Former Raider Anthony Smith Facing SoCal Murder Trial
LANCASTER, Calif. (CBS/AP) - A prosecutor says former Raiders football player Anthony Wayne Smith lured a mechanic to a remote Southern California desert highway and, with the help of two accomplices, killed the man.
The 44-year-old Smith, who played with the Los Angeles and Oakland Raiders between 1991 and 1998, is charged with the beating and shooting death of 31-year-old Maurilio Ponce in October 2008.
The Los Angeles Times said the prosecutor told jurors in his opening statement on Monday that Ponce was beaten, stomped and shot six times. A motive wasn't given, but the judge earlier said it involved a business deal that went wrong.
Smith and 42-year-old co-defendant Charles Eric Honest are being tried simultaneously with separate juries in Lancaster.
Trial for 33-year-old defendant Dewann Wesley White starts Monday.
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