Detroit man cleared of attempted murder in shooting of judge

DETROIT (AP) — A jury on Tuesday acquitted a man of attempted murder in the shooting of a federal judge outside his Detroit home.

U.S. District Judge Terrence Berg testified during the trial but couldn’t positively identify Kevin Andre Smith Jr. as the person who shot him in the leg when he refused to let him in his house in March 2015.

Smith, 23, was convicted of charges related to other robberies in Detroit. Berg wasn’t in the Wayne County courtroom for the verdict but his wife, Anita Sevier, was present.

“I’m sure they worked very hard on evaluating the evidence,” Berg said of the jury. “This is the system that we have.”

Berg’s shooting appeared to be random and not related to his job. He was a prosecutor for more than 20 years before his appointment to the federal bench in 2012. He commutes from Detroit to the courthouse in Flint.

Smith insisted he didn’t shoot Berg, telling jurors he would have accepted a plea deal if he had been the gunman. Like her husband, Sevier said she couldn’t identify Smith as the shooter that night.

“I think that was extremely important,” defense attorney John McWilliams said. “Let’s face it: The bedrock of any criminal charge and decision by a jury or a judge is that the perpetrator must be sufficiently identified beyond a reasonable doubt to find guilt.”