Read the case below and give me the court rulling and your own opinion on the court rulling.

Case : State v. Smith

In November 2016, Smith along with his co-conspirators Brandy Jaques, Tyrel Patterson, and Jonte Robinson, broke into James Herron's home wearing dark clothing and masks. Smith had handed out the face masks and gloves before the group broke in. The group then encountered three guests and Herron's roommate and girlfriend, S.W. Smith and the co-conspirators forced S.W. and the three guests to lie face-down on the living room floor, and then searched and robbed each guest. Patterson found Herron asleep in his bed. After what the victims described as "a scuffle and yelling from the bedroom," Patterson shot Herron in the wrist, dragged him down the hallway, and forced him to his knees in his living room. There, Patterson demanded to know where they could find drugs and money. When Herron failed to answer quickly enough, Patterson first shot him in the kneecap and then fatally shot him in the head at close range. Robinson fled without his co-conspirators' knowledge and called 911. Police officers began tracking Smith, Patterson, and Jaques as soon as they left Herron's home, which resulted in a lengthy high-speed chase. After the officers stopped their car, Smith ran in a separate direction from the others. An officer chased him and ordered him to stop running. Smith did not comply and instead shot at the officer, who returned fire and wounded Smith. When searched, Smith had in his possession a pink handgun taken from one of Herron's guests, another handgun, Herron's cell phone, and four large bags of marijuana. Upon arresting all of the co-conspirators, the officers also recovered the murder weapon, rubber gloves, masks, cash, drugs, and various possessions belonging to Herron and his guests. The State charged Smith with eight crimes related to the break-in, robbery, and murder at Herron's home. 1 Smith waived his right to a jury trial and proceeded to a bench trial in Scott County. The State offered testimony from two of Smith's co-conspirators, the victims, police officers, and several experts. The testimony showed Smith to be an active co-conspirator in the crimes. The State planned to introduce Smith's prior convictions for first-degree murder and aggravated robbery as Spreigl evidence, to show, among other things, that Smith was a willing participant in the Herron burglary-robbery-murder. The Hennepin County District Court had previously convicted Smith of first-degree murder after he, along with Jaques and Patterson, participated in a robbery-murder less than one month before they robbed and killed Herron. Both crimes involved armed robberies of persons that these three knew to be in possession of drugs, and in both instances, the victims were shot in the head in the early morning. The State also sought to introduce evidence of Smith's convictions that resulted from an armed robbery of a Burger King restaurant that he and a co-conspirator committed in December 2007.

The State also introduced evidence from Smith's Facebook account, including photos (depicting marijuana and a "hand holding a black handgun") and business records (documenting basic subscriber information, such as a phone number, messages, and IP logs). The district court admitted the Facebook evidence during the State's case; it deferred its rulings on the Spreigl evidence until the close of the State's case. At that time, it admitted the evidence of Smith's prior first-degree murder conviction and his Burger King robbery convictions. Smith notified the district court before trial that he planned to present a duress defense to establish that he had acted "at the direction of Brandy Jaques in fear that [she] or Mr. Patterson would kill him" if he failed to cooperate. The district court deferred its ruling on Smith's motion to present a duress defense until the close of evidence. It ultimately denied Smith's motion, finding that he failed to meet his burden of production to establish the elements of duress. In its thorough and well-reasoned findings of fact, conclusions of law, and order, the district court explicitly found that the testimony of each of the victims and Smith's co-conspirators was credible. The district court relied on DNA evidence and witness testimony to determine that Jaques wore a pink mask during the robbery, Robinson wore a green mask, Patterson wore a black half mask, and Smith wore a black full mask. The district court found that Smith planned the robbery through text messages with Patterson, provided transportation to Herron's home, and supplied the "robbery kit," (a backpack with extra shoes, zip ties, gloves, and masks) before breaking into the home. In addition to explicitly finding that nobody had threatened Smith, the district court found that, shortly before the robbery, Smith threatened Jaques and Robinson by telling them that if they failed to cooperate, "they [could] get shot too." The district court found Smith guilty on all charges. It sentenced him to life with the possibility of release after 360 months for the first-degree aggravated murder conviction, four 57-month sentences for first-degree aggravated robbery (one count for each victim), and 71 months for burglary in the first-degree. The district court imposed these sentences consecutively.

(Reference : https://law.justia.com/cases/minnesota/supreme-court/2020/a19-0695.html)