An Indianapolis man is headed to prison for an attempted robbery and a murder on the city's east side more than three years ago, the Marion County prosecutor's office announced Thursday.

Tafari Clay, 23, was sentenced to 63 years in the Indiana Department of Correction after a jury found him guilty in August of killing Hanson Smith.

Smith, 47, was found dead in his car the evening of June 19, 2015, in the 1900 block of Olney Street. Clay told police that he and a friend had met with Smith to buy a cellphone when a fight broke out between his friend and Smith, prosecutors said. The altercation purportedly led to a shooting that killed Smith and wounded Clay's friend.

An autopsy found that Smith died from two gunshot wounds to his abdomen.

At Clay's trial, a witness testified that Clay and another man planned to meet with and rob "the phone man," who Smith was known as in the neighborhood, prosecutors said.

Charges of murder and attempted robbery are pending against the friend of Clay who was shot, according to prosecutors and court records.

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Clay's attorney didn't immediately respond Thursday to a request seeking comment.

Clay was found not guilty in August in a separate shooting that left a woman dead on the south side on June 1, 2015. Court records show he was acquitted of two counts of murder and robbery in the death of Hilary Acton.

Acton, 33, was found with multiple gunshot wounds in the 1400 block of South East Street, police said at the time. Investigators said she and her boyfriend were targeted by someone who wanted to rob them.

Clay, who was arrested in the case about a year later, was convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Clay will serve a total of 78 years, including three years he received for violating his probation, prosecutors said.


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