In the late hours of a September night in 2017, Donald Smart, a 49-year-old Black man, was making his way to his overnight shift as a dishwasher at a local cafe in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His walk through a park near Louisiana State University was tragically cut short when he was shot and killed in what authorities would later describe as an apparently random act of violence.
This event sent ripples of fear and concern through the community, leaving a family to grapple with the sudden and senseless loss of a loved one.
The investigation into Smart's death quickly escalated when it was linked to another shooting that had occurred just two days prior. In that incident, Bruce Cofield, a 59-year-old homeless Black man, was fatally shot at a bus stop. Investigators began to suspect that the two murders were connected, and their attention soon focused on a 27-year-old white man named Kenneth Gleason. Evidence presented during the subsequent trial would also reveal that Gleason had fired gunshots into the home of the only Black family living on his suburban street, further solidifying the belief that the attacks were racially motivated. DNA evidence ultimately linked Gleason to both murder scenes.
Kenneth Gleason was arrested and charged with the first-degree murder of Donald Smart. In April 2021, a jury found him guilty of the crime. During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence painting Gleason as a white supremacist and a supporter of Adolf Hitler. Following the conviction, Gleason was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors had consulted with Donald Smart's family and decided not to seek the death penalty, making a life sentence the mandatory punishment. The judge presiding over the case stated that he believed the death penalty would have been an appropriate sentence for the heinous nature of the crime.
