MEDIA, Pa. – A suburban Philadelphia man serving a life term for the strangulation death of a company intern from North Dakota has been sentenced to an additional nine to 24 months for possession of child pornography on his computer when he was arrested.
Forty-four-year-old William Smithson of Thornbury Township pleaded no contest to the charge in June.
His attorney said other people had access to the computer, but his client entered the plea to conclude the case.
Smithson participated in the hearing by videoconferencing from state prison in Huntingdon, where he is serving life in the death of 23-year-old Jason Shephard of Cavalier, N.D.
Shephard was studying sports marketing and took a semester off from Northern State University to work at Daktronics, a scoreboard manufacturer.
His decomposing body was found at the home of Smithson, a Daktronics supervisor, in September 2006. Smithson is appealing his murder conviction.
Smithson was found guilty in 2008 of giving Shephard a date-rape drug and then strangling him when he fought off his sexual advances.
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