JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Dorian Finney-Smith, a former University of Florida basketball player who currently plays for the Brooklyn Nets, was reunited with his father this week after nearly three decades apart.
Finney-Smith’s father, Elbert Smith, was released from a Virginia prison after more than 28 years behind bars with the help of former Dallas Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban. Finney-Smith played for the Mavericks for seven seasons.
Recommended Videos
Mark Cuban Companies chief of staff and former Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore worked to get the Virginia Parole Board to consider Smith’s case, and the board voted 3-0 to grant his parole earlier this year.
After nearly 30 years, Dorian Finney-Smith reunites with father: the ‘best Christmas gift’ https://t.co/hEvs9qStYQ
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) December 20, 2023
Smith was sentenced following a deadly shooting in 1995 when he was 23 years old.
According to the Dallas Morning News, Smith and a business partner went to a Virginia Beach auto repair shop to collect a debt from Willie Anderson II, 31. Both Smith and his partner had guns. During a skirmish, Smith’s partner shot the man who later died.
Both Smith and his partner were tried for first-degree murder, but his partner accepted a plea deal and got a five-year prison sentence for manslaughter, according to the New York Post.
But Smith rejected the deal on the advice of his court-appointed attorney because his partner was the one who fired the fatal shots, according to the Dallas Morning News, and in 1996 he was sentenced to 44 years in prison for second-degree murder.
On Tuesday, Smith, now 52, was released and had an emotional reunion with his daughter, ex-wife and Finney-Smith, 30, who was given a one-day absence from the Nets to be there.
“We just hugged,” former Mavs wing Finney-Smith told the Dallas Morning News. “A long, long hug. So many questions and stuff that we have. It was very emotional.”
“He’s here for Christmas; that’s what matters,” he said. “This is the best Christmas gift I’ve ever gotten. Besides the births of my kids, this is up there with the best days I’ve ever had.”
