A former NFL player with the Los Angeles and Oakland Raiders was found guilty by a jury in Lancaster on Thursday of three counts of first degree murder.
Anthony Wayne Smith, 48, was convicted of the 1999 murders of brothers Ricky and Kevin Nettles and the 2001 murder of Dennis Henderson, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Jurors also found the former defensive lineman guilty of special circumstance allegations of torture, kidnapping and multiple murders, the release stated.
On Nov. 10, 1999, prosecutors said Smith kidnapped the Nettles brothers from their car-wash business in Los Angeles while posing as a police officer. Both men were tortured and killed, according to court testimony.
On June 24, 2001, Smith abducted Henderson in Mar Vista and then beat and stabbed him to death, according to evidence presented at the four-week trial.
A mistrial was declared on a fourth murder charge involving the 2008 death of Maurilio Ponce. A decision on whether to retry that charge had not been announced.
Smith was scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 21, at which time he faces three life terms in state prison without the possibility of parole, according to the DA’s office.
