14. Online jail records showed Smith booked the day the body was found.

The complaint says Smith initially told police Martin likely died of a drug overdose, that he found her dead in the morning and moved her body, and that she had no injuries or gunshot wound. In a February 14 interview, he admitted they fought the night she was killed because she was upset about his affair with another woman. He said he was cleaning a shotgun on the bed when she grabbed the barrel, put it to her body and pulled the pump action forward while his finger was near the trigger. He said it discharged into her stomach. Told she was shot in the back, he again called it an accident. Asked why he would shoot her there, he said, "I don't have a reason," and then, "I guess out of anger since I shot her in the back." He admitted putting her body in the can and garbage on top of it and, the complaint says, that he "failed to get any help" after the shooting.

In the recorded interview, a detective cites the final autopsy findings while revisiting the overdose and accidental-discharge accounts, telling Smith the round entered Martin's back. Smith continues to say the gun went off accidentally and denies planning to kill her. At the end, he asks to be taken back to jail.

Kenosha police referred charges on February 23, 2021. Smith was charged with first-degree intentional homicide (domestic abuse, use of a dangerous weapon), hiding a corpse as a repeater, possession of a firearm by a felon and obstructing an officer. Bond was set at $1 million.