Minnesota man who killed teens in break-in charged with murder

[NIUhuskies]

wow, this sounds pretty messed up... Cant tell if his guy is nuts or if these kids were on drugs

By NBC News staff and wire services

A 64-year-old Minnesota man was charged Monday with murder for killing two teenagers who he said broke into his Little Falls home, shooting them in the head, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

AP file

Byron David Smith was arrested after he told police he shot and killed two teenagers who he said were breaking into his home on Thanksgiving Day.

"If you're trying to shoot somebody and they laugh at you, you go again," Byron David Smith of Little Falls told investigators, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday.

Smith was charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Haile Kifer, 18, and her cousin, Nicholas Brady, 17, both of Little Falls. The teens were shot on Thanksgiving Day, but their deaths weren't reported until Friday.
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Brady has also used the name Schaeffel, which is his mother’s maiden name, at times for family reasons, according to the sheriff's office.

In the criminal complaint, Smith said he was in the basement of his remote home about 10 miles southwest of Little Falls when he heard a window breaking upstairs, followed by footsteps that eventually approached the basement stairwell. Fearful after several break-ins, according to the complaint, Smith said he fired when Brady came into view from the waist down.

After the teen fell down the stairs, Smith said he shot him in the face as he lay on the floor.

"I want him dead," the complaint quoted Smith telling an investigator.

Smith said he dragged Brady's body into his basement workshop, then sat back down on his chair, and after a few minutes Kifer began coming down the stairs. He said he shot her as soon as her hips appeared, and she fell down the steps.

Smith said he tried to shoot her again with his Mini 14 rifle, but that the gun jammed and Kifer laughed at him.

"Smith stated that it was not a very long laugh because she was already hurting," according to the complaint.

Smith said he then shot Kifer in the chest several times with a .22-caliber revolver, dragged her next to Brady, and with her still gasping for air, fired a shot under her chin "up into the cranium."

"Smith described it as 'a good clean finishing shot,'" according to the compliant, but also that he acknowledged he had fired "more shots than (he) needed to."

The following day he asked a neighbor to recommend a good lawyer, according to the complaint. He later asked his neighbor to call the police.

A prosecutor called Smith's reaction "appalling."

"Mr. Smith intentionally killed two teenagers in his home in a matter that goes well beyond self-defense," Morrison County Attorney Brian Middendorf said after Smith appeared at Morrison County District Court on Monday morning. Bail was set at $2 million.

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Minnesota law allows a homeowner to use deadly force on an intruder if a reasonable person would fear they're in danger of harm. Smith told investigators he was afraid the intruders might have a weapon.

Smith's actions "sound like an execution" rather than legitimate self-defense, said David Pecchia, executive director of the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association. Pecchia said his statements to investigators suggest he had eliminated any threat to his safety by wounding the cousins.

Smith's brother, Bruce Smith, told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis that the incident was the eighth burglary at Byron Smith's home in recent years.

The only report the Morrison County sheriff's office has for a break-in at the home was for one on Oct. 27. It shows Byron Smith reported losing cash and gold coins worth $9,200, plus two guns worth $200 each, photo equipment worth more than $3,000 and a ring worth $300.

Little Falls is about 100 miles northwest of Minneapolis.

Brady's sister, Crystal Schaeffel, told the Star Tribune that Kifer had broken into her home before. Little Falls police records show Crystal Schaeffel reported a theft Aug. 28, but the department said the report was not public because that investigation was continuing and because it named juveniles.

Tessa Ruth, an aunt of Brady, attended Smith's hearing. She told the Star Tribune she wished the man had fired a warning shot or alerted the police instead of shooting the teens.

"It wasn't right for them to be there and, yes, he had a right to defend himself. But to execute them like that..."

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012...th-murder?lite

[Predarat]

Originally Posted by ForeverChiefs58

Assistant Morrison County Attorney Todd Kosovich has said the killings were an “ambush” and that Smith removed light bulbs from sockets and sat by a tall bookcase so the teens couldn’t see him as they came downstairs.

He has also listed parking truck down the street, having reading material, energy bars and water, "hiding behind bookshelves" etc. as reasons for premeditation.

If prosecutors are successful, it will more than likely be presented again.

Good grief those asshat prosecutors are going too far. "Ambushing" home invadors? That is bullshit. They chose to invade his home. Hope the prosecutors eat shit.

[ghak99]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

Really? You'd be cool with the homeowner tying someone up, sexually assaulting them, and/or torturing them over a long period of time?

Does he finish them when he's done or set them lose to tell their horrible story to their other home invading friends?

[Lex Luthor]

Originally Posted by alnorth

I actually think its pretty unlikely. Those who would have the philosophy that the homeowner can do absolutely anything he wants in a breakin would have been screened out during juror selections. Everyone on the jury will have told the court that they could be willing to find a homeowner guilty, depending on the circumstances.

I hadn't thought of that. I hope you're right.

Originally Posted by Predarat

Good grief those asshat prosecutors are going too far. "Ambushing" home invadors? That is bullshit. They chose to invade his home. Hope the prosecutors eat shit.

If he parked down the street in order to trick the teenagers into thinking he wasn't at home, and then he waited for them with a loaded gun, and he removed the light bulbs so that they wouldn't see him, how the hell can you think this was anything but an ambush?

If you don't want people to invade your home, you don't trick them into invading your home. This isn't rocket science.

[Anyong Bluth]

Originally Posted by Brainiac

I hadn't thought of that. I hope you're right.



If he parked down the street in order to trick the teenagers into thinking he wasn't at home, and then he waited for them with a loaded gun, and he removed the light bulbs so that they wouldn't see him, how the hell can you think this was anything but an ambush?

If you don't want people to invade your home, you don't trick them into invading your home. This isn't rocket science.

Who would you rather live next door to?

Neither is not an available answer for this exercise.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Brainiac

If he parked down the street in order to trick the teenagers into thinking he wasn't at home, and then he waited for them with a loaded gun, and he removed the light bulbs so that they wouldn't see him, how the hell can you think this was anything but an ambush?

If you don't want people to invade your home, you don't trick them into invading your home. This isn't rocket science.

While I understand your point globally, as a defense attorney I think I could rebut this fairly easily.

"Wait, my client is not allowed to park his pickup down the street? He's not allowed to turn down the lighting inside his own home? He's not allowed to hold a gun inside his own home? Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, do you think you should be allowed to turn the lights down at night inside your own home?"

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Anyong Bluth

Who would you rather live next door to?

Neither is not an available answer for this exercise.

I pick the crazy man, but I'm not going accept any invitations for dinner parties at his home.

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by Brainiac

If you don't want people to invade your home, you don't trick them into invading your home. This isn't rocket science.

This is a good point. Isn't the purpose of home defense to not allow them into your home in the first place? If he wilfully allowed entry into the home in order to kill them once they got inside, that is awfully close to premeditated murder. Because self-defense really begins at the front door.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

This is a good point. Isn't the purpose of home defense to not allow them into your home in the first place? If he wilfully allowed entry into the home in order to kill them once they got inside, that is awfully close to premeditated murder. Because self-defense really begins at the front door.

I think you're not allowed to kill them outside.

[Anyong Bluth]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

While I understand your point globally, as a defense attorney I think I could rebut this fairly easily.

"Wait, my client is not allowed to park his pickup down the street? He's not allowed to turn down the lighting inside his own home? He's not allowed to hold a gun inside his own home? Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, do you think you should be allowed to turn the lights down at night inside your own home?"

I'll tell you now I believe a jury would see through this by the numerous odd series of circumstance. The DA will hammer the defense for not being able to provide an alternate explanation - and certainly not one that passes plausible deniability.

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I think you're not allowed to kill them outside.

Is that true? I honestly don't know the law and I don't own a gun. I thought if someone entered onto your property you could shoot but I could be wrong. If a guy walks up to your home carrying a gun, you have to wait until he breaches your front door?

[Anyong Bluth]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

Is that true? I honestly don't know the law and I don't own a gun. I thought if someone entered onto your property you could shoot but I could be wrong. If a guy walks up to your home carrying a gun, you have to wait until he breaches your front door?

Do you want to live somewhere that if you step onto some guy's yard he immediately greets you as his oversized doughy clay pigeon?

[Lex Luthor]

Originally Posted by Anyong Bluth

Who would you rather live next door to?

Neither is not an available answer for this exercise.

I would much rather live next door to the teenagers than to a crazy old **** who gets off on killing defenseless teenagers just because he thinks he can justify it.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Anyong Bluth

I'll tell you now I believe a jury would see through this by the numerous odd series of circumstance. The DA will hammer the defense for not being able to provide an alternate explanation - and certainly not one that passes plausible deniability.

Defense attorney's rebuttal: There wasn't a parking spot in front of the house, he had a headache and bright light was painful, and he was carrying a gun because his house had been broken into and he was frightened. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, ponder again why a person's behavior in their home is a problem to anyone but criminals breaking into their home with evil intent.

I just have to convince one independent-minded jury member.

[Anyong Bluth]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Defense attorney's rebuttal: There wasn't a parking spot in front of the house, he had a headache and bright light was painful, and he was carrying a gun because his house had been broken into and he was frightened. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, ponder again why a person's behavior in their home is a problem to anyone but criminals breaking into their home with evil intent.

I just have to convince one independent-minded jury member.

And I'll have photos blown up to giant poster size of the victims from when they were alive and looking young and happy and give my whole speech which at some point I'll contrast this with how both looked postmortem just left on the floor all night because you couldn't be bothered to alert authorities until the morning after you were resting easy.

[LoneWolf]

At the end of all this it looks like there is going to be two dead scumbags and one crazy old man in prison. Sounds like a win win situation to me.