Smith Family Demands $5 Million After City Withheld Evidence

ST. LOUIS, MO — The family of Anthony Lamar Smith, who was shot and killed by St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley in 2011, is demanding the city pay $5 million after an investigation revealed prosecutors withheld DNA evidence from them during a civil trial in 2013.

Stockley was acquitted of Smith's murder last year, sparking citywide protests, but the city paid Smith's family almost $1 million to settle a civil suit. The family's attorney says the fact that key evidence was withheld now brings that settlement into question.

Hal Goldsmith, a former federal prosecutor, led the independent investigation. An abbreviated version of the findings was released last December.

It showed Stockley's DNA on the gun — but not Smith's — leading family members and others to argue the gun may have been planted on Smith as justification for the shooting.

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That evidence was only revealed at Stockley's criminal trial last year. It wasn't enough to convince a judge that Stockley had planted the weapon, but civil cases require only a preponderance of evidence rather than evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, and the family's attorney, Albert Watkins, said the DNA evidence would have strengthened their case had it been made available.

Late last year, Watkins asked the city to reopen settlement negotiations.

The Associated Press contributed to this reporting.

Photo: Citywide protests broke out following the the acquittal of former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley for the shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith, a black motorist. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)