A driver who shot dead a youth baseball coach in a road rage highway attack has been denied an appeal after claiming the jury was too white.
Jamal Lindsey Smith, 36, was jailed for life in 2022 for first-degree murder after killing Jay Boughton with a single bullet in Plymouth, Minnesota, on July 6, 2021.
He was caught after a two-month investigation when detectives found a Facebook video he posted of himself flashing a gun inside a car matching the suspect vehicle.
Smith defense claimed at trial that he couldn’t have accurately shot Boughton in the head and neck while driving, and implied it was a passenger who fired.
Jamal Lindsey Smith, 36, was jailed for life in 2022 for first-degree
Jay Boughton, a coach for the Armstrong Cooper Youth Baseball Association, was killed with a single bullet in Plymouth, Minnesota, on July 6, 2021
He continued arguing prosecutors ‘presented insufficient evidence to prove that he fired the shot that killed Boughton’ in his appeal.
But he also claimed there were not enough black people in the jury, and the judge denied his objections to the lack of diversity.
The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday threw out all his appeals and upheld the life sentence he is serving far form his native Chicago.
‘Because Smith failed to carry his burden on each of the new trial claims and because the only reasonable inference supported by the circumstances proved – when viewed as a whole – is that Smith fired the fatal shot, we affirm the judgment of convictions,’ the court wrote in its judgement.
However, the justices noted lack of diversity in jury pools was a legitimate problem, and asked the Minnesota legislature to increase juror payments from $20 to $100 a day.
‘Ensuring that people of color serve as jurors is essential to the fair resolution of cases and to the public’s trust in our legal system,’ they wrote.
Boughton’s car, with him slumped at the wheel, crashed through a fence into a parking lot of an apartment block
Smith was caught after a two-month investigation when detectives found a Facebook video he posted of himself flashing a gun inside a car matching the suspect vehicle.
Smith claimed there were not enough black people in the jury, and the judge denied his objections to the lack of diversity
The court noted that when the issue wasn’t acknowledged and addressed, ‘that failure becomes systematic exclusion at some point’.
Boughton, a coach for the Armstrong Cooper Youth Baseball Association, was driving home on US 169 with his son Harrison, 16, after a game.
Harrison testified that Harris’ rented Chevy Suburban was ‘driving fast, getting close enough to make us swerve out of the way’ alongside them.
He said his father beeped his horn and ‘flipped off’ the driver, then seconds later heard glass breaking and saw a hole in the window.
Boughton’s car, with him slumped at the wheel, crashed through a fence into a parking lot of an apartment block. Harrisons called 911 and gave him CPR.
Police found the abandoned Suburban and video of the cars driving side-by-side on the highway, but struggled for weeks to identify the driver.
Finally, they found the driver of the suspect SUV on CCTV at a petrol station and identified him as Smith.
Then they looked him up on social media and found a video showing him flashing cash and a gun in what appeared to be the same car, with two passengers.
The Springfield Armory XD model .45 caliber semiautomatic Smith was waving around matched the bullet that killed Boughton.
The Springfield Armory XD model .45 caliber semiautomatic Smith was waving around matched the bullet that killed Boughton
Another view of the gun on Smith’s lap in the car during the video
Police found the abandoned Suburban and video of the cars driving side-by-side on the highway, but struggled for weeks to identify the driver
Smith was arrested in Decatur, Illinois, on August 321, 2021, and charged with first-degree murder, among other crimes.
‘This was truly a needle in a haystack,’ Plymouth Police Chief Erik Fadden said at the time, saying it took 1,500 hours of work to crack the case.
‘Our detectives never stopped digging and working and knocking on doors and reviewing video after video after video. And finally you get that little break every once in a while.’
Smith’s last post was: ‘Sometimes it’s your friends who keep your enemies updated about you… Be careful.’
After Smith was found guilty of all charges, a juror told reporters the jury had no doubt he fired the shot, but deliberated about whether he meant to kill.
‘The defendant was driving 60 to 70mph down the highway, in the dark, in a rainstorm,’ they said at the time.
Boughton’s car sitting wrecked in the apartment block car park where it crashed
Smith was arrested in Decatur, Illinois, on August 321, 2021, and charged with first-degree murder, among other crimes
‘In order to shoot at the victim, he had to control his vehicle. He had to reach across his passenger. Somehow the window was rolled down, and he shot at the victim. I mean, that takes a lot.
‘It wasn’t just a happenstance. Things he did preceded the shooting that indicated to us that he intended to do this.’
Smith’s fate was sealed when jurors were shown a video of Smith and his friends in a jovial mood just hours after the shooting, when they went to a bar and drank heavily.
“One juror saw that video again and flipped [their vote]. If it was an accidental shooting, how could he have been celebrating?’ the juror said.
