OAKLAND — A jury on Thursday acquitted a man of murder for fatally shooting another man over a bag of marijuana.
Cameron Smith, 23, claimed it was self-defense when two men tried to rob and shoot at him at a Target parking lot in Emeryville on Dec. 4, 2017. The 12-person jury acquitted him of first-degree and second-degree murder charges in relation to the death of Eondre Bolton, 19. Bolton was shot at the Target parking lot at 1555 40th St. just after 6 p.m.
The jury could not reach a verdict on the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, deadlocked at a 7-5 vote, although it’s not known which way they swayed. A mistrial was declared on that charge alone.
Smith was also acquitted of the attempted murder of another man, plus two counts of assault with a semi-automatic gun and shooting at an occupied vehicle.
His attorney, Christina Moore, said in her opening arguments last month that “Every single act charged happened because Cameron was trying to preserve his own life.”
Smith is said to have had with him a large garbage bag full of several packages of marijuana. When Bolton and the other man tried to take some of it from him, Smith fired his gun. But Moore argued that the other two men fired first, not her client. Smith chased one victim, Bolton, while. the other man fled. Bolton was found unresponsive and died days later at the hospital, while the other man who fled was in critical condition, but recovered.
Moore said that her client had tried to disarm Bolton, and the two got into a wrestling match. When Smith followed Bolton, he did so out of survival instincts, Moore said.
Smith, who remains in jail, will next appear in court on April 25. It is then that the district attorney’s office is expected to decide whether to retry him on the voluntary manslaughter charge.
Bay City News contributed to this report.