FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
| Date: | June 28, 2022 |
| Contact: | Emily Lowe Public Information Officer 208-287-7700 |
| RE: | State v. Ezra Smith – Sentencing |
BOISE – On Tuesday, 26-year-old Ezra Smith was sentenced to prison for several felonies related to an incident where he used a stolen van to ram Boise Police patrol vehicles and threaten law
enforcement.
The Honorable Ada County District Judge Derrick O’Neill sentenced Mr. Smith to serve 25 years in prison, with 10 years fixed before he is eligible for parole.
In July 2021, witnesses reported a man driving a van recklessly. Law enforcement spotted the van and learned it was reported as stolen. When Boise Police tried to contact the van’s driver, Mr. Smith
eluded law enforcement and repeatedly rammed an occupied Boise Police patrol vehicle. He used the same van to threaten a different Boise Police Officer. The event ended in an officer-involved
shooting where law enforcement ultimately apprehended the defendant.
In March 2022, a jury convicted Mr. Smith of aggravated battery upon certain law enforcement personnel, aggravated assault upon certain law enforcement personnel, and found that he had used
a deadly weapon in the commission of those crimes. Mr. Smith had entered guilty pleas prior to trial to the felony crimes of grand theft, eluding a police officer in a motor vehicle, driving under the
influence, possession of a controlled substance, and the misdemeanor crime of attempted petit theft. All those crimes were charged in relation to this case.
Mr. Smith has an extensive criminal history, and was on felony probation at the time of his arrest in these charges for the felony crimes of delivery a controlled substance and malicious injury to
property.
Judge O’Neill said he could not discount the findings from the Ada County jurors who determined that Mr. Smith “clearly intended to batter and assault police officers – the very people that protect
this community.”
“The Boise Police patrol officers’ actions that day protected the community and ultimately allowed my office to ensure justice was served,” said Ada County Prosecutor Jan Bennetts.