ST PAUL, Minn. — The man convicted of murdering a youth baseball coach in an act of road rage will not get a new trial after the Minnesota Supreme Court denied his appeal.
Jamal Smith was convicted of first-degree murder by a Hennepin County jury and sentenced to life in prison for the shooting death of Jay Boughton, who was returning from a baseball game with his teenage son the night of July 6, 2021, when Smith opened fire on Highway 169 in Plymouth. Prosecutors maintained that Smith was speeding and weaving in and out of traffic, nearly hitting Boughton's truck. When the baseball coach flipped him off, Smith fatally shot him in the neck.
Smith appealed his conviction and asked for a new trial, alleging:
- The judge who presided over his trial was biased in rulings against him
- His defense team was ineffective and didn't request a change of venue for the trial
- The jury pool did not reflect the population of Hennepin County, as Black people were under-represented
- The court should not have allowed prosecutors to introduce evidence of Smith's "prior bad acts"
In writing the court's majority decision, Justice Margaret Chutich ruled against all aspects of Smith's appeal, saying he had failed to carry his burden of proving his claims. She concluded that "the only reasonable inference supported by the circumstances proved, when viewed as a whole, is that appellant fired the fatal shot."
"The news this morning was good news. But also emotional," said Boughton's wife Kristin in a statement she shared with KARE 11's Lou Raguse. "We miss Jay every day as his life was taken from me, Harrison and Amalie too soon in this senseless act of violence. But we celebrate his life by telling Jay Boughton stories and will continue to do that as his light shines on each one of us. We thank our family, friends and community for their tireless prayers and support of us these past 3 years. We thank our prosecution team of Dan, Erin, Sonita and our appellate lawyers for their efforts. We thank the Plymouth Police Department for their continued support of our family. We thank God for being just as we continue to stay in the light."
Jamal Smith challenged the legal system even before his trial began. In November of 2021, District Court Judge Nicole Engisch revoked Smith's phone privileges after prosecutors became aware of "problematic" calls he had made from both the Macon County Jail in Illinois and the Hennepin County Jail. Smith challenged Engisch's decision and asked that his phone privileges be restored, but was unsuccessful.
In late January 2022, Smith and his defense team asked a judge to throw out the first-degree murder indictment handed down by a grand jury, claiming that prosecutors knowingly allowed witnesses to give “perjured testimony” before the grand jury, and failed to present evidence that raises questions about whether Smith was the actual shooter. The indictment was upheld.
Then in February, Smith complained in a long and rambling statement during a Zoom court hearing that being held in segregation at the Hennepin County Jail amounted to "cruel and unusual" punishment. Smith told Judge Engisch he should be allowed to use recreational facilities, watch TV, read newspapers and have video visits with loved ones per week like other prisoners at the jail. He accused jail staff of tampering with his mail and being aggressive and cruel towards him, treating him as “a lowlife who deserves to die.”
Smith is currently incarcerated at the Minnesota Correctional Facility at Rush City. He received a mandatory life sentence for the first-degree murder conviction, but could one day be eligible for parole.