Another wintry storm Friday

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

A Hennepin County grand jury has returned a first-degree murder indictment against a Chicago man accused of 

killing a fellow driver last summer on U.S. Highway 169

Authorities allege Jamal Lindsey Smith pulled up next to 56-year-old Jay Boughton and fired a fatal shot through Boughton's driver's side window as the man drove home from a youth baseball game with his son.

The Hennepin County Attorney's Office initially charged the 33-year-old Smith with second-degree murder. A grand jury added a count of first-degree murder, which carries an automatic sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

Citing witness statements and a Wisconsin police report, prosecutors say Smith brandished a firearm to five other passing vehicles in the hours before he allegedly killed Boughton. 

The killing in the Minneapolis suburb happened around 10 p.m. July 6 on Highway 169, south of Rockford Road. Two vehicles were traveling southbound when a suspect in one vehicle shot at another vehicle, hitting Boughton. The suspect then fled the scene. 

The charging document doesn’t detail a motive, saying only that the "shooting stemmed from a brief altercation" between the victim and another vehicle. 

 as a“traffic altercation” but not a “back-and-forth road rage” incident, telling reporters last month that it was “really just a senseless act that happened in a brief moment when two vehicles were next to each other.”

Boughton died at North Memorial Health Hospital. A vehicle that matched the description in the shooting 

 after law enforcement released traffic camera images. 

Smith is being held in the Hennepin County jail on $3.5 million bond.

Crime, Law and Justice

Minnesota News

Twin Cities News

NewsPartners

Matt Sepic

Author

Jamal Lindsey Smith now faces first-degree murder, which carries an automatic sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Authorities allege Smith fired a fatal shot through Jay Boughton's driver's side window as the man drove home from a youth baseball game with his son on July 6. 

Murder charges upgraded in Highway 169 shooting in Plymouth

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox