Taking the stand Tuesday, Charles Robert Smith claimed all three men he killed in June of 2023 had firearms when he shot them, but said they were taken away before authorities arrived. In a police interview the night of the mass shooting, however, those weapons were not mentioned.
“Did I leave that out?” Smith asked, referring to one victim’s purported handgun. “Oops, my bad.”
Smith’s testimony took up the bulk of the day Tuesday, as the defendant described his military career, his relationships with people who testified against him, and the specific hand and body movements he made during the incident.
Much of his cross-examination was spent comparing those statements to a June 11, 2023, interview with police that took place after he was snuck out of his Paddington Place home and that was conducted, consensually, without a lawyer.
On the witness stand, Smith became frustrated by questions from Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess. He cursed at her, answered her questions with his own and accused her multiple times of “beating a dead horse.” The interview, he said, was a brief “synopsis,” one he believed he’d have a chance to expand upon and clarify at trial.
At one point, in an exchange about whether several of the state’s witnesses had lied on the stand, Leitess asked Smith if he felt the case against him was a conspiracy.
“I wouldn’t say a conspiracy,” Smith said. “But I would say a lazy, slightly corrupt police force and an overzealous, needs-to-retire prosecutor.”
“I’ll take that under advisement,” Leitess replied.
Smith, 45, has been on trial in the triple killing in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court since Feb. 10. Prosecutors have looked to prove that Smith’s hatred toward Hispanic people propelled the violence, while his attorneys argue the Army veteran was defending his family from “perceived threats” in his neighborhood.
Refuting the testimony of his ex-wife, whom he referred to as “evil, vindictive, “Smith said he has never used racial slurs. When confronted with text messages in which a friend suggested putting antifreeze in his neighbor’s guacamole — Smith replied he’d prefer a piñata because it would cost less in legal fees — the defendant said it was “healthy venting” and that it “seemed like a good idea to smack them around with a Wiffle ball bat.”
The neighbors referred to in the text message were involved in a car accident with Smith’s family several years ago. Smith said he thought they were responsible for knocking down his mailbox. He described them, generally, as “annoying neighbors” but said he wouldn’t want to harm them.
For more than 40 years, Smith’s family has owned a corner house on the 1000 block of Paddington Place, a largely Hispanic community off Edgewood Road.
On June 11, 2023, a parking dispute broke out between Smith, his mother Shirley and a neighbor with whom they had had a strained relationship for many years. The dispute erupted into the city’s deadliest single event since the Capital Gazette newsroom attack in 2018.
By the time the gunfire stopped, Mario Mireles, the neighbor, Nicolas Mireles, his father, and Christian Segovia Jr., his friend, were dead, while Rosalina Segovia, Enner Canales-Hernandez and Paul Johnson were hospitalized. All of them had been celebrating a birthday at the Mireles house down the street.
Across 10 days of testimony, attorneys have questioned eyewitnesses, character witnesses and law enforcement agents to paint a fuller picture of the shooting, the people and places involved, as well as the evidence found and missing.
Since Smith’s first bail hearing in 2023, his military service has been offered as a factor in his defense, and on Tuesday, he described much of the shooting using Army-like language.
Mario Mireles was the first person shot after the argument. According to Smith’s testimony, the neighbor was instructing his friends to attack him while holding on to Smith’s arm.
“In an attempt to mitigate myself as a casualty … I fired a security shot [into Mario],” Smith said. A security shot, he explained, was usually a headshot to guarantee a “hostile” was down. Smith said he shot Mireles in the chest because he did not want to “execute” him.
When asked if “hostiles” is how he refers to his neighbors, Smith responded, “Only the ones who shoot at me.”
Two witnesses, who previously misled police, said Luis Mireles fired three shots at Smith’s house to try and stop him. Luis Mireles is Mario Mireles’ brother and Nicolas Mireles’ son.
Only one cartridge casing not belonging to one of Smith’s weapons was found on Paddington Place — Smith said he saw partygoers clean up the area before police arrived — and the gun Luis Mireles used was never recovered.
Smith’s public defenders will have the opportunity to question him again Wednesday morning.
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