Gage Smith pleaded guilty to reckless homicide after the death of Autumn Ward.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Franklin County judge sentenced Gage Smith to six years in prison after Smith admitted reckless homicide in the fatal shooting of his girlfriend, Autumn Ward, inside a Chittenden Avenue apartment in January 2025.

The sentence ended a case that began as a murder charge and drew sharp anger from Ward’s family, which said the punishment did not match the loss. Prosecutors said they could not prove Smith acted with intent to kill, so the case moved through a plea to reckless homicide with a firearm specification and possession of drugs.

Police first went to the 100 block of Chittenden Avenue at about 7:21 a.m. on Jan. 7, 2025, after a disturbance was reported in the University District area. Officers found Smith, then 28, in emotional distress outside or near the apartment, according to the police summary. Inside, they found Ward, 32, unresponsive with an apparent gunshot wound. Columbus Fire medics arrived and pronounced her dead at 7:49 a.m. Investigators said at the time that domestic violence was a possible motive. Smith was charged with murder soon after. At sentencing more than a year later, Ward’s mother, Karen Ward, told the court that the result was “not fair” and said she did not believe her daughter’s death was an accident.

The hearing centered on two facts that shaped the case: Ward was dead from a gunshot wound to the head, and prosecutors said the proof did not establish that Smith purposely killed her. Assistant Prosecutor Daniel Lenert told the court that Ward’s death was tragic and senseless but said the legal burden for murder required evidence of intent. Lenert said Smith had used ketamine the night before the shooting and kept a loaded firearm under a pillow. The plea left Smith facing a maximum of seven years. Judge Carl Aveni imposed six years, and credit for time Smith already served means he is expected to spend less than five more years in prison. Smith also will be barred from possessing a firearm because of the conviction.

Karen Ward told the judge she had once expected a much longer prison term. She said she had been told early in the case that Smith might face about 20 years, and she said even that would not have been enough. Her comments placed the family’s grief against the limits of what prosecutors said they could prove in court. She said Smith waited hours before calling for help and accused him of choosing drugs over immediate aid. Her daughter’s sister, Amber Ward, also spoke at the hearing and said Smith would face a judgment beyond the courtroom. Several family members and friends asked the judge to impose the highest sentence allowed under the plea. The statements turned the hearing from a technical sentencing into a public account of the loss Ward’s relatives said they would carry for the rest of their lives.

Smith’s defense attorney, Paul Olah, did not describe his client as blameless. He told the court Smith had not been a perfect boyfriend and had handled firearms wrongly. But Olah said Smith was not a murderer and had taken part in programming and counseling while jailed. The defense position matched the plea, which treated Ward’s death as the result of reckless conduct rather than a purposeful killing. Smith then addressed Ward’s family directly. He said he loved and cared for Ward and missed her every day. He said he never meant for the shooting to happen and could not expect forgiveness. Smith said the only thing he could do was remain accountable for his “recklessness,” “stupidity” and “complacency.” His apology did not soften the response from Ward’s family, which said his words could not answer why help was not called sooner.

Aveni said he understood that the law could not give Ward’s family the comfort they deserved. He also said prosecutors had acted ethically and properly in handling the case. The judge noted that he had to sentence Smith based on the charges and plea before the court, not on the original murder charge. The sentence reflected the six-year term for reckless homicide and the legal presumption affecting the drug count, which did not add a separate consecutive prison term. The Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office later said in a statement that proving murder required evidence of intent that the facts could not support. The office said prosecutors pursued the highest charge available under the evidence and that the convictions ensured Smith was held accountable for Ward’s death.

The case unfolded in a dense area near Ohio State University, where the shooting drew attention as both a homicide and a possible domestic violence case. Police named Detective Camp-Donovan as the lead detective in the initial report, with Detective Jude assisting. The report listed the incident time as 6:58 a.m., the dispatch time as 7:21 a.m. and the death pronouncement at 7:49 a.m. Those times became part of the family’s frustration because relatives said Ward had been left for hours before 911 was called. The public record does not resolve every question raised in court about what happened before police arrived. Officials have not publicly released a full minute-by-minute account of the apartment scene, the exact handling of the gun or every statement made during the emergency call.

The sentencing hearing also showed the distance between criminal proof and family belief. Prosecutors said the evidence supported reckless homicide. Ward’s family said the shooting, the alleged delay in calling for help, the use of ketamine and reports that neighbors heard fighting made the outcome feel deeply wrong. The judge had to decide punishment inside the plea range, while relatives measured the sentence against Ward’s life. Family and friends of Smith declined to comment after the hearing. Ward’s relatives left with a six-year prison term, a permanent firearm ban for Smith and no change to their view that the legal system had failed to give a full answer for what happened in the apartment.

Currently, Smith remains in state custody under the six-year term. With jail credit applied, he is expected to serve less than five additional years unless later proceedings or corrections change his release calculation.

Author note: Last updated May 4, 2026.