Carl Smith Found Guilty of Murder in 2023 Southside Shooting

State Attorney Melissa Nelson announces that a Duval County jury found Carl Smith guilty of Second-Degree Murder and Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. With the verdict, Smith faces up to life in Florida State Prison. The Honorable London Kite will sentence Smith at a later date.

On Feb. 4, 2023, members of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office responded to an apartment complex on University Boulevard West after calls about a person who was shot inside his car. The victim, seated in the driver’s seat, was dead. Shell casings were found around the car. A witness said they saw the victim sitting in his car in the parking lot when a woman driving a red car pulled behind the victim’s car. Smith got out of the red car, walked up to the victim’s car, shot several times, ran back to the red car, and the woman drove them away. Video surveillance confirmed the witness’s story. The getaway car was rented by a woman who was associated with Smith. The victim was a stranger to Smith and did not provoke him.

Smith was arrested on an outstanding warrant during an unrelated traffic stop. Police confiscated cellphones, ammunition that matched that used in the murder, a ski mask, and other evidence from that stop. Digital evidence obtained put Smith at the murder scene at the time of the crime. 

The case was investigated by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and prosecuted by Assistant State Attorneys Leah Owens and Katherina Brown.