Michael Dewayne Smith was only 19 years old when he was called an “urban terrorist” by the district attorney. Smith was a kid from Del City, Oklahoma, Folks, he was barely out of his family home. He had been a kid who grew up in a gang culture that was hard to escape, even in a city in Oklahoma.
This kid was already fully making adult decisions and a member of the “Oak Grove Posse-Kerr Village Crips”. Yep, a gang, fully fledge in Oklahoma. We know the law said he was an adult, but his actions were those of someone throwing a tantrum. A child stuck in a drug fueled rage. Following me for a second, folks.
Smith was a matter of “Pride Goeth before a fall”. Smith let his own attitude get in the way of what was important, not going to prison. He wasn’t acting on someone’s orders when he killed three people. Mind you, he didn’t kill them all three at the same time, although two of them are the same day, I will tell you about that little event soon enough. This isn’t where the story started for Smith, but with a few young men by the names of Kenneth Kinchion, Teron Armstrong, and Dewayne Shirley.
Kinchion and Dewayne Shirley, were responsible for the robbery of two convenience stores on the same day. Well, one robbery and one attempted robbery. During the commission of the second robbery the clerk decided to grow a spine. Something the robbers weren’t accustomed too, apparently. A third, would-be robber lost his life the day of the robberies, during which the owner of the second store robber shot and killed the third would-be robber, Teron Armstrong. Folks, this tale gets deeper.
Kinchion and his two friends were at the Cocker’s Corner Convenience store to rob it on November 8th, 2000. A jury convicted Kinchion and gave him 50 years for the armed robbery connected to just this case. I can’t help myself. This jury was just a little bit swayed to be overly influenced by the other case being tried against Kinchion. Which was a case that ended with him getting life in prison. What does this have to do with Smith? Let me get to that, Readers. I promise it will get clear quickly.
A second attempted robbery was attempted by the three young men that day. It was a small convenience store owned by Han Van Vo. Tran’s Food Mart wasn’t very big and probably took in less than $10,000 a day back then, if that I’m just guessing. But on that fateful day the three young men decided to rob it.
Folks, Teron Armstrong was only 16 years old that day. His mother would never have another birthday or Christmas with him. Armstrong died as a result of an act that could have been prevented. All he had to do was walk away when the store owner begged for his life. Instead, when the store owner opened fire in self-defense the kid died. He was hit by with multiple shot of the six shots fired by the store owner. Because this was a robbery gone wrong and the homicide was considered justifiable the owner was not charged with the death. However, Kinchion and Shirley were charged with first degree murder of Teron Armstrong.
Former DA Bob Macy of Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, decided the definition of first-degree murder fit here due to the planning of the robbery by the three, even though the one that was killed was one of the three. It’s a hard pill to swallow. It’s the way the law was written.
This all leads to Michael Smith. He was a member of their gang and a close friend, so close they were like brothers. There was an article in the paper that upset him about Teron Armstrong. It was the reporting about the fact the shop keeper was not going to be held responsible for the death of his friend, but Kinchion and Shirley were. This article plays a part in the decisions that Smith made.
First, Smith and of his close friends, David Burns, commit a shooting in a parking lot at the Lexus Club in Oklahoma City. A man by the name of Meldon Moore and his friend, Otis Payne Jr. were at the Lexus Club. In the parking lot, Moore got aggressive with Burns, this was from the paper, folks. The fight escalated until shots were fired.
Moore took a bullet to the arm. Payne took one to the head and died instantly. Basically, he took a bullet meant for another man. Moore ended up in a Texas prison on Federal drug charges, he had to be brought back to Oklahoma to testify for this trial.
Smith stayed on the run for a little over a year. He would then take revenge for his “little homey”. This was according to the confession played in court.
On February 22, 2002, Smith burst into Janet Moore’s apartment looking for her son. Smith believed her son was a police informant and was not interested in being kind to the man if he found him. He claimed that if she had stopped screaming and hadn’t panicked, she wouldn’t be dead. This was played in open court. He made his confession a full five days after his arrest according to the public records available.
Sarath Pulluru was 24 and just filling in for a clerk that day at the A-Z Mart. The clerk he was filling in for had been quoted in the paper as having basically said he was glad the young man was dead because a clerk took a stand in a robbery. This didn’t win the clerk, a friend in Smith.
Smith shot Pulluru till he emptied the 2 guns into Pulluru. To finish off this work of hatred and evil, he squirted, lighter fluid on the victim and set him on fire. Smith left no chance for survival and desecrated his victim because of a statement in the paper, one that was inflammatory to Smith in his drug fueled state. Smith’s impulsive nature caused him to leap off into an abyss.
Michael Dewayne Smith received the death penalty for Pulluru and Janet Moore. Smith met his end April 4, 2024.
About the Creator
Cassie Moore
I'm a Hobby Writer interested in true crime. My focus is solely Oklahoma Cases because I live and love the state, despite its flaws. I am an Oklahoma Creator.
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