LOS ANGELES—Former NFL defensive lineman Anthony Wayne Smith, 48, has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for his connection in three murders.
According to a press release from the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, the former player for the Los Angeles and the Oakland Raiders was sentenced on Friday, January 22 for his connection to a 1999 double homicide and a 2001 murder.
He was convicted by a jury on November 5, 2015, on three counts of first-degree murder with the special circumstances of torture, kidnapping, and multiple murders. Jury members deliberated for eight days before providing their verdict to the court.
The jury was not able to reach a verdict in the 2008 murder of Maurilio Ponce. A mistrial was declared in that case and a determination of rather a retrial for that murder charge will be made at a later date.
Ricky and Kevin Nettles were brothers who were kidnapped by Smith from their car wash company in Los Angeles after he posed as a police officer on November 10, 1999. The victims were tortured and killed, according to court testimony.
On June 24, 2001, Dennis Henderson was kidnapped in Mar Vista by Smith, prosecutors noted. The victim was beaten and stabbed to death, according to evidence presented at the trial.
The case was investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
