38-Year-Old Man Found Guilty In Girlfriend’s Death

A man with a history of domestic violence against the woman he eventually killed was found guilty during a bench trial Wednesday at the Justice Center.

Evan Marquis Smith, 38, of Falls Township’s Morrisville section, was found guilty by Court of Common Pleas Judge Raymond McHugh of third-degree murder, aggravated assault, strangulation, recklessly endangering another person, simple assault, fleeing and eluding, and driving without headlights to avoid detection.

The judge deferred sentencing to a later date.

A bench trial is different than a jury trial. A defendant waives the right to a jury trial and allows a judge to determine whether the defendant is guilty or not.

Smith killed 39-year-old Jamie Beighley inside a Falls Township motel last July.

Smith killed his girlfriend, Beighley, at the New Falls Hotel in the 200 block of Lincoln Highway late on the night of July 1. She suffered numerous injuries, including those related to being strangled, head trauma, and a possible brain bleed. She later died in the hospital.

According to the authorities, Smith eluded the responding cops before being apprehended a short while later along Hunter Drive in the Pennwood Crossing mobile home park.

The mother of multiple children was choked to the “point of unconsciousness” by Smith during a “heated verbal confrontation,” according to the authorities.

During the bench trial, Bucks County Deputy District Attorney Kate Kohler described Smith’s history of domestic violence against Beighley.

In her closing arguments, Kohler challenged Smith’s claim that Beighley died in the hotel room due to an unintentional choking, stating that it would have taken at least four minutes, continuous pressure, and tremendous force to kill Beighley.

“This was personal,” Kohler told the court. “Jamie was leaving him after 18 years of torture and violence.”

The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said there were numerous witnesses that testified, including police, a forensic pathologist, someone staying at the motel, and victims of the relative.

The forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy, Dr. Ian Hood, gave testimony regarding the serious wounds Beighley suffered. Beighley’s neck was bruised, and the hyoid bone in her neck was broken, according to the forensic pathologist, showing that someone had been tightly holding her neck.

Bite marks on Beighley’s fingers, according to Hood, indicate that she fought off her attacker during the struggle.

A Bucks County Correctional Facility inmate and a corrections officer both testified that Smith had spoken to them about choking and killing his girlfriend. According to the testimony, Smith even took off his shirt to show the prisoner the scrapes he got during the struggle.

The 15-year-old son of Beighley and Smith, one of three children they share, also testified in court. He described two previous domestic assaults, the first of which left his mother battered and the second of which involved his father setting fire to their trailer on April 28, 2021.

Kohler presented 322 pages of texts that included additional details about the turbulent relationship. From early May 2021 to a few days before Beighley’s murder, Smith sent numerous texts threatening to harm and kill Beighley and her family, the records showed.

“The defendant killed Ms. Beighley with evil in his heart and mind,” District Attorney Matt Weintraub said in a statement. “If he couldn’t have her then no one else would. At sentencing, we will argue that he is such a danger to society that he must be imprisoned for decades in order to keep our community safe from him.”

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