Cab Driver Charged With Fatally Shooting Fare
Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 3:26 pm
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- After a West Palm Beach bar sent one of their customers home in a cab, the driver allegedly shot and killed the passenger.
The driver, Robert Lee Smiley Jr., is charged with first-degree murder with a firearm in the death of 43-year-old Jimmie Morningstar. Managers at the Palm Beach Ale House and Raw Bar paid a taxi driver $10 to take Morningstar to his home nearby.
"We thought we were doing the right thing." Manager Dave Lynch said.
Lynch admitted Morningstar was drunk and obnoxious, but said he didn't know what could have provoked the cab driver to shoot him.
Smiley told police Morningstar refused to get out of the car, so he hit him with a stun gun and pumped bullets into him before driving away.
The driver, Robert Lee Smiley Jr., is charged with first-degree murder with a firearm in the death of 43-year-old Jimmie Morningstar. Managers at the Palm Beach Ale House and Raw Bar paid a taxi driver $10 to take Morningstar to his home nearby.
"We thought we were doing the right thing." Manager Dave Lynch said.
Lynch admitted Morningstar was drunk and obnoxious, but said he didn't know what could have provoked the cab driver to shoot him.
Smiley told police Morningstar refused to get out of the car, so he hit him with a stun gun and pumped bullets into him before driving away.