In 2011, Smith added the role of news contributor for Morning Express with Robin Meade to his duties. In 2012, Smith began hosting Evening Express, a nightly news program for HLN, and later co-hosting HLN’s primetime show, HLN After Dark, covering courtroom trials across the country with an expert panel and an in-studio “jury” of trial watchers.  While at HLN, Smith reported on a variety of major news stories, including the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and the criminal trials of Casey Anthony, George Zimmerman, Jodi Arias, Warren Jeffs, and Conrad Murray, involving the death of Michael Jackson.