Court revokes phone access for man charged in fatal Hwy. 169 shooting

A Hennepin County district judge has revoked the jail phone privileges of the man charged with a fatal Hwy. 169 road rage shooting, citing repeated efforts to manipulate witnesses.

In defiance of repeated orders from the court, Judge Nicole Engisch wrote in her order filed this week, Jamal L. Smith "has had contact with witnesses through a number of jail calls, all of which he initiated."

Under the order, Smith's phone use will be limited to private calls with his attorneys. Engisch rejected the defense's argument that any restrictions would violate Smith's free speech rights. "The state has presented clear and convincing evidence ... that [the] defendant has tampered or attempted to tamper with a witness," the judge said.

Under state law, witness tampering can be charged as a misdemeanor or a gross misdemeanor. The City Attorney's Office said Wednesday that it has yet to receive a tampering case against Smith for consideration of charges.

Engisch also granted a news media request to release audio from several of the recorded calls, barring any objections from the prosecution or defense by the end of the week.

Smith, 33, of Chicago, is charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder during a drive-by shooting and being a felon in possession of a firearm in connection with the death of 56-year-old Jay Boughton, of Crystal, in July as their vehicles traveled south on the Plymouth highway near the Rockford Road exit.

Smith remains jailed in lieu of $3.5 million bail and is due back in court for a hearing Dec. 1.

During a bail review hearing in October, prosecutor Daniel Allard alleged that Smith "has been on the phone [from jails in central Illinois and Minneapolis] tampering with witnesses, threatening individuals."

Fellow prosecutor Erin Lutz said Smith called people from jail in Decatur, Ill., asking them to delete his Facebook page because it "had a critical piece of evidence as it relates to this homicide."

Lutz also said Smith made seven or eight calls about wanting someone who was bothering his girlfriend in Illinois killed for $25,000.

She said Smith has been pressuring a key witness to recant statements made to law enforcement. Lutz said Smith was instructing the woman on how to use the right not to make self-incriminating statements on the witness stand and to avoid having to testify against him.

Engisch's order noted that Smith called one witness 87 times, and in the 10 times that the calls were answered, the two spoke for a total of 144 minutes.

The recordings that Engisch is poised to release are the 13 that prosecutors submitted as evidence in their bid to restrict his phone privileges.

In one of those calls, according to prosecutors, a witness described to Smith what she told the grand jury that led to the addition of the first-degree murder charge.

In that call, as referenced in the judge's order this week, Smith told that witness and another person that they "should plead the Fifth, not testify, and stop cooperating [with law enforcement]."

According to prosecutors, Boughton's son told police that an SUV pulled alongside their vehicle July 6 as they traveled on Hwy. 169. He said his father "gestured" at the other driver, and within 10 seconds, a bullet shattered the driver's side window of their vehicle and his father slumped over. The charges do not specify the type of gesture made, but a relative told WCCO Radio that Boughton shrugged during the encounter.

Plymouth Police Chief Erik Fadden said soon after the shooting that it was prompted by "some sort of traffic altercation." Smith's SUV was in the left lane and trailing Boughton in the right lane. The SUV's right-turn signal light came on "as if to assume [Smith] wants to merge into the right lane," Fadden said at the time.

Smith was arrested four days after the first round of charges were filed on Aug. 20.