Testimony begins in trial of man accused of killing JSU student over doughnuts
Testimony opened Tuesday in the trial of Randall Smith, who prosecutors say fatally shot 22-year-old Jackson State University student Flynn Brown after an altercation over doughnuts. Prosecutors called law enforcement witnesses to describe the investigation into Brown’s Dec. 2, 2022, death after his body was found inside a parked Dodge Challenger on the JSU campus, The Clarion-Ledger reported.
Witness Minnie Bailey, a former Jackson State patrolwoman, testified she encountered a Black male between 6 and 7 a.m. Dec. 2 outside John W. Dixon Hall carrying what he called “items” into a Dodge Challenger. Bailey said she later secured a crime scene at the Tiger World Parking Lot where a body was found in the same vehicle. An enlarged campus map shown in court placed Dixon Hall about 75 yards from the parking lot.
Eric Stanton, who then served as operations captain at the university, testified a security officer reported a suitemate awoke and saw blood in the dorm and someone dragging a large item. Stanton said he observed bloody drag marks in the lobby, smelled a strong bleach odor and found blood on a bathroom sink in the seventh-floor suite. Stanton said Smith answered the door looking “nervous” and “jittery,” told him he and his roommate had been in a physical altercation and initially said Brown “had left.”
Stanton testified he detained Smith, who then asked, “Can I tell you a story?” Stanton said Smith described a struggle in which his roommate pulled a weapon, saying, “I took it from him and used it on him.” Stanton testified he read Smith his Miranda rights, after which Smith described placing Brown in the Dodge Challenger, said the vehicle keys were in a dorm closet and described the gun as a “black Glock with a brown-skinned magazine.” Stanton said investigators found the keys and the weapon where Smith said they would be. No body cameras captured the conversation, according to testimony.
Ty Parker, a crime scene investigator with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations, testified to photos showing Brown’s body sprawled across the Challenger’s backseat with a college trunk on top that contained bloody clothing and suspected brain matter. Parker described suspected blood on sidewalks, stairs, a dorm door handle and inside the suite, along with an open bottle of bleach and a storage bin of bloody items. Court records show prosecutors say Brown was shot once in the head.
Smith, of New Orleans, was 20 at the time of the offense and has said he killed Brown in self-defense. A Hinds County grand jury indicted Smith in May 2023 on a first-degree murder charge. Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Adrienne Wooten is presiding and Smith’s defense attorney is Kevin Dale Camp. Court is set to resume at 9 a.m. Wednesday. This is a developing story and will be updated as more details emerge.
