Defense lawyer Michael Evans said he would likely file a motion to set aside the guilty verdicts, saying jurors “didn’t follow the law and were confused how the law applies”.
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On November 10, 1999, prosecutors said Smith kidnapped the Nettles brothers from their auto wash business in Los Angeles while posing as a police officer. The next day, both were found dead. The other man was released, but Henderson was found stabbed to death in a rental auto, his body covered in more than 40 non-fatal stab wounds inflicted before his throat was slashed, according to evidence presented at trial. Smith had branded Ricky Nettles’ stomach with a clothing iron. He also was accused of a 4th murder charge but the jury was unable to come back with a decision.
Anthony Smith was found guilty of killing brothers Kevin Nettles and Ricky Nettes in 1999. The mechanic had been shot six times. While awaiting retrial, Smith was charged with the three murders of which he has now been convicted.
According to a 2013 GQ article about Smith, his mother, Naomi died when he was just three-years-old.
The jury reached the verdict last Friday after deliberating over portions of eight days, but it was ordered to remain sealed because Smith’s attorney was not available Friday, and a few jurors could not return to court until Thursday, said district attorney’s spokesman Ricardo Santiago. Prosecutors are expected to revisit the charge in December, during the sentencing process.
Anthony Smith’s criminal behavior began in 2003, when he was charged but not convicted of firebombing a furniture store after getting into a spat with the owner over money.
Smith said in 1994 that “I have grown to despise it. Someone’s desire to trick me or cheat me out of what I have, that makes me sick”.
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Anthony Smith, the No. 11 overall pick out of Arizona in the 1990 National Football League draft, was selected by the then-Los Angeles Raiders and played for the Raiders in L.A. and Oakland from 1991-97.
