Madison County man found guilty of attempting to have his ex-girlfriend killed
An East Alton man was found guilty of soliciting someone to kill his former girlfriend.
A jury in a Madison County court found Lorenzo D. Miller, 42, guilty of one count of solicitation of murder, a class X felony, and one count of obstructing justice, also a felony.
According to the criminal complaint, Miller “encouraged or requested” an acquaintance, Vernon G. McIntosh of St. Louis, 38, of St. Louis to murder the woman at her home in Alton.
On March 26, the former-girlfriend’s home on Brown Street was attacked with a barrage of gunfire. No one was injured, but one bullet went through the sweater of a friend and lightly grazed the friend’s torso, a release from Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine said.
In her closing arguments at the trial, Assistant State’s Attorney Morgan Hudson alleged 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 told the jurors.
Just days after the bullets riddled her home, the ex-girlfriend’s van was torched outside her home, the release said.
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, she repeatedly whispered to the dispatcher, “Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!” and “Please, hurry!”
“You all can end her fear today,” Hudson said in her closing argument.
Alton Police, using data from Automated License Plate Readers, established that a vehicle with Missouri license plates was being used by McIntosh and that it was in the immediate vicinity of the victim’s home at both the time of the shooting and at the time of the fire.
In addition, Alton Police detectives extracted data from phones to establish that Miller and McIntosh communicated just minutes before and after the gunfire at the home, the release said.
Miller later told investigators that he did not know McIntosh, which resulted in the obstruction of justice charge.
Miller faces up to 30 years in prison.
McIntosh is awaiting trial on charges of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated discharge of a firearm and arson.
Haine commended the work of prosecutors Hudson and Lauren 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.
