2nd trial set in killing

After a jury deadlock resulted in a mistrial, a Topeka man will face a second murder trial later this year.

District Judge Michael Malone has scheduled a Nov. 17 retrial for Allen D. Smith, who is accused of shooting and killing retired jeweler Clarence David Boose, 77, in April 2005 at Boose’s Lecompton-area home.

Jurors on Monday night could not agree on a verdict for Smith, and Malone declared a mistrial.

Smith faces charges of felony murder and aggravated burglary. Smith’s cousin, Leonard Price, has already pleaded guilty in the case, but Price testified that Smith shot Boose, who interrupted the burglary.

Smith’s attorney, Tom Bartee, argued in the first trial that prosecutors did not have enough evidence to put Smith at the scene, only the word of Price, a convicted felon who reached a plea agreement with prosecutors to testify.

Prosecutors argued that inconsistencies in Smith’s own statements led investigators to focus on him as a suspect.