ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 10, 1996 TAG: 9612100103
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NORFOLK
SOURCE: Associated Press
A man accused of killing his wife will give his children most of the money from an insurance policy and the sale of his house and let his parents-in-law adopt them under a settlement reached Monday.
The agreement was announced after nearly five hours of jury selection in a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit brought on behalf of Thomas Smolka's three children. Smolka's murder conviction in the 1991 death of his wife, Betty Anne, was overturned on appeal.
James Lewis, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the key part of the settlement was Smolka's agreeing to sign a consent form allowing the adoption.
``That slams all the doors he would ever have to insert himself into these children's lives,'' Lewis said.
Smolka wanted to do what was best for his children, said Steve Mahan, one of his lawyers.
``He loves his children, whatever they may feel about him,'' Mahan said.
Because Smolka has no job and no income, the financial aspect of the case really was about $250,000 in insurance, interest on that money and the proceeds of the sale of the Smolkas' house in Virginia Beach. The total amount was about $335,000, Lewis and Mahan said.
Smolka agreed to give 75 percent of the money to his children and keep the rest, Lewis said. About $250,000 from a different insurance policy already has been paid to the children's trust fund.
Smolka, a former Virginia Beach lawyer and developer who lives in Wilmington, Del., left the court before the settlement was announced.
U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Smith gave both sides until Friday to file settlement documents. The trial will resume next Monday if the court rejects the settlement.
Thirty of 62 prospective jurors were excused from jury duty Monday.
The judge and lawyers for both sides questioned many of those people individually in the judge's chambers after 47 said they had heard about the case, which received much publicity.
Like O.J. Simpson, Smolka would have had to take the stand in the civil case, which he did not do at his criminal trial in Florida three years ago.
In a criminal trial, charges must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. In a civil trial, however, a plaintiff can obtain a judgment against a defendant if evidence of guilt is greater than evidence of innocence.
The lawsuit was filed by Betty Anne Smolka's father, Willis W. Stephenson, who is raising the Smolkas' children. He recently was replaced as the plaintiff by John Richardson, a lawyer who is administrator of Betty Anne Smolka's estate.
Betty Anne Smolka disappeared in July 1991 while on a business trip with her husband in Ocala, Fla. Her body was found in a field several days later. She had been shot twice.
The case against Smolka rested largely on his suspicious actions after his wife vanished and his purchase of life insurance on her shortly before her death.
Last year, an appeals court said the circumstantial evidence was insufficient for a conviction, but ``creates a strong suspicion that he murdered his wife.''
LENGTH: Medium: 65 linesby CNB