Andrew Crowningshield pleads guilty to murder of Autumn Smith

Stipulated state prison sentence 50 years to life.

Mendocino DA Press Release:

A preliminary hearing scheduled to begin this morning in Ukiah did not happen as a result of the murder defendant instead changing his plea to guilty.

Andrew Curtis Crowningshield, age 27, of Little River, plead guilty to the willful, premeditated and deliberate murder of Autumn Renee Smith, age 22, of Fort Bragg, on February 4, 2018, along Highway 1 in Little River. He almost admitted as true that he intentionally used a 9mm handgun, discharging same multiple times causing the death of the victim.  The defendant and victim had a young child together.

As required by the District Attorney, the defendant also stipulated to a state prison sentence of 50 years to life (25 years to life for the first degree murder plus a consecutive 25 years to life for his personal and intentional use of the firearm causing death).

The defendant's matter was referred to the Mendocino County Adult Probation Department for a background study to accompany the defendant to the Department of Corrections, said study to assist CDCR in its intake and required prison classification review.

The 50-to-life sentence will be formally imposed on June 7, 2018 at 9 o'clock in the morning in Department B in the Ukiah courthouse.  Anybody interested in this case or this defendant is welcome to attend and watch that proceeding.

The prosecutor handling this case is DA David Eyster. The investigating law enforcement agency responsible for gathering and piecing together all the evidence against this defendant was the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.

Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Cindee Mayfield accepted the defendant's change of plea this morning.  Judge Mayfield will also be the sentencing judge on June 7th.

Previous posts:
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2018/02/andrew-crowningshield-from-training-to.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2018/02/andrew-crowningshield-taken-int