A Union County jury convicted an Elizabeth man earlier today with the December 2007 shooting death of another man, said Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow.
Awan Smith (D.O.B. 7/7/1973) was found guilty of 1st degree murder and weapon offenses, said Assistant Prosecutor Caroline Lawlor, who prosecuted the case.
On December 9, 2007 Smith exited Grady’s Bar on 1ST Street in Elizabeth after hearing that Omar Kennedy (D.O.B. 2/6/1983) was standing outside.
According to the investigation, several months earlier the two men had argued and Kennedy allegedly cut Smith in the cheek with a knife, said Lawlor.
Smith, looking for revenge exited the bar with a sawed off riffle and shot Kennedy twice. The victim was struck once in the abdomen and once in the arm. He was taken to University Hospital in Newark where he died a few hours later.
Detective Jorge Jimenez of the Union County Homicide Task Force and Elizabeth Police Det. David DeRosa tracked Smith to Baltimore through telephone records and arrested the man in June 2008, said Lawlor.
The jury took just two hours to convict Smith following a three-week trial before Union County Superior Court Judge Joseph P. Donohue.
Smith is scheduled to be sentenced on October 23 and faces 30 years to life in prison. |
