Shane Smith Gets 32 Years Prison For Disposing Mom Into Canal

JOLIET, IL - Shane Smith, a ruthless ex-con who murdered his own mother inside her house on Black Road and then disposed of Joan Smith's body into a trash bag that he tossed the dirty waters of the canal, will be going to prison until he's in his mid-sixties. Late Tuesday morning, Will County Judge Carla Alessio Policandriotes pronounced the 32-year prison sentence for Shane Smith. The Joliet man murdered his mother more than four years ago, on Oct. 13, 2013.

Back in June, Smith reached a plea agreement with the Will County State's Attorney's Office that meant prosecutors would not ask for a prison term of more than 35 years at the sentencing hearing.

Judge Policandriotes still had the latitude of imposing a prison sentence for Shane Smith of anywhere between 20 years to 60 years. Smith will be given credit for the four years and two months he has already spent at the Will County Adult Detention Facility. However, he will be required to serve 100 percent of the rest of his sentence, noted his criminal defense attorney Michael J. Renzi of The Law Offices of Michael J. Renzi on North Chicago Street.

Smith was 33 years when he murdered his mother. He's 37 years now. Therefore, he can expect to remain in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections until he's he around 65 years old.

Joliet Patch interviewed Smith's lawyer afterward. He contended the sentence imposed by Judge Policandriotes was "excessive" so he will be asking the judge to reconsider at a follow-up court hearing next week.

"I was hoping for a sentence in the lower twenties," Renzi told Joliet Patch.

That said, Renzi said he was not surprised that Judge Policandriotes opted to issue a prison term that will keep Shane Smith in custody until he's well into his sixties.

"I thought it was pretty much standard and what we expected. I'm not surprised at the number," Renzi remarked.

Smith was originally supposed to be sentenced by Judge Policandriotes back in August, but no sooner had he entered his formal guilty plea, that he had a change of heart at the county jail. Over the past several months, the court conducted additional hearings to determine whether to scrap Shane Smith's guilty plea to murder and give him a chance to go trial. On several occasions, Smith refused to get out of his jail cell or he claimed that he was too sick to go over to the courthouse.

Ultimately, in November, Judge Policandriotes decided enough was enough. She rejected Smith's petitions and ordered him to be sentenced on December 12 at 9:30 a.m.

But even Shane Smith's sentencing hearing did not go as planned. Around 9:30 a.m. the judge was informed that Smith refused to leave his jail cell and come over to the courthouse along with the other prisoners who were also appearing in Judge Policandriotes' Courtroom 405.

Initially, Smith's lawyer Michael Renzi asked if the judge was open to the idea of rescheduling the sentencing until next week. But Policandriotes was in no mood to let Shane Smith continue to drag on his case, as he's always done. She told the lawyers that she wanted Smith in court by 1 p.m. Tuesday, and by late morning he appeared in front of the judge to learn his fate.

Smith made some brief comments in front of the judge more or less disputing some of the information about him that was contained in a victim impact statement.

Renzi said the murder of Joan Smith has been devastating for the entire Smith family.

"It's very unfortunate, and this is a damaged man," Renzi said of Shane Smith. "He had issues, but nothing that would ever rise to a defense."

Renzi did point out that Shane Smith's father wrote a letter to Judge Policandriotes prior to sentencing. The contents of the letter were not read in Courtroom 405. Nonetheless, Renzi said, the letter reviewed by the judge at the time of sentencing was favorable to Shane Smith.

Mugshot of Shane Smith via Will County Sheriff's Department, photo of Joan Smith provided by her family with permission to use