Smith, Jimmy - Ex-Jaguars WR in prison in Missi...
Ex-Jaguars WR Jimmy Smith in prison in Mississippi
Smith is serving a six-year prison term for drug possession and weapons charges (Photo: Mississippi Department of Corrections)
May 13, 2013
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Former Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Jimmy Smith has begun serving a six-year prison term in Mississippi for drug possession and weapons charges, online state corrections records show.
The Mississippi Department of Corrections' website says the 44-year-old Smith entered the prison system in late March and was recently moved to a facility in Yazoo City. He was sentenced by a Madison County court to two years for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and four years for possession of cocaine, records show.
WJXX-TV in Jacksonville, Fla., first reported Smith's sentence. His tentative release date is listed as Nov. 8, 2018.
Smith, a standout at Jackson State drafted in the second round by the Dallas Cowboys in 1992, played 13 seasons in the NFL, including 11 for the Jaguars. He played in the team's inaugural season in 1995 and became its all-time leading receiver before his retirement in 2005.
Smith has had multiple run-ins with police since his playing days, and was sentenced to 18 months of probation for a drug possession charge in 2009 in Jacksonville.Smith voluntarily entered a drug rehabilitation program after the 2009 arrest, spending 90 days in a Houston facility. At the time, he said he hoped to return to Jacksonville and mentor the area's youth.
A Detroit native, Smith has lived in Jackson, where he once played at a local high school, for the past several years to be closer to family and friends.