Jonathan Smith talked almost nonstop about the baby girl he and his wife were expecting, and he was set on mastering how to swaddle the infant before the big day arrived.

But Smith, 31, never had the chance to meet his daughter Mila. He was shot to death this month when a friend, who was admiring another man’s pistol in Algiers, inadvertently fired the gun, authorities said.

Smith's wife, Portia, said Thursday that she wanted to speak out about her husband’s death, in part to drive home the consequences of unsafe gun handling.

The man arrested on a count of negligent homicide in Smith’s death, Christopher Lemley, had taken an unprescribed painkiller and had been drinking before the shooting, police said.

“What should be one of my happiest moments is ruined,” said Portia Smith, 33. “I had to plan a funeral and I have to give birth all in the same month because of another person’s actions — not because of my husband’s actions.”

Algiers man arrested after accidentally shooting friend in head, killing him, NOPD says A man admiring a friend's pistol during a gathering of friends accidentally shot and killed another man with it, according to the New Orleans …

Smith said she and her husband, an assistant manager at a construction company, got married in November after meeting in 2010. They had gone out to dinner with his father and stepmother the night of Sept. 14, and mostly talked about Mila’s expected arrival.

Afterward, Portia Smith's 17-year-old brother — who had been staying with the couple — and her husband decided to head to Lemley’s place in the 200 block of Norland Avenue.

Portia Smith said she thought nothing of it. Her husband and Lemley had been friends since they were children in the Shreveport area. She was tired from working at the women’s clothing store she managed and didn’t want to overexert herself, so she decided to stay home in Westwego.

When her husband and brother hadn’t come home about 12:25 a.m., she texted him just to check in. Her phone showed Jonathan had read the message, so she figured things must have been OK.

But five minutes later, Portia Smith got a phone call from Lemley’s wife, and her world was shattered.

“There’s been an accident. Jonathan has been shot,” Portia Smith recalled Lemley’s wife saying. Smith said she was still half-asleep when she replied, “What do you mean? Is he OK? Where was he shot?”

The response from Lemley’s wife, she said, was, “It’s very bad. Just get over here.”

She ended up at University Medical Center, where nurses said her husband had been shot in the head and was undergoing surgery. Smith became so distressed that they admitted her as well to ensure the baby was OK.

Jonathan Smith survived the surgery. Their families joined them at the hospital, optimistic they would all leave together.

But doctors determined that Smith was brain dead on Sept. 17. After being kept on life support so his organs could be donated to a dozen recipients, he died two days later.

Meanwhile, police determined the shooting occurred after Lemley had asked to examine the pistol of someone who was not Jonathan Smith or Smith’s brother-in-law. The pistol was apparently loaded but didn’t have a bullet in the chamber.

However, Lemley pulled the slide on the weapon back, loading a bullet in the chamber. Simultaneously, witnesses said, he inadvertently squeezed the trigger, firing the bullet that killed Smith.

Police allege that Lemley admitted drinking before the shooting and taking a Percocet he had not been prescribed, but he claimed he could not remember how the gun discharged. Police booked him with negligent homicide; he is out of jail on a $15,000 bond.

Lemley’s attorney, Townsend Myers, said his client was distraught over “a tragic accident” and that the case does not fit the definition of negligent homicide, which can bring up to five years in prison.

Portia Smith said she would like Lemley to serve time.

“The actions he took that night were preventable and caused my husband’s death and caused me to lose my best friend and Mila’s father, whom she will never get to meet,” Smith said.

Portia Smith asked the public to consider donating to either of two GoFundMe campaigns established to support her family.