RFP Staff
♦ Darius Jamal Smotherson, 22, of Salisbury pleaded guilty to 2nd degree murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon in the 2012 killing of Kannapolis Teenager Daniel Lee Cooper. Judge David Lee sentenced Smotherson to over 33 years in prison for all three offenses. (33 to 43 plus years). Smotherson’s co-defendants Damarick Harper, 20, and Reginald Clark, 38, await trial without bond in the Rowan County Detention Center.
Daniel Lee Cooper, 17 at the time of the murder, was a senior at A.L. Brown High in Kannapolis and only a few weeks from graduation when he went to sell a half ounce of marijuana to Smotherson. According to witnesses, Smotherson planned to rob Lee when they met in North Kannapolis. Liana Ferrero, a former girlfriend of Cooper’s, witnessed Cooper’s killing when he and Smotherson grappled over a pistol during the marijuana sale. In the ensuing scuffle Cooper was fatally shot in the neck before Smotherson fled the scene. Later Smotherson was captured by law enforcement after getting off a bus in Laurel, Maryland.
Prior to serving his term for Daniel Lee Cooper’s murder, Smotherson will first serve a sentence for assaulting a Rowan County Detention Center officer who received a concussion and a broken nose during a savage battering. Allegedly the officer was punched and beaten by Smotherson along with Quentin Mathis and Khari McClelland. McClelland was previously charged with the first degree murder of firefighter Marco Kauffman.
Darius Jamal Smotherson’s Record:
