Linn County Circuit Court Judge DeAnn Novotny found Devin P. Hansen of Albany guilty of murdering his 29-year-old girlfriend, Christine Smith, and sentenced him to life in prison on March 8.
Smith grew up in Sweet Home.
She died on Jan. 27, 2014, Samaritan Regional Medical Center from injuries sustained when Hansen strangled her. Police arrested Hansen on Jan. 27, 2014.
Hansen will serve a minimum of 25 years, and Novotny directed the Department of Corrections to provide mental health treatment during his incarceration.
Hansen was also ordered to pay $8,800 in fees and restitution, and he will be on post-prison supervision for 99 years if he were to be released.
“The state’s theory of the case is simple,” said prosecutor Jonathan D. Crow in the state’s trial memorandum. “The defendant got angry and intentionally killed Christine Smith by smothering, strangling and suffocating her.”
The defense argued that at the time of the homicide, Hansen suffered from a “mental disease or defect and lacked substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of his conduct to the requirements of the law or whether the conduct was committed recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.”
Smith and the defendant had been in a relationship for nearly a year prior to the murder. During the prior several months, Smith and her young daughter had lived with the defendant in Albany.
The relationship had become difficult, Crow said. Just after 6 a.m. on Jan. 25, 2014, Hanson came home after working a night shift.
He and Smith argued and had two physical confrontations, Crow said. During the second confrontation, Hanson strangled, suffocated and smothered Smith.
He attempted CPR twice before calling 9-1-1 at 6:28 a.m., Crow said. He continued CPR until police and medics arrived. She was taken to Albany General Hospital.
Hansen admitted to Albany police officers and detectives how he caused her death, Crow said. While police continued the investigation, Smith’s condition deteriorated, and medics transported her to Samaritan Regional Medical Center on Jan. 26. The next day, she was determined to be “brain-dead.”