Lucas Lynn Smith, a 24-year-old White man from Yankton, South Dakota, was out downtown just after midnight on April 6, 2019, when a tense encounter inside Mojo's bar spilled into the street. Surveillance video described in court records shows Jameson Mitchell approaching Smith and Smith's friend, Jamie White, near a pool table; within moments, a brief fight broke out and bystanders tried to separate them.
Employees forced everyone out through different doors, but the anger didn't cool outside—staff warned the group to leave entirely or police would be called.
What happened next unfolded in fragments caught by cameras and pieced together by investigators. White later testified that Smith was overwhelmed and distraught after the bar fight, and while the two were in a nearby car, he voiced suicidal thoughts and said he wanted to die. Not long after, they left the car to get air and ended up seeing Mitchell again in a nearby alley. According to the same court account, Mitchell had gone back to his apartment after being ejected and retrieved a. 38-caliber revolver, later claiming he wanted it for protection as he headed out to meet friends to eat—but he first returned to the alley near the bar where he encountered Smith.
A body shop's surveillance cameras captured the critical seconds: Mitchell entered the alley holding the gun, moving forward with it pointed ahead. Smith suddenly ran into view at full speed, charging straight toward him. Investigators reported that Smith yelled “shoot me” as he ran. Mitchell stepped backward, and as Smith closed the distance, Mitchell fired three shots in rapid succession. Smith veered out of the camera's view, then staggered back and collapsed, with White rushing to him and calling for help. Emergency responders arrived and Smith was taken to a local hospital; he later died from a single gunshot wound to the chest later that morning, and police said they received confirmation from a Sioux Falls hospital that he had died from the injuries sustained in the shooting.
Officers quickly located Mitchell and arrested him that night. A Yankton County grand jury indicted him for first-degree murder, alleging a premeditated killing. As the case moved forward, the defense signaled that self-defense might be argued, pointing to the surveillance footage and the complicated history between the two men—Mitchell reported that Smith had bullied him for years, including physical violence. With the video showing Smith rushing Mitchell and evidence that Smith had shouted for Mitchell to shoot, both sides acknowledged the uncertainty of what a jury might do. In a plea deal, prosecutors dismissed the first-degree murder charge and Mitchell pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter under a legal theory tied to resisting an attempt by the person killed to commit a crime.
At sentencing, emotion flooded the courtroom. Smith's parents and supporters urged the judge to impose a life sentence, framing the shooting as murder. The state's recommendation in the plea agreement was a maximum of 60 years, and the presentence investigator also recommended 60 years while noting, in essence, that the night looked like a “recipe for disaster”—alcohol, humiliation, taunting, and a choice to bring a gun back into the scene. In 2019, the circuit court instead imposed a 124-year prison sentence, far above what the state had asked for.
Mitchell appealed, and on August 4, 2021, the South Dakota Supreme Court vacated the 124-year sentence and sent the case back for resentencing, concluding the judge had abused discretion in how the sentence was imposed. In 2022, Mitchell was resentenced to 60 years in the state penitentiary with 15 years suspended, with credit for time already served reported at about three years.
