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The following was taken from a press release distributed by the Office of the DeKalb County District Attorney – Stone Mountain Judicial Circuit on November 17, 2023:
DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. – DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announces a conviction by jury trial in the case of a Stone Mountain man accused of murdering his cousin inside an abandoned home.
On Wednesday, a jury found Steven O’Neal Smith, 42, guilty on charges of Felony Murder and Aggravated Assault stemming from the death of Antonio Carter, 36, on April 9, 2019.
According to the investigation, officers with the DeKalb County Police Department responded to a call just after 3 a.m. about a person stabbed at a home on N. Hairston Road. The man who lived there found Carter on his back porch with multiple stab wounds. Paramedics transported Carter to a nearby hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Police followed a trail of blood behind the home to an abandoned house located off Lauren Parkway. According to relatives, Carter and Smith were living there together. Prior to the murder, neighbors witnessed Defendant Smith retrieve a kitchen knife and walk towards the abandoned home with it.
Hours later, officers located Defendant Smith not far from the scene of the crime covered in blood. Through DNA testing, experts at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed the blood belonged to Carter.
Immediately following the conviction, DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Shondeana Morris, who presided over the trial, sentenced Defendant Smith to life in prison.
The case, assigned to the Homicide and Gangs Unit, was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Amy Ferguson with assistance from Senior ADA Eleanor Friedman, DA Investigator J. B. Williams, DA Investigator Shaun Hector, DA Investigator Julian Brim, and Victim Advocate Jozlyn Varnadoe. DeKalb County Police Department Det. James Paden led the initial investigation.
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