Friday, January 02, 2004

By Marylynne Pitz, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

For the last 18 years, Dennis Michael Keith has fired a gun to greet the new year.

On Wednesday night, that tradition apparently led to an accident that killed Keith's companion of 11 years, Diana Gay Smith.

At one minute to midnight on New Year's Eve, Keith, 47, loaded a .30-caliber hunting rifle inside the couple's farmhouse set high atop a hill in Penn Manor, a rural community of 2,000 in Cherryhill Township, Indiana County. The gun discharged as he was loading it.

Smith, 44, had decided to greet the new year quietly and lay in bed on the home's second floor.

When the gun discharged, a bullet shot through a kitchen ceiling, a bedroom floor, into a bed and through Smith's back and abdomen. She died at Indiana Regional Medical Center at 12:53 a.m.

State police recovered the bullet's casing at the scene, according to Trooper Bob Valyo, who is investigating the shooting.

Valyo would not say if liquor was involved or if Keith's blood alcohol level was tested.

"It's not uncommon to hear shots fired in areas of rural Western Pennsylvania on New Year's Eve," Valyo said, adding, "This was unfortunate."

Keith, a bricklayer, was charged with aggravated assault, involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment. He was arraigned before District Justice Susanne Steffee, who set bail at $100,000.

Involuntary manslaughter carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Keith's preliminary hearing is scheduled before Steffee Jan. 13.

Keith told authorities that he has fired a gun on New Year's Eve for the last 18 years, Valyo said. The couple have two or three children, Valyo said, adding that relatives are caring for them.

A man outside the farmhouse who identified himself as Smith's nephew said he had just driven in from Ohio. He declined to comment about the shooting other than to say it was accidental. He declined to give his name.

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