A Campbell County man pleaded guilty last week to trying to kill his mother one year ago by stabbing her in the back as she slept.
Tharles O. Smith, 18, pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree murder, which is punishable by 20 years to life in prison.
Smith was originally charged with attempted first-degree murder, which can result in a lifetime prison sentence. He was 17 when he was arrested but was charged as an adult.
The reduced charge of second-degree attempted murder acknowledges a lack of premeditation by defendants.
Smith’s sentencing hearing is set for Aug. 14 in Campbell County District Court, though his defense attorney has asked for it be rescheduled for a later date.
Smith’s plea agreement says he and the state, represented by Campbell County Attorney Nathan Henkes, each can argue for whichever sentence they’d like.
Smith can’t retract his guilty plea if the judge orders a sentence he doesn’t like, the agreement stipulates.
Tharles and his mother Karla Smith were quarreling the night of June 10, 2024, about the family’s wish to move him into another home, Karla told Cowboy State Daily at the time.
Tharles had not been following the house rules, court documents relate from other interviews.
That night, Tharles waited until everyone in the home went to sleep, retrieved a knife with an 8-inch blade from a magnetic holder, went into his mother’s room, leapt on her and stabbed her in her upper left back, according to an evidentiary affidavit filed in his case.
“Why did you punch me?” Karla recalled asking as she woke. She told Cowboy State Daily that at first, she believed her son had punched her.
“No, you actually have a knife in your back,” Tharles reportedly answered. “I stabbed you.”
Family Shaken
Campbell County Sheriff’s personnel arrived and detained Tharles.
Karla was flown to Campbell County Health in Gillette, Wyoming, with the knife still protruding from her back, she recalled.
The attack and police response traumatized her 19-year-old daughter, who has autism, Karla said. The teen awoke to police shining flashlights while a knife was still jutting from her mother’s back.
At the hospital, doctors wondered if they’d have to perform surgery to remove the knife.
But Campbell County Health surgeon Jake Rinker was able to pull it out, Karla recalled.
It had plunged through her scapula, broken two ribs and punctured her lung, she said. Karla said a portion of the blanket that had been covering her went in with it, so doctors had to cut the fabric out.
Rinker told police that the blade went two-thirds of the way through Karla’s chest cavity.
Her lung collapsed and medical personnel inserted a tube to reopen it. She spent two-and-a-half days in the intensive care unit and four days altogether in the hospital, she said.
She had six stitches removed a week ago and is facing a potential four to six weeks in a restrictive shoulder brace. She will soon be evaluated on whether her shoulder needs surgery.
Doctors are watching to see if her shoulder muscle reattaches where it should, she said.
“It’s a lot of pain, throbbing and the burning sensation that goes on with the nerves and the muscle,” Karla added.
At the time, the family decided to raffle off Tharles’ pigs to help cover the cost of the air ambulance, which Karla said cost $67,000.
The mental wounds were just as painful as her extensive physical injuries, Karla said at the time.
“One of the hardest things to go through (is knowing that), if it makes my son so mad, (with us) trying to get him into a place, imagine trying to sit on a stand and testify against him,” she said. “I’m worried sick he’s going to try to get out and come back for revenge.”
But, Smith added, she’ll have much to say at the case’s conclusion about the need for mental health services in Wyoming.
While Waiting For Deputies
The night of the attack, Karla called 911 once she realized she’d been stabbed.
Tharles wanted to leave her room because he did not want to watch his mother die, he told law enforcement, according to court documents. But Karla said she convinced him to stay there until authorities arrived.
It took only 45 minutes, but it felt like forever, she said.
She was “very lucky” to have been stabbed in that manner and location, Rinker told a Campbell County Sheriff’s investigator at the emergency room, according to the court affidavit.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
