ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, August 6, 1996 TAG: 9608060064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WINCHESTER
SOURCE: Associated Press
Wanda Smelser let her daughter suffer for weeks, bound like an animal and fed scraps, and did nothing to stop her live-in boyfriend from beating the girl to death, a prosecutor said Monday.
Smelser pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and abduction just before the scheduled start of a trial that could have detailed the brutality Valerie Smelser suffered at home in the final weeks of her life.
Valerie, 12, was locked naked in the basement, forced to use a tin can as a toilet and starved until she weighed 51 pounds at her death, said Frederick County Commonwealth's Attorney Lawrence Ambrogi. She died of severe blows to the head, and her body was covered with bruises, an autopsy showed.
``It looked like something out of a concentration camp,'' Ambrogi said.
In entering her plea, Smelser conceded that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict her, but did not admit guilt. The plea averted a trial for first-degree murder and a possible life sentence if she were convicted.
``I'm aware of the commonwealth's evidence, and I am not going to chance a jury'' trial, defense attorney William Crane said.
Ambrogi said he agreed to the plea deal in part to spare Smelser's surviving children the emotional stress of a trial.
``All we can really say at this time is that this case is truly a tragedy for all humanity,'' Ambrogi said.
Valerie's sisters and brothers told investigators that Valerie was singled out for beatings and Smelser and her boyfriend, Norman Hoverter, punished siblings who sneaked food to Valerie.
The fatal beating Jan. 21, 1995, came after the child spilled a can she used as a urinal, Ambrogi said during Smelser's brief court appearance.
Hoverter became enraged, Ambrogi said.
``He hit Valerie in the head, rubbed her face in the urine and made her clean it up,'' the prosecutor said. ``Wanda Smelser was present and did nothing to protect Valerie or to stop Norman Hoverter.''
Hoverter then knocked the child down the steps and left her to die from the beating, Ambrogi said.
``Again, Wanda Smelser did nothing,'' he said.
Smelser, 44, was charged with murder as well as abduction because she imprisoned the child for weeks before the fatal beating, prosecutors said.
Three other young children who shared a ramshackle rented house in Middletown described how Smelser and Hoverter bound Valerie with twine and forced her to sleep amid her own excrement in the unheated basement, prosecutors said.
None of the children attended school, and the Smelser family had a long history of evading the reach of social service agencies across northwestern Virginia.
Smelser faces a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison on the reduced charges. Ambrogi recommended a term of 40 years with 30 years suspended for the murder plea, and 10 years with six suspended for the abduction plea.
Under parole reforms that took effect Jan. 1, 1995, Smelser would serve nearly all of the 14 years. Sentencing is scheduled Oct.4.
Hoverter entered an Alford plea in July 1995 to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison. He says prosecutors tricked him into accepting the deal and is trying to get the sentence overturned.
At his sentencing, Hoverter blamed Smelser for the abuse. He was scheduled to testify at her trial.
Valerie's naked body was found on a rural roadside Jan. 22, 1995. Hoverter and Smelser first told police she disappeared from a gas station restroom but later admitted dumping her body. Hoverter told police the girl died from falling down the stairs.
The General Assembly formed a special commission last year to investigate why social service agencies failed to protect Valerie. This year, the legislature authorized pilot programs to more closely monitor families accused of child abuse or neglect.
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshots) Smelser, Hoverter.by CNB