Former Raiders' player to stand trial in Lancaster murder

LANCASTER - Former Raiders defensive end Anthony Wayne Smith and two other men were ordered today to stand trial for the October 2008 slaying of a man in Lancaster.

Superior Court Judge Carol Koppel found sufficient evidence to require Smith, 43, of Fontana, Charles Eric Honest, 41, of Los Angeles, and Dewann Wesley White, 33, of Bloomington, to proceed to trial in the Oct. 7, 2008, killing of Maurilio Ponce.

The 31-year-old victim was beaten and shot several times before his body was dumped near the Antelope Valley poppy fields, about 11 miles west of Lancaster.

Smith, Honest and White -- who were charged on Feb. 16 and arrested in early March -- are due back in Lancaster Superior Court on June 22 for arraignment.

Smith was the top pick of the Raiders in 1990 out of the University of Arizona, and played professional football with the Los Angeles and Oakland Raiders between 1991 and 1997.

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