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After a seven-day trial, a jury is deciding the fate of a Chicago man accused of killing a fellow driver in suburban Minneapolis last year. Prosecutors say Jamal Smith, 34, shot Jay Boughton in a fit of road rage. 

Smith is charged with first-degree intentional murder, second-degree murder during a drive-by shooting and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Prosecutors say Smith and two friends drove from Chicago to the Twin Cities on July 6, 2021.  Smith, who was driving, encountered Jay Boughton that evening on Highway 169 in Plymouth, Minn. and tried to get into his lane. 

Boughton, who coached a youth baseball team, was returning from a game with his teenage son. 

In his closing argument Tuesday, Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Dan Allard said that video from MnDOT traffic cameras showed that Smith had plenty of space to get around Boughton’s pickup truck. Instead, Allard said, Smith decided to confront the other driver.

Allard said after Smith pulled into Boughton’s lane, Boughton honked and flipped his middle finger at Smith. Rather than ignoring this, Smith pulled his SUV back into the other lane, drove alongside Boughton for a short time and then opened fire. Bullets struck Boughton’s head and neck, and his pickup crashed into the ditch. Prosecutors say Smith fled and abandoned the SUV. 

Jurors heard testimony from Boughton’s son, Harrison Boughton, 16, who said he heard a loud noise and saw the driver’s side window shatter. The government also played Facebook videos of Smith brandishing weapons. 

Forensic experts testified that they found Smith’s DNA and gunshot residue inside the SUV, which a Chicago rental car company had reported stolen. Smith also left a photo ID and a receipt with his name on it inside the vehicle, which police later recovered. 

Prosecutors also played recordings of jailhouse phone calls in which Smith allegedly urged his girlfriend to delete his Facebook account and not to cooperate with investigators. 

Last week another driver, Dan Knight, testified about a similar encounter with Smith and his friends earlier that day. Knight was driving on I-90 near the Wisconsin Dells when the same SUV began tailgating him. After Knight tapped his brakes, he said the driver pulled up alongside him and all three men inside pointed guns at him. 

During his closing statement Tuesday, Smith’s attorney Emmett Donnelly said the bulk of the government’s case revolved around personal attacks on his client, who’s Black, grew up in poverty, and is “from the other side of the tracks.” 

Donnelly said prosecutors’ gunshot residue evidence is faulty, and social media videos of Smith holding a gun prior to the shooting do not prove that he killed Boughton. Donnelly noted that others in the video were also holding guns, and argued that it would have been difficult for his client to shoot accurately from a moving vehicle in the rain.

Testifying in his own defense on Monday, Smith said that he was not the shooter, and that one of his passengers fired the gun instead. Prosecutors have not charged anyone else in the case.  Smith said he heard a boom from inside the vehicle and thought it was thunder. 

While prosecutors said throughout the trial that the evidence points to Smith as the shooter, Allard reminded jurors that under Minnesota law, anyone who aids or conspires with another to commit murder is just as guilty as the person who pulled the trigger. 

Crime, Law and Justice

Matt Sepic

Author

After a seven-day trial, a jury is deciding the fate of a Chicago man accused of killing a fellow driver in suburban Minneapolis last year. Prosecutors say Jamal Smith, 34, shot Jay Boughton in a fit of road rage. 


Jury starts deliberations after road rage murder trial

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