A 33-year-old Fort Smith woman who has been in and out of court, jail, prison, and trouble since 2016 finds her herself headed away for a substantial amount of time after a plea deal in Sebastian County Circuit Court on Friday.
According to records obtained from the court, Jennifer Michelle Smith, who resides in the 2600 block of South 58th Street in Fort Smith, was sentenced on drug trafficking and possession of drug paraphernalia charges in a case that saw her tagged as a habitual offender. Smith pled guilty to all charges and was sentenced to the Arkansas Department of Corrections for 30 years when an additional 30 years suspended.
Smith has been in jail since her June 5 arrest earlier this year for delivery of fentanyl, trafficking, and paraphernalia possession. That arrest triggered the petition to revoke, and she has had at least a dozen interactions with the court system since her initial arrest on drug charges way back in 2016. In addition to the cases she was sentenced for on Friday, her petition to revoke opened up because two other cases from earlier in the decade.
Smith was given jail time credit for time served, must provide a DNA sample to the court system, and also received a substantial fine.
The only thing the plea deal accomplished in her favor was the state agreed to withdraw the petition to revoke charges against her in the previous cases.
As of 8:00 p.m. Sunday night she remained in the Sebastian County Detention Center awaiting transfer to the Arkansas Department of Corrections.
