Conn. court upholds conviction of dancer killer

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The state Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the murder conviction of a man serving life in prison for the killing of an exotic dancer whose burned remains were found on his property.

The court's 7-0 decision rejected Kenneth Otto Sr.'s argument that there wasn't enough evidence to prove he intended to cause the death of 22-year-old Shamaia Smith of East Hartford, who was reported missing in March 2007 after she didn't show up for work at the Kahoots strip club in Vernon. Intent is the key element in proving a murder charge.

Justices also rejected the Ellington man's claim that prosecutor David Zagaja gave an improper closing argument to a Hartford Superior Court jury in December 2008. Otto's appeal said Zagaja essentially told the jury that Otto should be convicted of murder because he destroyed evidence.

Assistant State's Attorney Timothy Sugrue, who argued the state's case in the appeal, said that although much evidence was destroyed, the jury reached a reasonable verdict based on the evidence that was obtained.

"They could infer his intent to kill based on the cumulative force of all the evidence," Sugrue said Thursday. "This is a case where you had to look at all the evidence in total."

Otto's public defender, Adele Patterson, declined to comment on the ruling, saying she was still reviewing the decision and hadn't talked with Otto about it yet.

Why Smith was killed remains unclear.

On the afternoon of March 14, 2007, she left her parents' house in East Hartford after telling her boyfriend she was going to work and meeting a "client" who owned a large piece of property and drove a black truck, the records say. Her family and friends never saw her again.

Otto, now 61, told police that he picked up Smith that day and dropped her off at another Kahoots club in East Hartford at her request, but denied knowing what happened to her after that.

Prosecutors believe Otto drove Smith to his 75-acre property in Stafford that day, shot her in a trailer there and burned her body in a fire pit. East Hartford police identified him as a possible suspect through voicemails he left for Smith.

Authorities say that when they searched Otto's property on April 12, they saw Otto digging a hole with a backhoe to bury the trailer, which he had destroyed.

In a large fire pit, police found bullet shell casings, pieces of human tissue, bone fragments, teeth, part of a foot and a set of keys that were later determined to belong to Smith. DNA tests showed the remains were those of Smith.

Investigators say they also found Smith's blood on a mop and on pieces of plastic and linoleum found in a vacuum bag recovered from the trailer site.

"We conclude that the circumstantial evidence and the reasonable inferences the jury could draw therefrom ... are sufficient to support the jury's finding that the defendant had the requisite intent to kill the victim," Justice Flemming L. Norcott Jr. wrote in the court's unanimous decision.

Only days after police searched Otto's property on April 12, his wife, Kathleen, filed for divorce.

Smith's family has a pending wrongful death suit against Kenneth Otto, and another pending lawsuit against Kathleen Otto alleging fraudulent transfers of cash and property to her from her husband after the killing. Kathleen Otto denies the allegations.

In another ruling earlier this month, the state Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision attaching about $550,000 worth of Kathleen Otto's assets in case Smith's family wins the lawsuit alleging fraudulent transfers.

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