Former Oakland Raiders defensive end Anthony Wayne Smith was found guilty on three counts of first-degree murder, a California jury has decided.
Reuters reported that on Thursday it was announced that Smith had been convicted of murdering three men between 1999 and 2008. A charge for killing a fourth man was declared a mistrial by the judge.
Some of the family members of victims Ricky Nettles, Kevin Nettles and Dennis Henderson were present in court and cried as the verdict was read.
The Los Angeles Daily News noted that prosecutors said in 1999 witnesses recalled seeing the former NFL player at a repair shop where the Nettles were and ordering them out of the store. The two brothers were later found shot to death. Two years later, according to the prosecution, Terry Ware and Henderson were placed in separate cars by masked men. Ware survived 40 stab wounds, but Henderson was found dead in another vehicle.
The 48-year-old Smith now faces the possibility of life in prison without parole.