Thrice-widowed, woman on trial in death of husband No. 2

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — It was more than seven years from the time Ernest Smith, 38, died outside his New Orleans home in the spring of 2006 until his widow was arrested and charged in his death, but she had been on police radar early on.

“Please be advised that the beneficiary, Emma Smith, wife of the deceased, cannot be ruled out as a suspect in the death of Ernest Smith,” a detective wrote to an insurance investigation company in 2006.

By the time Emma Smith was arrested in that case in 2013, she had a new name, Emma Raine, and was, again, a widow. Her third husband, James Raine,was shot to death at the couple’s Pearl River County, Mississippi, home in 2011.

No arrests have been reported in his death.

Emma Raines has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Ernest Smith. Her trial began recently.

Court documents and testimony in an earlier trial make clear that James Raine was also under suspicion in Ernest Smith’s death. His adoptive brother, Alfred Everette, was charged with being the trigger man in Smith’s death.

He was convicted of second-degree murder  after prosecutors said he had been promised — by James and Emma Raine — mone from a life insurance benefit.

Jurors may also hear testimony about the death of Emma Raine’s first husband, Leroy Evans, who died while hospitalized in 1994 after having been hit by a car.

No arrests were ever reported in that case but, during Everette’s trial, prosecutors said the death was suspicious.