MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — A Martin County jury has found a man guilty in connection with a 2022 Thanksgiving triple shooting in Stuart that killed a 73-year-old grandmother.
After a week-long trial, Lonnie Smalls III, 21, was convicted of first-degree murder and other felony counts.
Investigators said Smalls was responsible for the death of Mattie Lou Jones, who was in her living room watching television when she was struck by a bullet from a machine gun and died.
Prosecutors said this crime should have never have happened.
"This defendant should not have been out on the streets. We had him on a different case," Assistant State Attorney Brandon White said. "He pled open, meaning there was no deal between the state and the defense, and he received a lenient sentence."
The St. Lucie County sheriff said last month that Smalls was involved in a fatal drive-by shooting just a few weeks before Jones' murder.
Smalls will be sentenced for the Stuart shooting in May.
