District Attorney Frank A. Sedita, III announces that 23 year-old Raymond Smith of 52 Warwick Street, Buffalo, will be arraigned at 9:30 a.m. before Erie County Court Judge Thomas P. Franczyk on an indictment charging him with Murder in the Second Degree.

It is alleged that on or about January 31, 2015 and on or about February 1, 2015 inside the home of the victim at 43 Northumberland Avenue in Buffalo, Smith murdered his estranged girlfriend, 21 year-old Shaquilla Coston, by beating and choking her. 

If convicted of this crime, Smith faces a maximum prison sentence of 25 years to life. 

Like all defendants accused of a crime, the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.