Felony assault charges dropped in Oregon road rage incident

PORTLAND – An Idaho man who was arrested earlier this year on felony assault charges that he had severely injured a Vancouver, Wash., woman during a September 2004 road rage incident on Interstate 84 in Oregon won’t face any charges and has been released from jail.

The case against Butch Dwight “Sno” Smith, 32, of Lewiston, was dismissed after Morrow County District Attorney David C. Allen concluded that the key witness in the case had lied.

Federal marshals arrested Smith in Tennessee in April as part of a nationwide fugitive roundup; he had been in custody since then on $500,000 bail.

The charges were withdrawn after Allen discovered that the woman who had implicated Smith had lied. The woman, Marcia Day, was the mother of two of Smith’s children.

Prosecutors have no other suspects.

The crash happened about 13 miles west of Boardman on Sept. 19, 2004. Three women had been driving west in a sport utility vehicle when a car began tailgating them, witnesses told police.

When SUV driver Sandra Sturdevant of Vancouver tapped her brake, the driver of the other car maneuvered in front of her and slammed on his brakes, according to the Oregon State Police. Sturdevant’s SUV swerved and rolled, injuring all three occupants, according to the Oregon State Police.

The crash left one passenger, Jennifer Truver Middleton, now 36, of Vancouver, paralyzed below the chest.

Day told police she had been a passenger in Smith’s car that day, that they hid under a bridge after the crash and that his father came to meet them to help them elude police, investigators said.

In April, Smith and his father were arrested by federal marshals in eastern Tennessee. Both denied that they were in Oregon that day or had anything to do with the crash. Their lawyers said they had “substantial evidence” to back up that claim.

Police said Day may have been upset with Smith because of a custody battle.

Middleton said Tuesday that she is disappointed but that she has no way to know who was driving the other car.