Lawyer: Caffeine made man confess to killing wife

NEWPORT, Ky. - The lawyer for a Kentucky man accused of strangling his wife argued at trial yesterday that excessive caffeine from sodas, energy drinks and diet pills left the defendant so sleep-deprived and mentally unstable that he falsely confessed to the killing.

Attorney Shannon Sexton said Woody Will Smith, 33, charged with murder, did not kill his wife, Amanda Hornsby-Smith, 28, last May. She told jurors Smith's statements to cops were made under high stress prompted by large amounts of caffeine and a lack of sleep. Sexton said DNA evidence from the victim's fingernails points away from Smith, whom she described as lethargic, "in a zone" and "not himself" when he spoke with police.

Prosecutors portrayed Smith as an angry man who attacked his wife, then strangled her with an extension cord. - AP