By John McCann

jmccann@heraldsun.com;

419-6601

DURHAM — The trial for the woman accused in the 2007 killing of an N.C. Central University graduate student will begin either Feb. 8 or Feb. 15, according to Assistant District Attorney David Saacks.

Shannon Elizabeth Crawley is charged with first-degree murder in the 2007 shooting death of Denita Monique Smith at Campus Crossings apartments on East Cornwallis Road.

Crawley was a 911 worker in Guilford County. Smith, who was 25, was a popular NCCU student whose activities included both snapping pictures and writing stories for the Campus Echo, the school’s newspaper.

Saacks has said the slaying apparently was motivated by “unresolved feelings” Crawley had for Smith’s purported fiance, Greensboro Police Officer Jermeir Jackson-Stroud.

A search warrant had quoted Jackson-Stroud as saying Crawley was stalking him.

Defense lawyers have downplayed the theory that there was a love triangle.

The trial was supposed to get under way in September, but two of the state’s witnesses weren’t available at that time, Saacks said.

Smith’s influence touched people such as 2007 NCCU graduate Rony Camille, who was editor in chief of the Campus Echo at the time Smith was killed. He said Smith was one of the people who showed him the ropes at the Echo when he arrived from New Hampshire to attend NCCU. Smith also reached out to help Camille adjust to Southern culture, he said. The former NCCU newspaper editor said he initiated the effort to have the Campus Echo newsroom named in honor of Smith.

Bruce DePyssler is an associate professor in NCCU’s Department of English and Mass Communication. He is the Campus Echo adviser, a role he was in when Smith was on campus. Smith is someone he won’t forget, the professor said.

Camille has said he wants to see justice served in the Crawley trial so those tied to Smith’s story can have closure.