Eau Claire man charged in 2021 shooting death receives prison sentence

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) - An Eau Claire man is sentenced for convictions stemming from a Feb. 2021 shooting death in the city.

57-year-old Selwyn Smith was sentenced to seven years in prison and seven years of extended supervision, covering two separate cases, in Eau Claire County Circuit Court Thursday, according to online court records.

Smith was originally charged with 1st-degree reckless homicide and possession of a firearm by a felon in February 2021 and was accused of shooting and killing Freddie Flowers of Eau Claire, who was 38 at the time of his death, on February 12, 2021 at Smith’s home. The homicide charge was dismissed outright as part of a plea deal. Smith pleaded guilty to the charge of possession of a firearm by a felon, according to online court records. Additionally, Smith pleaded guilty to, and was sentenced on, charges of delivery of meth, possession with intent to deliver meth and bail jumping, all felonies. A second count of delivery of meth and charges of possession with intent to deliver controlled substances, maintaining a drug trafficking place and possession of drug paraphernalia were dismissed but read in as part of the plea deal, according to online court records.

The court issued concurrent sentences for all four of the charges that Smith was convicted of, with the longest sentence being for possession with the intention to deliver meth, according to online court records.

According to documents filed with the homicide and possession of a firearm by a felon charges in February of 2021, Eau Claire law enforcement went to a home on Dodge Street on Feb. 12, 2021 after a mail carrier reported hearing three gunshots in the area. Law enforcement found a man, Flowers, dead from a gunshot wound. Smith and a passenger arrived at the home and Smith told law enforcement that he was the one who fired the shots but had no intention of killing Flowers, telling investigators that Flowers tried to kick in his door.