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About a year ago, Buckeye resident Lloyd Smithey fatally shot a 17-year-old kid after he saw him and his two friends burglarize a neighbor’s home. This morning, the two friends were each sentenced to some lengthy prison time for the boy’s death.
Matthew Peters, 21, and Joseph Metcalf, 19, each were sentenced to 20 years in prison this morning after getting convicted of second-degree murder for the death of Jonathan Michael-Andrew Greth.
Initially, the two were charged with first-degree murder.
About 12:30 p.m. on October 11, 2010, Peters, Metcalf, and Greth burglarized a Buckeye home.
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Smithey, who lives nearby, heard what was going on and tried to stop the three men.
The three ran off once they heard Smithey. They jumped into a car and tried to flee, but Smithey wasn’t letting them get away that easily.
This is Arizona, so, naturally, Smithey had a gun with him. As the three were making their escape, Smithey fired a shot at the car. He says he didn’t know whether it had hit anyone — but it did.
The bullet hit Greth in the chest, killing him.
Rather than call police, Peters and Metcalf dumped the body at the Travel Center of America Truck Stop at 339th Avenue and Interstate 10.
Smithey, the man who actually shot Greth, was never charged with a crime.
