Gary man convicted of shooting brother in chest
A jury convicted a Gary man Wednesday for shooting his brother in the chest.
Michael Smith, 66, was convicted of attempted murder, aggravated battery, domestic battery resulting in serious bodily injury and domestic battery by means of a deadly weapon.
His sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 22.
Special Prosecutor John Meyers, appointed in 2023, told jurors Michael showed up at their mother’s home on the 800 block of Georgia Street unannounced. He argued the shooting was unprovoked — partly the result of tensions over their ailing mother, money, and her house.
Defense lawyers Sean Mullins — with his father, co-counsel Steven Mullins — argued it was self-defense; Alphonzo Smith was armed with two guns, and the evidence showed Michael shot back before he fled the home.
At trial, his brother Alphonzo Smith testified Michael shot him, lawyers said.
Michael Smith testified Wednesday he went to the home to confront his brother, who he learned later put their mother in a nursing home. At the time, he didn’t know where she was. A neighbor called and told him Alphonzo was at the mother’s home.
Michael Smith told jurors he showed up armed; his brother carried guns and had threatened him in the past, he said. He asked where their mother was. After the shooting, he said he did not call the police, or check if his brother was shot.
“He was trying to shoot me, kill me,” he told Sean Mullins.
In closing arguments, Meyers said Alphonzo Smith was “calm” and “courteous” on the stand.
The prosecutor played the garbled tail end of a voicemail that kept running — where Michael Smith appears to yell and curse at their mother.
Meyers argued Michael Smith was concerned about money and had recently ripped out their mother’s home security keypad. It was “not any hidden thing” Alphonzo took her to the nursing home.
Sean Mullins told jurors all Meyers had was Alphonzo’s testimony, a “dozen pictures” from the crime scene and three “untested” bullet fragments.
He said Meyers’ case cherry-picked from text exchanges between the brothers. No guns were recovered. The police barely investigated, he argued. Meyers didn’t ask Michael Smith a “single question” when he testified. Of a nearly 70-page medical report, Meyers only zeroed in on a few bits, he said.
“They want to give you half the information,” Mullins said.
The brother was coming up the stairs and fell back when the shooting happened. Michael Smith didn’t go back at him to shoot him dead, the lawyer argued. He ran out of the house. The bullet spread showed it was a “defensive” shooting.
There were up to six shots; Alphonzo was shot once straight in the chest. “He wasn’t fleeing,” the lawyer argued.
Mullins argued previously he believed Alphonzo hid two guns in a vehicle after the shooting. He argued the two other men there — the home security tech and Alphonzo’s friend did not actually see the shooting. The friend was subpoenaed, but didn’t testify, Meyers said.
According to the charging affidavit, Smith’s brother told police his mother had recently wanted Smith out of her house on the 800 block of Georgia Street and had changed the locks.
They were installing a new security system when the shooting happened around 4:15 p.m. Aug. 4, 2021, he told police.
The man was climbing his mother’s back stairs when Smith appeared with a black revolver, “Where’s (my brother) at?”
A witness heard several shots. The victim was airlifted to a Chicago trauma hospital and had trouble breathing afterward, according to the affidavit.
Smith has a criminal history from various states, including a 7-year prison stint for armed robbery, kidnapping and aggravated assault in Arizona.
