Ky. man says soda, energy drinks, pills clouded judgment in wife’s death

Kentucky trial: man claims caffeine insanity

NEWPORT, Ky. — A Kentucky man accused of strangling his wife is expected to claim excessive caffeine from sodas, energy drinks and diet pills left him so mentally unstable he couldn’t have knowingly killed his wife.

Thirty-three-year-old Woody Will Smith is scheduled for trial Monday on a murder charge in the May 2009 death of 28-year-old Amanda Hornsby-Smith.

Attorney Shannon Sexton filed documents with the Newport court outlining plans to argue his client ingested so much caffeine in the days before the May 4, 2009, death that it rendered him temporarily insane.

Prosecutors say their expert may testify there’s no evidence Smith consumed the caffeine the defense claims left him without memory of crucial events.

If convicted, Smith could be sentenced to life in prison.