William Trickett Smith

{{Short description|American lawyer and politician (1937–2021)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2021}}

{{Infobox criminal

| name = William Trickett Smith

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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1937|8|16|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2021|3|20|1937|8|16}}

| death_place = Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, U.S.

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| conviction = Bid rigging (1985)
Theft by unlawful taking and deception (2010)

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| children = William Trickett Smith II (c. 1981){{cite news|last=Miller|first=Matt|url=http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/11/state_prison_term_ordered_for_1.html|title=State prison term ordered for William Trickett Smith in fraud case|newspaper=The Patriot-News|accessdate=November 29, 2010|date=November 23, 2010}}

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William Trickett Smith Sr. (August 16, 1937 – March 20, 2021) was an American lawyer and the former chairman of the Dauphin County Republican Committee.{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-09-1382666919_x.htm|title=Pa. man held after death of wife in Peru|newspaper=USA Today|agency=Associated Press|accessdate=June 13, 2010|date=September 9, 2007}} In 1985, he was disbarred and imprisoned for bid rigging and convicted of theft by unlawful taking and deception in 2010.{{cite news|last=Miller|first=Matt|url=http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/08/william_trickett_smith_pleads.html|title=William Trickett Smith pleads guilty in investment con case|newspaper=The Patriot-News|accessdate=September 5, 2010|date=August 31, 2010}}{{cite web|last=Corbett|first=Tom|url=http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/press.aspx?id=4680|title=Attorney General Corbett announces charges against former Harrisburg attorney and Allentown businessman in theft & investment fraud case|publisher=Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General|accessdate=September 4, 2010|date=August 27, 2009}} He was the father of William Trickett Smith II, convicted in 2011 of murdering his wife and dismembering her while in Peru.

In 2012, Trickett Sr. was convicted of arson and insurance fraud while facing disbarment and investigation for taking funds from his clients estates.{{cite news|last1=Campisi|first1=Jon|title=Pa. lawyer once tied to 'Budd' Dwyer sentenced to state prison for arson|url=https://pennrecord.com/stories/510552609-pa-lawyer-once-tied-to-budd-dwyer-sentenced-to-state-prison-for-arson|accessdate=December 11, 2017|publisher=Penn Record|date=November 9, 2012}}

In 2014, he was again sentenced for conspiring to help his son escape by filing a false criminal complaint to have him temporarily extradited from Peru back to Pennsylvania.{{cite web|last1=Miller|first1=Matt|title=Ex-Dauphin County GOP Chairman William Trickett Smith pleads guilty in prison break plot case|url=http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/09/ex-dauphin_county_gop_chairman.html|website=Penn Live|date=September 16, 2014|publisher=PA Media Group|accessdate=December 11, 2017}}

Smith was one of the main prosecution witnesses in the trial of Pennsylvania Treasurer R. Budd Dwyer. Smith later admitted in an interview shown in Honest Man: The Life of R. Budd Dwyer that he had lied under oath in his own 1985 trial when he denied offering Dwyer a bribe. In the documentary, he maintained that his testimony at Dwyer's 1986 trial—that he offered Dwyer a bribe and that Dwyer accepted this offer—was truthful.{{Citation|last=EightyFourFilms|title=Honest Man: The Life of R.Budd Dwyer (Directors Cut)|date=May 27, 2013|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPpqt00cb2E|accessdate=March 3, 2016}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead Youtube links|date=February 2022}}

Smith died March 20, 2021, in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pennlive.com/news/2021/03/former-dauphin-county-gop-chairman-william-trickett-smith-sr-left-a-legacy-of-criminal-convictions.html|title=Former Dauphin County GOP Chairman William Trickett Smith Sr. Left a legacy of criminal convictions|date=March 24, 2021}}