Robert Smith was sentenced to 10 years in a jail for a daytime ambush shooting on Chapel Street in Derby in 2009.
Smith, 30, of Ansonia, is the first of three shooters to be sentenced for the attempted murder, in which the men crashed their Crown Victoria into Kierron Stanley’s truck as he left work in August, then opened fire as he stumbled out of the car.
Stanley was shot seven times, but survived the attack.
Smith, who was sitting in the front passenger seat of the Crown Victoria, was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years, suspended after he serves 10 years in prison. He will have five years of probation to serve once his sentence is complete.
Smith has been locked up since his August 2009 arrest — that time that will be subtracted from his total sentence.
The other two shooters, Daycus Bailey and Stephen Cook, will be sentenced at Superior Court in Milford in the coming weeks.
Under a plea agreement, Smith pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and conspiracy at first-degree assault. A charge of attempted murder was dropped under the deal.
Bad Behavior
Smith did not say anything during his sentencing.
His mother and two sisters were in the courtroom, but did not speak during the sentencing.
After the sentencing, they said Smith might have gotten a lesser sentence with a different attorney. The women did not give their names.
Senior Assistant States Attorney Charles Stango detailed the “alarming incident” and Smith’s 14 convictions, including several for assault and drug violations.
Smith had “nothing to show for his adulthood other than a series of criminal convictions,” Stango said.
Out of the 14 convictions, the attempted murder is “the most significant crime he has been convicted of,” Stango said.
Smith’s attorney, Howard Gemeiner, commended Smith for being the first to admit fault in the shooting.
“He did act maturely as to how this was resolved,” Gemeiner said.
The Shooting
Two days before the Chapel Street shooting, the trio bought a white Crown Victoria, and had its windows tinted black.
That’s the car they used to ram into Stanley’s truck.
They shot him several times as Stanley stumbled back toward Whalley Glass where he worked.
“If it hadn’t been for the courageous women who worked at Whalley Glass, screaming for him to come toward them, he probably would have been killed,” Stango said.
The shooting took place at about 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 25.
Stango said the three men were trying to kill Stanley, in retaliation for a New Haven club shooting about a week before.
In that shooting, Keyshon Zimmerman was shot in the face outside Everybodeez Club. The three men believed Stanley was responsible for the shooting. No one has been charged in connection to that shooting.
Stango said prosecutors believe — and would have tried to prove at trial through phone records — that Zimmerman called Bailey 15 times immediately before the trio attacked Stanley.
Zimmerman was sentenced to four years in prison Monday for an unrelated gun and drugs arrest.
After the sentencing, Stango said that it was his “hope this is another step in making the Naugatuck Valley safer for its residents.”
