(Hartford, CT) – Sharmese L. Walcott, State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Hartford, today announced that the Honorable Kevin C. Doyle on October 29, 2024 sentenced Russell Smith, age 49, of Windsor, to 50 years in prison for the 2020 fatal shooting of Franklin Spencer, age 42, in Bloomfield. At a separate hearing in Superior Court in Hartford on October 29, 2024, Smith pleaded guilty before the Honorable David P. Gold to one count of Manslaughter in the First Degree, in violation of Connecticut General Statutes § 53a-55a(1), in connection with the death of Aaron Walker, age 43, of East Hartford, during the same incident in Bloomfield, and received a concurrent 20-year prison sentence.
A Hartford Superior Court jury on August 19, 2024 found Smith guilty of one count of Murder, in violation of Connecticut General Statutes § 53a-54a, for the fatal shooting of Franklin Spencer. Smith was sentenced to 45 years for the murder charge and he received an additional five-year sentence enhancement for the use of a firearm in the commission of the shooting, for a total of 50 years.
According to evidence introduced at the trial, in the early morning hours of February 22, 2020, the Bloomfield Police Department responded to a shooting at Elizabeth’s Bar and Restaurant. Officers from the Bloomfield Police Department, located across the street from Elizabeth’s Bar and Restaurant, heard gunshots and responded to the scene less than a minute after the shooting. When officers arrived, they found Aaron Walker and Franklin Spencer on the ground outside of the restaurant. Mr. Walker had been shot in the chest and the leg and Mr. Spencer was shot twice in the head. Both victims were transported to the hospital where they were pronounced deceased. The defendant fled the scene but later surrendered to the Bloomfield Police Department after a 5 ½-month search by the United States Marshals Violent Fugitive Task Force and Bloomfield Police Department.
State’s Attorney Walcott wishes to extend gratitude to the entire Bloomfield Police Department for their investigation of the shootings and for their efforts in locating the defendant.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorney Samantha Magnani and Executive Assistant State’s Attorney Brett J. Salafia, with the assistance of Inspector Robert Nesci, Paralegal Specialists Lakisha Malave and Antoine Campbell, and Certified Legal Intern Julia Lucas.
"The trial team, led by Assistant State’s Attorney Magnani, worked tirelessly on this case and I applaud their hard work,” States Attorney Walcott said. “To the mother of the victims, who lost two sons in one night, I hope this sentencing provides closure to this chapter in her time of grief. This case highlights that personal disputes are never worth the catastrophes caused by death."