MINNEAPOLIS — It was a crucial day in the Highway 169 shooting trial, as Jamal Smith's girlfriend reluctantly took the stand and the jury saw, for the first time, the video Smith posted on Facebook hours before.
Smith is accused of firing a single shot that struck Jay Boughton in the head and neck following a short conflict as the two drove down Highway 169 in Plymouth the night of July 6, 2021.
Rondelle Hardin, Smith's girlfriend, made it clear she didn't want to be in the courtroom. She's still dating Smith and admitted to the jury she talks to him every day despite a court order saying he isn't allowed.
At various times throughout her testimony, Hardin contradicted statements she gave under oath to the grand jury and admitted that two friends texted her articles of the then-unsolved murder of Jay Boughton, showing the silver SUV on the highway.
Soon after, Hardin talked with Plymouth police, telling them Smith showed up at her apartment that night with his two friends – Antoine Smith and Brandon Smothers – in the wake of the shooting. She said after their arrival, they all went out to a bar that night — in the SUV.
Prosecutor Erin Lutz revealed Hardin testified last year that she saw Smith holding a gun in the SUV later that night, but in court Wednesday, Hardin changed her story.
She did admit, however, that she confronted Smith by phone last summer about the shooting and asked why his truck was on the surveillance video.
He allegedly responded, "They got no proof. They don't got no evidence."
Also on Wednesday, it was first time the jury watched a Facebook livestream video, showing Smith earlier that day driving the SUV with what prosecutors say is the murder weapon in his hand.
Day 3 testimony begins: Smith's girlfriend called to the stand
11 a.m.
Prosecutors summoned Rondelle Hardin to the stand late Wednesday morning. Hardin was Jamal Smith's girlfriend at the time of Jay Boughton's death and remains so today, telling Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Erin Lutz that he calls her from jail every day.
"There's a court order that he's not supposed to have contact with you, right?" Lutz asked Hardin.
"Correct," the witness replied.
Hardin made it crystal clear that she is a reluctant witness, doesn't want to be in court and is only there because she was served a subpoena. She told the court she doesn't recall renting the silver Chevy Suburban for Smith to drive, but clarified that it was because she was partying and was drunk. Hardin admitted she's seen the receipt and has some memory of being at the rental counter.
KARE 11's Lou Raguse has been at the courthouse each day of the proceedings. He says the attorneys are taking breaks during Hardin's testimony to talk with the judge without the jury hearing, potentially to discuss how they can handle the instances where Hardin contradicts her earlier testimony before a grand jury. Raguse says Hardin has already changed her story once, as she told the grand jury earlier that when Smith got to her apartment she saw him get out of the driver seat of the SUV. Now Hardin says she didn’t see that, and just saw Smith and his companions walking toward the apartment door
9:30 a.m.
On Wednesday, Plymouth police detective Ryan Hazen took the stand, telling jurors Smith posted the video on his page hours before Boughton was fatally shot. Hazen testified it showed Smith in the Silver Chevy Suburban identified as the shooter's vehicle, holding a gun police say is the murder weapon.
The video was then played for jurors, then Hazen told the panel that in the post Smith was wearing a satchel with distinctive white stripes on the strap, the same one reportedly seen with the defendant in surveillance video from the day of the shooting. He also identified two men in the SUV with Smith as Brandon Smothers and Antoine Smith, both on the prosecutions witness list.
Hazen told the courtroom that investigators were able to zoom in on the gun in the video and pull the serial number, which identified the weapon as a Springfield Armory XD model .45 caliber semiautomatic. On Tuesday, a BCA forensic scientist testified that Jay Boughton was killed by a .45 caliber gun, and that Springfield Armory was one of 14 possible manufacturers based on rifling marks.
Days one and two of the trial moved at a brisk pace, with the prosecution calling 20 witnesses in an effort to sequentially lay out the timeline of Boughton's death and evidence that ties Smith to the crime. KARE 11's Raguse says he is struck by how little Smith's defense team has challenged prosecution witnesses. In fact, Raguse says it appears the state is caught a bit off guard by the lack of cross examination, with Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Dan Allard telling the judge Tuesday that the trial is proceeding "significantly quicker" than anticipated.
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