MN Supreme Court upholds murder conviction in road rage killing of baseball coach

The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a murder conviction in the road rage shooting of local baseball coach Jay Boughton in July of 2021.

Jamal Smith was sentenced to life in prison for the murder in October of 2022 and will be eligible for parole after 30 years. A jury found him guilty on all three counts he was charged with — first-degree murder, second-degree murder for a drive-by shooting and being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm.

Kristin Boughton, Jay’s wife, sent 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the following statement regarding the ruling:

“The news this morning was good news. But also emotional. We miss Jay everyday 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.”

Plymouth police said a “traffic altercation” possibly involving a lane change “escalated quickly” and led up to the shooting on Highway 169.

As previously reported, Boughton’s teenage son was in the front passenger seat prior to the shooting. Smith’s vehicle moved up next to Boughton’s car in the next lane. Boughton “gestured” to the other car and the vehicles stayed side by side for about half a mile. Then the teenager heard a loud noise and saw that the driver’s side window had a small hole and had shattered. The car went off the road and crashed.

You can find KSTP’s full coverage of the case here.