Day 4 of Jamal Smith Murder Trial: Judge Allows Defense to Use Photo of SUV Passenger Holding Gun
Focus Turns to Weapon in Jamal Smith Trial
More than a dozen Plymouth police officers have testified in the Jamal Smith murder trial.
Smith, 34, is accused of killing youth baseball coach Jay Boughton on Highway 169 last summer. The Chicago man is charged with first- and second-degree murder.
From text messages to photos and videos, evidence presented in the courtroom this week could be key in the trial.
One piece of evidence available through court records is a photo shows Brandon Smothers holding a gun. Smothers was a passenger in the car with Smith on July 6 last year when Jay Boughton was killed. Judge Nicole Engisch is allowing defense attorneys to show the photo of Brandon Smothers holding a gun that is very similar to Smith’s gun.
The defense is trying to show the jury that it could be Smothers who fired the shot that killed Boughton.
Smothers is not charged with any crime and prosecutors say they can’t find him, though he is on the state’s witness list.
One of the witnesses called to the stand Thursday was Sgt. Timothy Wittmer with the Decatur, Illinois Police Department. Wittmer arrested Smith and took him into custody. Wittmer testifies he was surveilling an apartment Plymouth police thought Smith could be at and saw Smith walking out. Wittmer told the court after searching Smith, he confiscated a cell phone and a .45 caliber cartridge. That’s the same caliber that killed Jay Boughton.
The tenant at the apartment Smith was staying at gave Wittmer permission to search it and he found a .22 caliber AR-style rifle, which prosecutors say looks like the gun Brandon Smothers was holding in the Facebook live video on Smith’s Facebook page July 6.
Judge Nicole Engisch said the trial will go into next week, with closing arguments possibly taking place next Tuesday.
Also See: Day 3 of Jamal Smith Murder Trial: Smith’s Girlfriend Called to Testify
