Trial begins in 2021 shooting death of McKeesport woman

The defense says suspect had no motive to kill.

By PAULA REED WARD
TribLive

Isaac Smith’s burner phone was the last one to call Karli Short just minutes before she was shot.

The revolver he bought six weeks before Short was killed — and pawned two weeks after — was the murder weapon.

And, prosecutors told a jury Tuesday, Smith had motive: He killed Short, with whom he’d had a relationship, because she was 5 months pregnant, and Smith feared that revelation would unravel his life.

The deadly outcome, said Deputy District Attorney Ryan Kiray, shows “the consequences of living a double life and the tragedy that follows after one takes measures to conceal it.”

Smith, 30, of McKeesport, is charged with criminal homicide and homicide of an unborn child stemming from the Sept. 13, 2021, shooting. His trial began this week before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Kevin G. Sasinoski.

Although the district attorney’s office originally sought the death penalty, prosecutors last year changed their mind and rescinded notice of that potential punishment.

Still, Kiray asked the jury during his opening statement to find Smith guilty of two counts of first-degree murder.

Short, 26, of McKeesport was killed in the early morning hours of Sept. 13, 2021, in the rear yard of the house where she’d been staying in McKeesport.

A person walking down Furnace Alley later that day found her body. Short, the daughter of former Penn State standout and NFL linebacker Brandon Short, had been shot in the head.

Quickly, Kiray told the jury. Smith became a person of interest. He spoke to detectives, denying he had any involvement in Short’s death.

Smith told investigators he knew Short was pregnant, and that if DNA showed the baby was his, he planned to be a father to the child. In the days after Short told Smith about the pregnancy, Kiray said, she asked him to take her to the doctor and give her money for a gender-reveal party.

However, at the same time, Smith was in a serious relationship with another woman, who had just met his parents the day before, Kiray said. The defendant, the prosecution continued, purported to be a straight-laced young man, even though he was dating several other women at the same time.

“He did not want the double life he was living to be exposed,” Kiray said.

He called it “clear motive.” But, it turns out, Kiray told the jury, someone else was the baby’s father — a fact not learned until just a few weeks ago.

“It has nothing to do with anything,” Kiray said in his opening statement, trying to dismiss the paternity results. “At the time the defendant pulled the trigger, he did not have a DNA test in his hand. Karli was ready to trumpet his name as the father of that unborn child.

“The walls were closing in.”

But defense attorney Thomas N. Farrell told the jury Tuesday that his client is innocent.

Farrell said that Smith was adopted, and given his background, he cherished life, including that of unborn children.

The defense painted a picture of Smith as a stand-up guy who told Short that if the baby was his, he would support them.

But, Farrell also noted. Smith had used a condom when he was with Short, and he believed the child was not his.

“There’s no motive here,” Farrell said.

Repeatedly, the defense continued, when Smith was interviewed by homicide detectives, he said, “I didn’t do it. I didn’t do it.”

Farrell urged the jury to keep an open mind and look for holes in the investigation.

“They focused on him, and that’s all.”

The trial is expected to last about two weeks and will resume Wednesday.