On top of losing a child and being charged with murder, Michael Smith could lose his job.
A Clayton County Tribunal Panel recommended that the school board fire Smith from his teaching position following allegations that he drowned his 11-year-old son in a bathtub, Channel 2 Action News reported.
Smith is not allowed to be around children under 18 without supervision per his bond requirements, the news station reported.
“That would mean he would not be able to be employed anywhere,” Smith’s attorney Marsha Mignott told Channel 2.
Mignott filed a motion to remove the part of his bond that prohibits him from being around minors.
Smith was charged with cruelty to children and murder both in the second degree June 28 when Clayton County police said he placed his autistic, wheelchair bound 11-year-old stepson Ty Lee in a tub and left him to drown.
Smith told officials he left the bathroom momentarily to check on three other children in the home. When he came back, the boy was dead in the tub.
Ty Lee’s mother Dana Smith thinks he had a seizure, which led to him drowning in the pool.
“So if the child has a seizure there’s nothing that a parent can do about it,” Mignott said.
Smith told Channel 2 the stigma of being a stepfather adds to the allegations.
“You put the word “step” in there and it just has some connotation that just don’t correlate to how our relationship was,” Smith said. “I miss him a lot. I think about him so much.”
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