After Lapeer County Circuit Court Judge Nick O. Holowka ruled that Facebook posts made by the suspect of a 2019 Lapeer gas station shooting were “totally irrelevant,” prosecutors have been granted a stay of proceedings while they attempt to reverse the relevancy ruling.
Holowka made the decision on July 11 during a preliminary hearing for Jeffrey Lee Smith of Lapeer, who is accused of shooting and killing another Lapeer man in the parking lot the Clark Gas Station at 252 South Main Street. With the shooting having followed an argument between Smith and his victim, 33-year-old Arthur Lee Kohn III of Lapeer, prosecutors argue that messages from Smith sent months prior showed pre-meditation and that he “was prepared to shoot someone during a verbal confrontation.”
However, the judge disagreed, saying that Smith’s previous statements did not show if he was threatened or if the use of deadly force was necessary.
The case stems from the 2019 shooting, where, on the morning of December 30, the two men encountered each other as Smith was leaving and Kohn was arriving at the Clark gas station on M-24. After exchanging some words while still in their vehicles, Kohn drove over the curb and sidewalk to get past Smith’s vehicle as it blocked the gas station’s entrance. Smith ended up turning around, returning to the gas station.
Upon seeing him return, Kohn pulled his truck up alongside Smith’s, retrieved a crowbar and exited his truck to hit Smith’s vehicle with it. Upon trying to get a door open on Smith’s vehicle, Kohn was shot in the arm and then the thoracic aorta. Defense Attorney Frederick J. Miller seems to plan to argue self-defense on behalf of his client, who faces charges of open murder, two counts of felony firearm, carrying a dangerous weapon in with unlawful intent and brandishing said weapon in public. At the time of his death, Kohn had cocaine in his system and had a blood alcohol content level of 0.14, almost twice the legal limit.
Smith is currently free on bond, though he faces life in prison without parole, should he be convicted of murder.
