WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Kalvin Michael Smith, who was at the center of a controversial case in Winston-Salem, was shot and injured on Friday night, according to Winston-Salem police.

Police said the shooting happened in the 900 block of North Jackson Avenue at about 8:30 p.m.

“We just heard one shot. We thought it was fireworks or something,” said a man living nearby.

Three bullets pierced the side of his house on North Jackson Avenue.

He didn’t want to be identified, but says he lives there with his family and was on the front porch with his two other brothers when they heard the shots.

“So we just ran inside and we came back and we saw him laying right there,” he said. “He was saying that he was dying. He said I`m dying and I was the only one out here so I called the police.”

Smith was found on the sidewalk suffering from a gunshot wound. EMS workers took him to the hospital where he is listed in critical, but stable condition.

Smith was convicted in 1997 of robbery and assaulting Jill Marker at the Silk Plant Forest store in 1995. The assault left Marker with severe brain injuries.

In November 2016, a judge ruled Smith’s attorney failed to present evidence that would have led to a shorter prison sentence at the time of his conviction. He was released on Nov. 10, 2016.

Smith maintained his innocence throughout his sentence.

The Attorney General’s office and lawyers agreed that certain evidence presented during Smith’s trial could have left him with a shorter sentence.

That evidence was a good attitude, family support and a positive work record that was not entered during the sentencing phase of the original trial.