"Smelly Feet Stabbing": Teen Gets Prison for Attack over Teasing, Judge Blames Alcohol

SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. (CBS) A Washington State teenager who pleaded guilty to stabbing a young man in the back - after he teased her about having smelly feet - has been sentenced to more than a year in prison, plus an unusual assignment behind bars: write a research paper.

Dallas Smith, 18, must begin work on a paper exploring how drinking alcohol to excess can destroy lives. The deadline: May 2012, Snohomish County Superior Court Judge David Kurtz said, according to the Everett Herald newspaper.

The girl from Monroe, about 35 miles from Seattle, pleaded guilty in December to stabbing 19-year-old Willy Simpson at a drinking party. The attack came after Simpson teased Smith about her less than sweet-smelling tootsies, after she took a flying, drunken leap off a deck, the Herald reported.

Naturally, her feet made headlines (see above), but the judge said the case is really about something else.

"Let me be absolutely clear: This case is not about smelly feet," the judge said. "It is about binge drinking and (the) criminal behavior that did flow from that."

Smith was sentenced to one year and three months in prison. The sentence was in keeping with a recommendation supported by the prosecutor, Smith's defense attorney and the man she stabbed. It also was the minimum punishment under state sentencing guidelines, according to the newspaper.

Kurtz also ordered Smith to begin work on a research paper, at least six pages long, that will explore the problem of binge drinking and how it has damaged at least one other person's life.

Smith didn't have any criminal history or contact with police before the Sept. 7 assault. She did have a budding drinking problem, however. That's something Smith plans to address in alcohol-abuse counseling while serving her sentence, said her defense attorney, David Allen of Seattle.

Deputy prosecutor Janice Albert said Smith was incredibly lucky the attack didn't cause more grievous injury. Smith plunged the steak knife more than three inches into Simpson's back, causing one of the young man's lungs to collapse, the Herald reported.

The knife's blade still was embedded in his back when deputies arrived. It remained that way until he was raced to a Seattle hospital for surgery.

On Friday, Simpson made clear that he supported a sentence that would give Smith a second chance.

"I'm glad she didn't kill me that night," he said.

Before heading off to begin serving time, Dallas Smith apologized for what she characterized a "great error in judgment."