DETROIT – The ex-wife of a Michigan state senator accused of shooting at her car during a dispute at his Detroit home says she found him in bed with another woman and was physically assaulted before he pulled out an assault weapon.
Virgil Smith, a Democrat who has served in the Legislature since 2003, faces charges including malicious destruction of property, felonious assault, felony firearm and a misdemeanor charge of domestic violence. He was bound over to trial on Thursday. His next court appearance is scheduled for July 9.
During his preliminary hearing, Smith's ex-wife, Anistia Thomas, laid out what happened during the early morning hours of May 10.
Thomas said Smith let her into his house on Wexford Street and they went to a bedroom. There, Thomas said, she found another woman naked in the bed.
A fight followed and Thomas said Smith punched her in the face and rammed her head into the floor after she fell into a TV.
Thomas said Smith put his arm into the back of her neck.
"It basically stopped my breathing at that point," she said.
As she left the house, Thomas said she fell over the railing and hit her face on the concrete.
When she got up, she noticed Smith was "holding a big gun in the air."
First, Thomas said, Smith shot into the air.
"He turns it towards me and starts shooting," Thomas said.
She ran next door for help.
Smith then allegedly fired several shots into Thomas' 2015 Mercedes.
Smith, 35, is the son of longtime state lawmaker and Wayne County Judge Virgil Smith Jr.