Teen pleads guilty to attempted robbery, theft of a firearm

A 19-year-old defendant with a ninth-grade education, mental health issues and a drug problem trembled as he stood before Judge Tari Eitzen on Wednesday to admit hijacking a car last August with pistols he had just stolen.

“I’ve just never been in trouble like this,” Dennis Lee Smith said when Eitzen asked him whether he was well.

Earlier this month, another Spokane County Superior Court judge found Smith mentally competent for trial.

Smith pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree attempted robbery and two counts of theft of a firearm in a deal that eliminated a first-degree burglary charge. Eitzen sentenced him to the maximum standard 41/3 years in prison called for in his plea bargain.

The deal changed a weapon enhancement on the attempted-robbery charge from use of a firearm to use of a deadly weapon other than a firearm. That reduced Smith’s sentence as well as the portion for which he could earn no credit for good behavior in prison.

Smith said he was under the influence of methamphetamine when he entered National Loan and Jewelry, 1101 N. Division, on Aug. 12 and stole two semiautomatic pistols after smashing open a glass case with his fist.

Bleeding and with a pistol in each hand, he approached a motorist who was parked at a nearby business, Spokane Title, 1010 N. Normandie. Smith pointed one of the guns at Howard Roach and got into Roach’s car when Roach ran into the title company office for help. The car’s engine was still running, but Smith ran away without taking the wallet Roach had left on the seat.

Police quickly chased down Smith and arrested him. “I didn’t want to hurt anybody,” Smith said Wednesday, adding that he was grateful for help he has received in jail for his drug and mental health problems.