Man on trial for killing his mom in Homestead acts as own lawyer

The accused stood nervously in front of an Allegheny County jury and pledged to prove he didn’t kill his mother and her friend in Homestead last year.

Defendant John Malcolm Smith V, 26, of McKeesport was acting as his own lawyer Tuesday, the start of his double homicide trial.

He’s charged with killing his mother Antoinette Porterfield, 45, and her friend, John West, 54, at his mother’s home in August 2024.

Smith’s opening remarks lasted for less than two minutes. He told jurors he was not inside the house at the time of the shooting. He also said he was not carrying a gun that day.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I’m just asking you to keep an open mind,” said Smith, who wore khakis without a belt, a powder-blue dress shirt and a checkered tie.

In the courtroom, Smith moved about freely, unencumbered by handcuffs or leg shackles.

“I will prove to you that I’m innocent,” he said.

Prosecutors said the facts they plan to present show otherwise.

Smith had “severely beaten” his mother days before the shooting, and the pair had “a history of domestic abuse,” Allegheny County Deputy District Attorney Ryan Kiray told jurors.

Porterfield had filed a restraining order against her son and had temporarily moved out of the home they shared, Kiray added.

“Pretty much anybody could have told Miss Porterfield that returning to that house was a bad idea,” Kiray said in opening remarks that ran for about 11 minutes.

“On Aug. 13, 2024, the defendant shot and killed his own mother in cold blood, as well as an innocent man who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Homestead police previously said they had responded to numerous reports of domestic violence at the West 15th Avenue home, according to a criminal complaint.

Kiray described Smith as having “ingrained hostility” toward his mother.

Smith, though not as polished as the prosecutor, pushed back.

Standing behind a wooden podium placed in front of Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jennifer Satler, Smith said he and his mother had an “unbalanced relationship. His arrest, he added, “was motivated by outside influences.”

Smith did not elaborate.

Smith appeared to lose his train of thought and paused his opening remarks multiple times. He apologized to jurors at least twice.

At one point, Smith returned to the defense table to gather notes. Sitting there was attorney Brandon Herring of the Allegheny County Office of Conflict Counsel. Herring is supporting Smith as he defends himself.

“This is my mother,” Smith said. “I’ve been trying to deal with this case and grieve.”

Distinctive sweatshirt

Smith is on trial for two counts of criminal homicide and one count of tampering with physical evidence.

He has been held without bail in the Allegheny County Jail since Aug. 15, 2024, court records show.

Police arrested Smith a day after Porterfield’s and West’s bodies were found, each shot in the head, inside a house on Homestead’s West 15th Avenue.

A witness told investigators they heard a least four gunshots from inside the home after Smith threatened Porterfield, according to the criminal complaint.

Another witness reported seeing Smith in the area around the time of the fatal shooting, a criminal complaint said.

Kiray said Smith, who turned himself in after the shooting, lied to investigators when he said he was working at the time of the slayings. He had been fired from a work site in Natrona Heights that morning, Kiray said.

Video surveillance also showed Smith, wearing a “distinctive” and “tattered” blue, hooded sweatshirt that day, leave his job, board a Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus and arrive in Homestead, Kiray said.

Authorities later found the blue sweatshirt, which had “elements of gunshot residue” on it, Kiray said.

Kiray said prosecutors would call as witnesses detectives who investigated the case, SWAT officers who responded that day and forensic examiners.

Smith did not say whether he planned to call any witnesses — or take the stand himself.