A 47-year-old Cleveland Heights woman is facing murder and felonious assault charges after fatally shooting her husband inside their Allston Road home, in a case that has already split investigators and the couple's own family over whether the shooting was self-defense or homicide. Randi Smith told police that Franklin Smith Jr. drugged her, choked her, hit her in the head, and pulled a gun on her before the two struggled over the weapon and it went off.
Cleveland Heights police responded to the Allston Road house at around 12:41 a.m. on May 30, and officers immediately began performing CPR on Franklin Smith Jr. in an upstairs bedroom, according to Crime Solvers Central. Cleveland Heights Fire Department paramedics took him to University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Police found that he had been shot twice, sustaining a bullet wound below his shoulder and another below his left pectoral, according to Cleveland.com.
Randi Smith told officers that Franklin Smith Jr. attacked her earlier that night, accusing him of choking her, hitting her in the head, and kicking her in the ribs. She said he was holding the gun during the attack and that the two were tussling over the weapon when it fired. “We were tussling over the gun and I, I pulled the trigger,” she told police, according to the same report. She also told investigators she believed Franklin Smith Jr. may have been high at the time.
Conflicting Accounts of Her Injuries
According to police, an officer at the scene observed that Randi Smith had a bruised lip and a swollen right arm, but did not see bruising on her ribs and neck that she described. Her mother separately told police that Franklin Smith Jr. had previously put his hands on her daughter, per the same account. Randi Smith was taken to MetroHealth's Cleveland Heights Medical Center following the shooting.
A police report also details a claim that, weeks before the shooting, Franklin Smith Jr. drugged Randi Smith with 2,000 milligrams of marijuana hidden in her food, prompting her to go to the emergency room on July 17 after consuming it. The same report states that he later confessed to drugging her in a text message, per the account reviewed by the outlet.
Prosecutors Reject Self-Defense Claim
The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office Self-Defense Review Committee reviewed the case and ruled that Randi Smith's shooting of Franklin Smith Jr. did not meet the legal standard for self-defense, according to spokesperson Anna Horne. That internal committee evaluates physical evidence, witness statements, and police reports in cases involving self-defense claims before charging decisions move forward, per Court News Ohio.
Under Ohio law, once a defendant presents evidence supporting a self-defense claim, prosecutors carry the burden of disproving at least one element of that claim beyond a reasonable doubt at trial, a standard the Ohio Supreme Court affirmed in 2022. Ohio also removed the duty to retreat before using deadly force in self-defense under a 2021 law, so long as the person is legally present and not committing a crime — a provision that could bear on a shooting that took place inside a shared home.
Randi Smith is charged with murder and felonious assault and has pleaded not guilty. A conviction for murder in Ohio carries a mandatory indefinite sentence of 15 years to life, while felonious assault is a second-degree felony punishable by two to eight years in prison and fines up to $15,000. She is represented by attorneys Cal Cumpstone and Steven Bradley.
Bond Fight and Family Divide
Prosecutors requested $500,000 bond, while a family member of Franklin Smith Jr. asked Judge Carl Mazzone to hold Randi Smith without bond at her arraignment. Mazzone, a veteran former Cuyahoga County prosecutor elected to the bench in 2024, set bond at $350,000 instead, which Randi Smith posted shortly after arraignment.
Randi Smith is due back in court on August 26 before Cuyahoga County Judge Joy Kennedy, who took office on the Common Pleas Court bench in January 2025 after serving as a municipal court magistrate and county public defender. Open questions remain about what forensic and toxicological evidence was presented to the prosecutor's review committee and how the defense will substantiate the prior abuse allegations at trial.
Court records show a Franklin Smith Jr. was previously convicted in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in 2001 of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated robbery following a Cleveland Heights Police Department investigation, though it is unclear how that history may factor into the current case.
Part of a Violent Summer in Cleveland Heights
The Allston Road shooting adds to a string of violent incidents Cleveland Heights police have investigated in recent months, including a deli shooting on Noble Road and the fatal shooting of a teenager that led to a weekend arrest, as Hoodline has reported. Cuyahoga County also runs specialized court dockets alongside organizations like the Journey Center for Safety and Healing to address domestic violence cases and support victims moving through the Common Pleas Court system.
