Dr. Jay C. Smith (c. 1929 – May 12, 2009)[1] was a Pennsylvania high school principal who was convicted and sentenced to death in 1986 for the 1979 murder of Susan Reinert and her two children. He spent six years on Pennsylvania's death row until his conviction was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court due to prosecutorial misconduct.
Smith was principal of Upper Merion Area High School in King of Prussia, Upper Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Reinert and her coworker, William Bradfield, were teachers at the same school, where Reinert taught English. In 1983, Bradfield was convicted of conspiracy to commit the same murders, as he was the sole beneficiary of Reinert's life insurance. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and died in 1998. Smith died on May 12, 2009 of a heart condition.[2]