LANCASTER, Calif. -- Former Oakland Raiders lineman Anthony Wayne Smith has pleaded not guilty to murder in the 2008 beating and shooting death of a man in northern Los Angeles County.
Smith, 43, who played defensive end for the Raiders in Los Angeles and Oakland from 1991 to 1998, entered the plea Tuesday.
He is one of three men charged in the killing of Maurilio Ponce, 31, who was beaten and shot several times in Lancaster before his body was dumped near a poppy field.
Two defendants facing the same charge -- Charles Eric Honest, 41, and Dewann Wesley White, 32 -- also pleaded not guilty Tuesday.
All three are due to appear at a May 19 preliminary hearing.
Smith was ordered held on $1 million bail.
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press
