COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — More than a decade after pleading guilty to attempted murder for paralyzing his target in a shooting, a man has now been charged with murder after the victim died.
Anthony Smith, 31, was sentenced to seven years in prison and later released after he pleaded guilty in 2007 to attempted first-degree murder after he shot Christopher Lenzy in the lower back in Austin in 2005.
But in 2014, Lenzy, then 41, died as a result of complications from his gunshot wound, Assistant State's Attorney Liam Reardon said during a bond hearing Thursday.
Prosecutors are now bringing a first-degree murder case against Smith. It's not clear why they waited nearly two years to file charges.
Smith is currently serving 63 years in prison for a 2014 murder conviction for an unrelated 2012 murder, court records show. He was convicted by a jury in August 2014 and sent to a downstate facility. Details of that case were not immediately available Thursday.
In the 2005 incident, Smith is accused of shooting Lenzy in the back as the man walked through the first block of North Pine Avenue on the evening of Aug. 10 of that year.
The pair had gotten into a fight in days prior to the shooting, Reardon said. When Smith saw Lenzy that evening, he pulled a .38 caliber gun and fired seven shots, one of which hit Lenzy, permanently paralyzing him.
Another bullet struck a nearby pedestrian in his foot.
Smith was identified as the shooter by multiple witnesses, and eventually arrested on a warrant, Reardon said.
On Thursday, Cook County Judge Donald Panarese Jr. denied Smith bail, calling him "a danger to the community."
