Ex-Raider awaits trial on murder charges

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LANCASTER, Calif., July 30 (UPI) -- Former Raiders defensive end Anthony Smith awaits trial on three cold-case murders in Lancaster, Calif., and prosecutors are considering the death penalty.

For Smith, who played for the Raiders in Los Angeles and Oakland from 1990 to 1997, the accusations are the latest in a series of courtroom appearances since his retirement from football, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday. He was charged with arson in 2003 for allegedly firebombing a California furniture store, later dismissed, and a suggestion by prosecutors of bank-wire fraud, although no charges were filed.

In 2008 he was charged with the murder of a friend, Maurilio Ponce, after Smith and Ponce were allegedly involved in a stolen cargo smuggling operation, a case ending in a mistrial.

After the mistrial Smith was held without bail and charged in a 1999 scheme to kidnap two brothers, car wash employees, who were found slain. Prosecutors allege he took part in a similar crime against the brother of a neighbor, found dead in a car trunk, in 2001, the newspaper said.

Robbery may have been a motive in the incidents, but "that's just a guess at this point," Los Angeles Police Detective Martin Mojarro said.