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Pre-trial motions hearing postponed in Smith case

Register-Herald - 2/11/2021

Feb. 11—A pre-trial hearing on a first degree sex abuse charge for a local counselor was postponed, Raleigh County Prosecuting Attorney Ben Hatfield said Tuesday.

Beckley Police Department arrested Hamlet Smith, 51, of Pax, in October 2019 on charges that he had forced his hand down the shirt of a young adult woman who had verbally stated to him that she did not want physical contact from him. When she was leaving, she told police, he allegedly made additional unwanted contact by putting his mouth on her forehead.

The woman said that Smith wore a gun on his ankle and that he had sat in a way that made it visible to her, which made her feel threatened.

The woman's work-related duties had required her to be at his office. According to the criminal complaint, the alleged incidents occurred in Smith's office. Smith later spoke with the woman on her cell phone, according to court documents.

She was not a client of Smith's counseling business, Life Strategies Counseling in Beckley, nor was she employed by Smith.

Through his attorney, Gerald Hayden, Smith has denied the allegations. A Smith family member reported that Smith legally wears the gun for protection of the office.

The remote pre-trial motions hearing initially set for Monday was scheduled before Raleigh Circuit Court Judge Darl Poling.

The cancelled hearing related to whether or not Smith and his attorney would be permitted to subpoena the woman's cell phone records.

Grand jurors indicted Smith in January 2020. He pleaded not guilty before Poling in February 2020.

If convicted at a trial, Smith faces up to five years in prison and would be placed on the national Sex Offender Registry for life.

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