Key witness in murder trial reveals why she is not cooperating

FORT MYERS, Fla.- The mother of 5-year-old Andrew Faust Jr. is pleading for a key witness to testify in the death of her young son.

The witness, Cashae Smith, is staying tight lipped and avoiding the courtroom.

But for the first time we’re hearing why she hasn’t shown up in court.

“The way that I feel, I feel her pain, if not worse,” said Toyetta Simpson.

You’ve seen Simpson in the darkest days of her life when her 5-year-old son was killed in a drive by shooting last October. Now she feels her son’s murder case is slipping through her fingers.

Smith, the key witness, claims Terrance Irons and Thomas Edison are the shooters. She now has a warrant out for her arrest for not showing up in court twice to testify.

Simpson posted a video online leading with Smith to testify in court and Smith replied by asking on Facebook why she should put her life in danger and why she should cooperate.

“She is the one that keeps that chain link together,” said Simpson.

Irons’ attorney Joe Viacava disagrees. He claims Smith’s testimony isn’t reliable and she isn’t telling the truth.

“If you look at her statement, the original sworn statement that she gave, it is contradictory in its own, it says multiple things at the same time,” said Viacava.

Even then WINK News asked Viacava why he thinks Smith isn’t cooperating.

“I think that question you asked is the smartest question that has been asked in this entire case. That’s the point, why, why is it that we have to beg somebody to tell such an important matter where someone could go to prison for the rest of their life based on this testimony,” said Viacava.

In her Facebook post Smith claims she was not properly served a subpoena to show up in court to testify. If that is true, WINK News has learned Smith may have a case and may have not had to legally appear in court.

WINK News has reached out to Smith numerous times and she has not returned our calls or messages.