Detroit Hitman Vincent Smothers Gets More Time For Lying To Help A Convicted Murderer Get a New Trial

Vincent Smothers (DOC photo) 

Detroit hitman Vincent Smothers, 45, who is already serving up to 100 years in state prison for multiple contract murders, has now been given additional time for lying and trying to help another suspected murderer get away with it. He also received more time for possessing a contraband cell phone last year at the Muskegon Correctional Facility.

Last Thursday, Muskegon County Circuit Court Judge Annette Rose Smedley sentenced him to 14–58 months for possessing the cell phone. Last month, Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Kathryn Viviano sentenced him to 1 to 40 years for providing a false affidavit in an attempt to help a convicted killer obtain a new trial.

Shannon Anderson (DOC photo) 

Last year, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel alleged that inmate Shannon Anderson, 47, recruited Smothers to provide false testimony regarding a 2007 case in which Anderson was convicted of shooting two men at his Eastpointe beauty shop, one fatally. Smothers’ false information was intended to bolster Anderson’s claim of self-defense.

In May 2019, Smothers agreed to sign a false affidavit attesting to details of Anderson’s shooting, the Attorney General’s Office said. In February 2020, Anderson’s attorney filed a motion seeking a new trial based on new evidence from Smothers’ affidavit. The motion was ultimately denied by a Macomb County Circuit Court judge.

Nessel said last year that investigators were looking into other cases to determine whether Smothers took credit for crimes he didn’t commit or offered false information. She suggested money was the motivating factor for Smothers.

In 2008, Smothers told police interrogators that he killed eight people for money, including the wife of a Detroit police officer, Rose Cobb, in late 2007. All the murders, he said, involved the drug trade except for Cobb’s killing.

Authorities suspected Cobb’s husband, David Cobb, of hiring Smothers while he was having an affair. While he was a suspect, David Cobb was never charged, and in September 2008, he was found hanged in a suburban park.