Bizarre Drug-Stabbing Gets Cobb Woman Prison Time

MARIETTA, GA — A woman who said God told her to stab a 17-year-old friend and relative to death will spend the next two decades in prison after the bizarre, drug-fueled crime.

On Monday, Olivia Nicole Smith, 21, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the Nov. 14, 2015 stabbing, which happened at the Acworth home of 17-year-old Abby Hebert. Cobb County Superior Court Judge Ann Harris sentenced her to 20 years in prison after the plea.

According to prosecutors, the teens were related by marriage and had partied together the night before the stabbing. Smith spent the night with Hebert and, evidence shows, everything seemed fine the next morning, as the girls went to Chick-Fil-A and Kroger together.

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But, at around 9:30 a.m., Smith went to a neighbor and said that "something happened."

She would also tell a passerby that she and Hebert, a student at Allatoona High School, had been smoking marijuana on the back porch when God told her "to kill Abby."

Inside the home, the kitchen was in disarray, a butcher block was on the floor and there were two broken chairs, broken glass and dents in the walls. A blood trail suggested that the stabbing started in the kitchen.

Prosecutors say that, in the two years she's been in custody, Smith has met with a psychiatrist 15 times and that no evidence of a mental health problem was found. Instead, they say, "all evidence suggests her delusional and psychotic state was drug-induced."

In a statement, prosecutors expressed sympathy to Hebert's family and friends, while defending the decision to accept a voluntary-manslaughter plea instead of pursuing murder charges.

"There are absolutely no winners here," said chief Assistant District Attorney Jesse Evans, who prosecuted the case. "This is not a decision made lightly. We’ve had hours of consultation with family, friends, and the district attorney, Vic Reynolds, and I believe that even at trial, a conviction for voluntary manslaughter is a likely outcome."

Photo courtesy Cobb County District Attorney's office