Crime & Safety
Smith Gets 20-Year Sentence in Poisoning Death in Kirkland
Janjira Smith was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Friday, June 28, after pleading guilty in the 2006 poisoning death of Roger Lewis at a Kirkland apartment.
Janjira Smith was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison for killing her ex-boyfriend Roger Lewis with insecticide-laced Jagermeister in Kirkland in 2006.
Smith pleaded guilty last month to Murder Second Degree and also pleaded guilty to Assault Second Degree for poisoning a woman who was with Lewis. The sentence range on both charges was 12 to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors recommended 20 years. Smith, 58, was sentenced before Judge Tim Bradshaw at the King County Courthouse. The case was handled by Senior DPA Carla Carlstrom.
Prosecutors say Smith in October of 2006 gave a bottle of insecticide-laced Jagermeister to her ex-boyfriend Roger Lewis, after she found out he planned to marry another woman. Lewis and another woman, Thanyarat "Nina" Sengpharaghanh, quickly became ill after drinking the concoction. He died at the scene, but she recovered.
Smith fled to her native Thailand before ever being charged, said Kirkland Police Sgt. Rob Saloum, and was arrested in London in 2008 and was extradited to King County.
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In 2011, Smith pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and first-degree assault in the case.
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