I am writing this letter to give you a different view on this story. I am regretfully unable to give you Sean's side of the story as he was never able to speak after the incident with the police, but I am more than happy to give you my side of this tragic story. First of all, I do not understand why anybody felt the need to bring up his past after his death. What does anybody think that will accomplish other than making his family more miserable than they already are? They are not the perpetrators and Sean is deceased now, so please tell me what else was accomplished other than dragging his family through the mud.

He has already been found guilty in the eyes of the press and received a death sentence. We are at this point unsure if he was shot by the police or when they struck him with the car he accidentally shot himself. I am also very aware than he may have shot himself on purpose. Does any of that really matter at this point? I feel it all very irrelevant at this point. So could you please just let it rest for his mother's sake? She is a victim in all of this also.

If Sean is guilty of anything that he has been accused of, our hearts go out to the victims and all the families that were affected. With proper care and the right treatment they can be healed through the grace of God. This will never be resolved for Sean's mother. She has to deal with these facts for the rest of her life. He also has a brother, sister and stepfather who are dealing with their loss.

Sean was never sent to prison for any violent crime. If you read about his criminal history, the biggest crime he was convicted of was burglary for going into his estranged wife's home after the fire and retrieving his coat after the fire department and police had left the scene. It was proved that he was at an AA meeting at the time the house was set on fire. He left the AA meeting and was walking home and saw the house burned, so he went in to see and he retrieved his coat that was sitting out in plain sight. He then sat on the porch for a while before he left the house. I can't explain why he did that, but that was 13 years ago and he did his time and moved on with his life.

He received a 25-year sentence for what the Decatur police called burglary (the longest sentence ever handed out for that crime in Macon County) because they had no proof that he set the fire and they were so convinced he did it even though all the witnesses at the AA meeting backed up Sean's story.

It is very tragic about this issue, but please tell me what is being accomplished but continuing to run daily articles about Sean. We would like you to know that all of Sean's family are sending out prayers to anyone that was badly affected by Sean's actions if he committed any crimes against them, and we would like to think there are prayers being sent out for all of Sean's friends and family that are dealing with all of this also.

Rose Knapp, of Decatur, Ill., is the godmother to the late Sean M. Smith.