Little River man pleads guilty to killing his child’s mother
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
NORTH COAST, Calif. – On Friday a Little River man pleaded guilty to the February killing of the mother of his young child.
Andrew Curtis Crowningshield, 27, changed his plea, entering guilty pleas to the willful, premeditated and deliberate murder of Autumn Renee Smith, 22, of Fort Bragg on Feb. 4, according to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office.
Crowningshield also admitted as true that he intentionally used a 9-millimeter handgun to shoot Smith multiple times, officials reported.
Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Cindee Mayfield accepted the defendant's change of plea this morning, the District Attorney’s Office said.
Officials said Crowningshield and Smith had a young child together, and that their relationship had ended more than a year prior to the shooting.
A District Attorney’s Office report said Crowningshield’s plea change averted a scheduled preliminary hearing in Mendocino County Superior Court.
The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, which handled the case investigation, said the shooting was reported just after 9 a.m. Feb. 4 in the 6000 block of North Highway 1 in Little River.
It was there that a man reported that he and Smith had been driving southbound on Highway 1 from Fort Bragg when they saw Crowningshield in his vehicle. Crowningshield followed them, and Smith pulled over to talk to him about their 3-year-old son and when she could pick up the child.
The report said Crowningshield shot Smith numerous times, with her friend reporting that he also was shot at before Crowningshield fled in his four-wheel-drive pickup.
Crowningshield was arrested the following morning in Elk Creek in Glenn County, where deputies took him into custody without incident, officials reported.
Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster personally handled the case. As part of the change of plea, Eyster required Crowningshield to stipulate 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 – according to Eyster’s spokesman, Mike Geniella.
The defendant's matter was referred to the Mendocino County Adult Probation Department for a background report, Geniella said.
The 50-to-life sentence will be formally imposed by Judge Mayfield on June 7 at 9 a.m. in Department B in the Ukiah courthouse. Geniella said anybody interested in this case or this defendant is welcome to attend and watch that proceeding.
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