Dr. James Smith will spend 57 years in prison, avoid death penalty.
One day after a judge found that James Smith was eligible for the death penalty,the former Clovis dentist entered an Alford plea to charges he was facing in connection with the December 2005 killing of 30-year-old Laura McNaughton, The Associated Press is reporting.

State District Judge Joe Parker allowed Smith to enter the so-called Alford plea -- in which the accused doesn't admit guilt but acknowledges there is sufficient evidence to convict him at trial -- to charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, attempted rape and tampering with evidence, the AP reported.

Under the plea agreement, the 37-year-old Smith will be sentenced to life in prison plus 27 years, which means he must spend 57 years in prison before being eligible for parole, according to the AP report.

Smith has been held without bond at the Curry County Detention Center since his arrest last December, the AP said.

He had been scheduled to go to trial on June 1.

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7:40am Prosecutors Can Seek Death Penalty: Judge finds probable cause that slain Clovis waitress was kidnapped and raped.

It was expected to go for three days, but state District Judge Joe Parker needed only one day to find that probable cause exists that a rape and kidnapping occurred in the December 2005 death of 30-year-old Laura McNaughton, the Clovis News Journal reported this morning on its Web site.

That means prosecutors can seek the death penalty in their first-degree murder case against former Clovis dentist James Smith, 37, who is scheduled to go to trial on June 1, the News Journal said.

The nude, battered and strangled body of McNaughton was found by pheasant hunters in a ditch in rural Curry County on Dec. 10, 2005, according to earlier reports.

McNaughton, a part-time student and mother of two who worked at a Clovis restaurant Smith used to frequent, died of strangulation and blunt-force trauma to the head, earlier reports have said.

According to testimony in Monday's hearing from Dr. Ian Paul of the state Office of the Medical Investigator, the immediate cause of McNaughton's death was "manual strangulation" but the blow she suffered later would have been enough to kill her, the News Journal reported.

Among the new details of the killing unveiled at Monday's hearing was testimony by Curry County sheriff's investigator Sandy Loomis, who said that blood was found just last month in Smith's truck and that investigators are awaiting test results from the State Crime Lab to determine whether it was McNaughton's, the News Journal said.

Loomis testified that the blood was found on the inside of the passenger side window and seeped under the window seal, in the seat and on the carpet, the newspaper reported.

Loomis said investigators believe that Smith abducted McNaughton outside her home on the night of Dec. 9 and beat her head against the window as she sat in the front passenger seat of Smith's truck, according to the News Journal.

"I believe Laura never made it into the house that night," Loomis said.

Smith's attorney, Mark Earnest, argued that McNaughton went willingly with Smith and that the death was an accident, the News Journal said.

Earnest also argued that there was not enough evidence to prove sexual penetration, but the medical investigator said that there was evidence of attempted sexual penetration although he couldn't say for sure whether the penetration occurred, according to the paper.

Earnest asked the judge to dismiss the kidnapping and rape counts "and make this case what it should be, which is a simple -- well, not so simple -- murder case," the News Journal reported.

"Throughout the evening, I don't know if they enjoyed one another's company initially or not," the judge replied. "But at some point it went terribly wrong."

Parker then allowed the counts to stand, giving prosecutors what they need to seek the death penalty against Smith, the paper said.