EDWARDSVILLE — Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine announced Wednesday that a jury has found an East Alton man guilty of Solicitation of Murder for directing an acquaintance to open fire on the home of the man’s ex-girlfriend.
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Lorenzo D. Miller, 42, was convicted following a jury trial that began Monday in Circuit Court in Madison County. The count of Solicitation of Murder, a class X felony, alleged that Miller encouraged or requested a co-defendant to commit first-degree murder.
The home of Miller’s ex-girlfriend, on Brown Street in Alton, came under a barrage of gunfire on March 26, 2023. No one was injured in the gunfire, but one bullet went through a sweater worn by a friend of the ex-girlfriend, lightly grazing the friend’s torso.
Assistant State’s Attorney Morgan Hudson, in her closing argument, told jurors that Miller was upset about his ex-girlfriend breaking up with him. Hudson argued that Miller “couldn’t let her go,” but he knew that if anything happened to the woman, he would be a prime suspect.
“He couldn’t get his hands dirty,” Hudson argued.
Assistant State’s Attorney Lauren Maricle, in her opening statement to jurors, said Miller decided to “find somebody else to do his dirty work.”
Just days after the gunfire – on March 29, 2023 – the victim’s van was torched outside her home. Hudson played for jurors a recording of the victim’s 911 call during the van fire. Fearing that someone was at her home and trying to lure her outside as the van burned, the victim repeatedly whispered to the dispatcher, “Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!” and “Please, hurry!”
In her closing argument, Hudson told jurors: “You all can end her fear today.”
Alton Police, using data from Automated License Plate Readers, established that a vehicle with Missouri license plates, being used by an associate of Miller, was in the immediate vicinity of the victim’s home at the time of the gunfire and at the time of the vehicle fire.
In addition, Alton Police detectives extracted data from phones to establish that Miller and the associate communicated just minutes before and after the gunfire at the home.
The jury also found Miller guilty of one count of Obstructing Justice, a class 4 felony. That count alleged that Miller falsely told investigators that he did not know the associate, 38-year-old Vernon G. McIntosh of St. Louis.
Miller will be sentenced later. He faces up to 30 years in prison.
Haine commended the work of prosecutors Hudson and Maricle. He also commended Alton Police and other agencies that assisted in the investigation, along with the witnesses, whose cooperation and testimony was crucial in securing the conviction.
McIntosh is charged with Attempted First-Degree Murder, Aggravated Discharge of a Firearm and Arson.
He is awaiting trial.
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