The Joseph Smith Case, Pt. 2: Anatomy of a Homicide

In any homicide investigation, the physical evidence doesn't take sides. It can contradict. It can clarify. And sometimes, it raises questions that the official record leaves unanswered.

In Part 2 of Kentucky Case Files' four-part investigation into the death of Joseph Smith, hosts Marcus Roland and Emily Steele turn to the forensic record — the state medical examiner's autopsy, the toxicology findings, and the bullet trajectories — to examine whether the physical evidence is consistent with the account authorities accepted the night Smith was fatally shot in a grocery store parking lot in Upton, Ky., in March 2021.

The autopsy found seven gunshot wounds. All five shell casings recovered at the scene were photographed inside the vehicle. The medical examiner's report documents bullet paths on the left side of Smith's body that traveled upward and to the right — findings the hosts examine alongside the admitted shooter's own account to police.

Methamphetamine was detected in Smith's system at the time of death. The prosecutor assigned to the case told Kentucky Case Files that the finding would have made it harder to convince a jury that Smith wasn't behaving erratically. But toxicologists have long cautioned that blood meth levels cannot reliably predict impairment — and according to official records, the admitted shooter never described Smith as acting violently or out of control.

More than three months after the shooting, the case went to a Hardin County grand jury. A veteran criminal defense attorney with 42 years of experience, who was not involved in the case, weighs in on what is standard grand jury practice — and what he found unusual. The grand jury did not return an indictment.

This is Part 2 of a four-part investigative series. Listen to Pt. 1: Hell Is Real first. The admitted shooter claimed self-defense. No charges were filed.

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Keywords: Kentucky true crime, Kentucky Case Files, Joseph Smith, autopsy, forensic evidence, toxicology, self-defense shooting, grand jury, Hardin County, Upton Kentucky, Kentucky State Police, true crime podcast, homicide investigation, Kentucky podcast, Season 2