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Man Accused of Killing 3-Year-Old Attacked Inmates and Guards Behind Bars

By Serena Dai | October 20, 2014 7:59pm
 Jeida Torres, inset, was killed by her mom's husband, Kelsey Smith, in their Bushwick home, police said.
Jeida Torres, inset, was killed by her mom's husband, Kelsey Smith, in their Bushwick home, police said.
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Composite with DNAinfo/Trevor Kapp and Facebook/kim.torres22

BUSHWICK — The man charged with beating his 3-year-old stepdaughter to death has a history of violence and harassment, records show — including helping to break a fellow juvenile's wrist in a gang assault and spraining a correctional officer's wrist in an assault last year.

Kelsey Smith, also known as Shawn Smith, was charged with murder in the second degree after beating Jeida Torres to death on Saturday.

Smith, 20, was apparently enraged that the toddler had soiled her underwear, sources said. Her brother, 5, was also injured while their mother Kimberly Torres was at work.

The Bushwick resident has been in and out of jail since he was a teen and has pled guilty to multiple crimes he committed while incarcerated.

While at Crossroads Juvenile Detention Center in July 2010, Smith and two others surrounded a boy and punched him in the head, face and body — breaking his wrist and causing bruising and swelling in his nose, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney's office.

They also beat another boy at the facility, causing bruising and swelling to the face, according to a criminal complaint.

Smith pled guilty to assault in the third degree in September 2010 and was sentenced to 10 months in jail and one year order of protection, the DA's office said.

His time at two correctional facilites last year was marked with trouble too, according to records from the Bronx District Attorney's office.

While at Rikers in October 2013, Smith sprained a corrections officer's wrist and cut another officer's head after pushing them as they tried to detain him. Smith was charged with assault, harassment and resisting arrest.

He ultimately pleaded guilty to harassment in the second degree, a sentence of 15 days in jail.

In November 2013, he damaged the sprinkler in his cell at Rikers because he wanted to get out of the cell, causing water to spill on the his floor and an adjacent floor, according to the Bronx DA's office. He pled guilty to criminal mischief and was sentenced to community service.

And in Feburary 2014, Smith splashed himself and several correctional officers in the face and chest with an "unknown substance" while at the Otis Bantum Correctional Facility. He pled guilty to harassment in the second degree and received community service.

The Department of Corrections did not respond to a question about when Smith was released from jail. Police say Smith has been arrested 15 times before, but he has no record of domestic violence incidents involving his wife Kimberly Torres.

As of Sunday evening, the 20-year-old, who tried to commit suicide after beating the two children, was at Bellevue Hospital undergoing a psychiatric evaluation. No arraignment has been scheduled, the Brooklyn DA's office said.

Information about Smith's attorney was unavailable. But Smith's uncle Mark Almodovar told reporters Monday that his nephew made a mistake and did not intend to kill Jeida.

"He's not a monster," Almodovar said. "He just didn't think."