"Mad Dog" Sentenced to Three Life Sentences

Thomas Smith, known as "Mad Dog", has been sentenced to three life terms in federal prison for the murder of two Joplin residents in 1999 and for drug-trafficking. The federal prosecutor accused Smith of moving to Joplin from Tulsa, Oklahoma as the leader of the Red Mob Gangsters bringing with him a wave of drug addiction and violence. Smith trafficked in crack cocaine and ran a crack house in southwest Missouri’s Jasper County between 1999 and 2001. He shot to death Paris Harbin and Chandy Bresee-Plumb in late 1999 when he came to believe Harbin had stolen money and drugs from the crack house. The jury deadlocked on whether Smith should be executed or be given life in prison, leaving the judge with no choice but to sentenced Smith to life in prison.