2nd Murder Trial Begins for Fatal Stabbing at Homeless Camp

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Defense Attorney Patrick Peters told a jury Thursday, that a homeless drifter only stabbed another to save himself during a drunken fight in May of 2008.

The second murder trial for Glenn A Smith, 50, began Thursday at the Story County Courthouse in Nevada. Smith is accused of stabbing Danny McGonigle in a homeless camp south of the Iowa Department of Transportation building on May 19, 2008. McGonigle died en route to the hospital. He had 32 stab wounds.

“What do you do in the dark of night, in the woods, when a much larger man without a logical or discernible purpose in a drunken rage, charges you and threatens to kick your head in and threatens to kill you and begins to assault you?” Peters asked the jury. “What do you do, when that man will not stop?”

McGonigle, who stood three inches taller and outweighed Smith by 45 pounds, was the aggressor, Peters said. Smith just wanted to drink beer, he said.

Deadly force is justified when that person believes he is in danger, Peters said. For murder to be proven, Peters said, prosecutors will have to show that there was an evil intent before the act.

“Not during the act, not after,” Peters said.

Peters said Smith arrived in Ames with another man just days before the death. 

Smith spent his first night sleeping near the gate of a golf course before befriending a third homeless man named Larry Fowler, Peters said.

When Fowler had to leave for work, Smith ended up meeting McGonigle near Hy-Vee and the pair spent the day drinking before returning to Fowler's campsite about 11:30 p.m., Peters said.

Smith didn't know that Fowler and McGonigle had a history and that Fowler had banned McGonigle from his campsite before, Peters said.

The argument began when McGonigle didn't want to share his beer with Fowler.

Peters said that Smith didn't argue but that McGonigle punched Smith twice in the face.

Fowler then came out of his tent and saw McGonigle walk to his bike, Peters said. McGonigle then asked Fowler why he was looking at his bike. Fowler said he wasn't looking at his bike and McGonigle then charged Smith, Peters said.

Peters said McGonigle hit Smith and kicked him and the pair fell to the ground wrestling when the stabbings took place. Once Smith had the upper hand and sat upon McGonigle he didn't hit or stab McGonigle, Peters said.

“What he says is 'Stop fighting. I'll get an ambulance',” Peters said.

Peters said this is where the stories of the prosecution and defense diverge.

Smith took two beers and left, Peters said. Fowler said Smith walked north to Hy-Vee. Smith said he walked south toward Highway 30. Fowler called 911 and a belligerent McGonigle swore at paramedics who tried to help him and threatened to kill Smith almost a dozen times, Peters said.

Doctors will tell the jury that none of McGonigle's injuries were debilitating enough to stop an attack, Peters said. Evidence will show that the stab wounds came from different directions indicating that both men's positions were constantly changing, Peters said.

Smith had no motive to kill McGonigle.

“All Glenn wanted to do is drink,” Peters said.

Smith was found guilty of second-degree murder in April of 2009. However the verdict was set aside in December of 2009 after Smith's attorneys asked for a new trial saying that the verdict was contrary to the evidence. In the previous trial, Smith admitted to stabbing McGonigle to break out of a chokehold and has said that it was done in self defense.

* This story originally ran Thursday, May 30, 2013.

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