By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
When two women came to hospitals where Richard D. Smith of Princeton had worked as a patient care technician, he saw an opportunity to sexually exploit them, including one who had a seizure and could not speak or move.
In a New Brunswick courtroom Friday to get sentenced to 12 years in prison for his crimes, Smith, 42, cried a lot as he read through a prepared statement. He told Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Diane Pincus that he was “ashamed and sorry to be in front of you today.” He asked for forgiveness of his family and “my victims,” neither of whom was in the courtroom, read a passage from the Gospel of John about confessing “our sins” and cried when his sister and his nephew walked out of the courtroom before the proceeding was done.
He stood from the front row of the jury box, the same place where 12 men and women would have decided his fate had the case gone to trial. But Smith, on March 1, took a plea bargain from the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office instead to avoid that.
Smith pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault for offenses April 30, 2013, when he worked at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, in Hamilton, and then in Nov.17, 2015, at University Medical Center of Princeton, in Plainsboro.
The plea deal called for 12 years in prison, with the judge on Friday recommending that he serve the time in the state’s sex offender prison in Avenel. He could have faced 10 years to 20 years on each sexual assault offense, in which the Prosecutor’s Office could have petitioned the judge to have him serve the sentences consecutively, rather than concurrently.
In her remarks to the judge, assistant prosecutor Falguni M. Patel called Smith a “predator” who had “preyed upon” vulnerable women, one of whom was in his care on suicide watch. In graphic detail, she described what he had done to the women, including one who woke up to find Smith in bed next to her.
She said Smith was “a man who cannot control himself,” who, during his evaluation at the Avenel facility had admitted sexually assaulting more than the two women.
When the time came for her to speak, the judge kept repeating how “vulnerable” Smith’s victims were, and noted that a psychologist at the Avenel facility had noted that Smith would commit another offense if he were not treated.
Public defender Susan Martin, Smith’s lawyer, said in court that Smith wants treatment for what she called his “issues.” Smith said he wants to get himself in order mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. He talked repeatedly of his religious beliefs, at one point saying he had deserved “the fires of hell.”
The judge noted he has substance abuse problems, including for alcohol and Percocet, used for pain relief, and mental health problems. He has a prior municipal conviction for theft, she said.
His sentencing was scheduled for the morning session of court, but it was delayed until later in the afternoon. When his case was called, Judge Pincus said from the bench that Smith had expressed that he was unhappy with how Martin had handled his case.
After the judge and two lawyers conferred, Martin asked Smith a series of questions, including whether he wanted to go through with the sentencing. He did and the matter went ahead, with Martin asking Judge Pincus to sentence him to no more than 10 years in prison.
The judge declined, and though she recommended that he go to Avenel, it will be up to the state Department of Corrections to determine where he serves his time.
