City man gets 2 life sentences for murders

Relatives mourn a mother and the “very kind and gentle soul” whose lives were cut short.

By JUSTIN VELLUCCI
TribLive

Pennsylvania state law required an Allegheny County judge Wednesday to sentence a McKeesport man to life in prison without parole in the 2024 killing of his mother and her friend.

Prosecutors and pair of mourning families, however, asked Common Pleas Judge Jennifer Satler to do more — and acknowledge “the profound void” left by the murders. “We seek a sentence that reflects the severity of the crime,” the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement, “and affirm that such violence disrupts families and communities in lasting, devastating ways.”

Satler then sentenced John Malcolm Smith V, 26, of McKeesport to two consecutive life sentences in the killing of Antoinette Porterfield, 45, and John West, 54.

“(Smith) entered my daughter’s home and murdered her and her friend John Keith West,” Betty Porterfield, the victim’s mother and Smith’s grandmother, said in a handwritten impact statement. “I knew John West to be a very kind and gentle soul … he was the yin to Antoinette’s yang.”

West’s life “was ripped away by violence and explained away as if he was simply a footnote to someone’s wrath,” West’s family said in a joint statement.

“The impact of his death stretches beyond the immediate grief,” the statement added. “Our family will never celebrate a holiday the same way again. Our gatherings will be shaded by the absence of his steady presence and laughter.”

In October, a jury deliberated for less than three hours before finding Smith guilty on two counts of first-degree murder.

First-degree murder in Pennsylvania carries a mandatory penalty of life in prison with no chance for parole.

Smith, who acted as his own attorney, showed no reaction as the verdict was read at the end of his week-long trial.

Allegheny County Police charged Smith with two counts of criminal homicide after they said he shot and killed both Porterfield and West at her home on West 15th Avenue in Homestead around 4 p.m. on Aug. 13, 2024.

Throughout the trial, the prosecution presented multiple witnesses who said Smith had a hostile relationship with his mother, including previously assaulting her.

Just a few days before she was killed, police said Smith beat his mother so severely she had to be hospitalized. Then, Smith’s brother testified, two days before Porterfield was killed, Smith fired four shots at him in her backyard.

In closing arguments, Smith told jurors most of the evidence presented during the trial was not about the homicides.

“Evidence of other crimes is designed to distract you,” he said.

But Allegheny County Deputy District Attorney Ryan Kiray pushed back, noting that several neighbors placed Smith at the scene that day and that he had a “deranged” look on his face.

“Nothing sparked the defendant’s emotions and anger quite like Antoinette Porterfield,” the prosecutor said.