Former Raider will stand trial for four murders
Arraignment set for Oct. 29
Former Raiders defensive end Anthony Wayne Smith has been ordered to stand trial on murder charges stemming from four killings nearly a decade apart. After a four-day preliminary hearing, a judge in Lancaster found sufficient evidence to require the 45-year-old Smith to proceed to trial for the murders Kevin and Ricky Nettles on Nov. 10, 1999, the murder of Dennis Henderson on June 25, 2001, and the murder of Maurilio Ponce on Oct. 7, 2008.
Smith is being held without bail pending arraignment on Oct. 29. Prosecutors have not yet decided if they’ll seek the death penalty.
Smith had already been tried for the 2008 death of Maurilio Ponce, a mechanic found stomped, beaten and shot along a Southern California desert highway in what prosecutors called a business deal gone wrong.
A jury deadlocked 8-4 in April in favor of guilt, and in July while awaiting retrial, Smith was charged with the other murders.
Kevin and Ricky Nettles were kidnapped from a car wash in Los Angeles by two men posing as police officers, and later were found shot to death, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. The victims’ bodies were dumped about eight miles apart from one another.
Henderson was kidnapped by several gunmen. According to reports, Henderson, whose brother lived next door to Smith, was found beaten and stabbed to death in a rental car. It has not yet been verified if Smith also had a connection to the Nettles brothers.
Investigators believe that all of the murders were initial robberies. Smith also faces three counts of kidnapping, and along with special circumstances because the victims were tortured, is eligible for the death penalty.
Anthony Wayne Smith, the former defensive end for the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders who was already awaiting retrial for the 2008 murder of Maurilio Ponce, is back in the spotlight after being charged with three additional murders. Wednesday he entered a plea of not guilty on all charges.
LANCASTER, Calif.—Former Raiders defensive end Anthony Wayne Smith pleaded not guilty today to murder charges stemming from four killings nearly a decade apart.
The 45-year-old ex-pro football player is charged with murder and kidnapping to commit another crime—robbery—in the Nov. 10, 1999, slayings of Kevin and Ricky Nettles; the June 25, 2001, killing of Dennis Henderson; and the Oct. 7, 2008, killing of Maurilio Ponce.
LANCASTER, Calif. — Former Raiders defensive end Anthony Wayne Smith pleaded not guilty today to murder charges stemming from four killings nearly a decade apart.
On Oct. 12, Lancaster Superior Court Judge Lisa Chung found sufficient evidence to require the 45-year-old ex-pro football player to proceed to trial in connection with the Nov. 10, 1999, slayings of Kevin and Ricky Nettles, the June 25, 2001, killing of Dennis Henderson and the Oct. 7, 2008, death of Maurilio Ponce.
LANCASTER, Calif.—A 34-year-old man—charged along with two other people, including former Raiders defensive end Anthony Wayne Smith, in an October 2008 killing—was convicted today of first-degree murder.
The Lancaster Superior Court jury deliberated about two days before returning its verdict against Dewann Wesley White, who is facing 25 years to life in state prison, according to Deputy District Attorney Taly Peretz.
LANCASTER, Calif.—Former Raiders defensive end Anthony Wayne Smith and two other men were ordered today to stand trial for the October 2008 slaying of a man in Lancaster.
Superior Court Judge Carol Koppel found sufficient evidence to require Smith, 43, of Fontana, Charles Eric Honest, 41, of Los Angeles, and Dewann Wesley White, 33, of Bloomington, to proceed to trial in the Oct. 7, 2008, killing of Maurilio Ponce.
