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

[Katipan]

Originally Posted by Phobia

Heh. I'll bet you're through dating musclebound gorillas.

You know it.

I haven't had to diffuse an unnecessary brawl in years. Or smuggle Nubian.

[displacedinMN]

Trial will begin April 14th. He has plead not guilty.

link
http://www.startribune.com/local/blogs/241734121.html

[displacedinMN]

update:
trial starts tomorrow

http://www.startribune.com/local/255041461.html

[displacedinMN]

today's report
http://www.twincities.com/localnews/...s-deaths-begin


LITTLE FALLS, Minn. -- The day after a Minnesota man killed two teens who entered his home, he matter-of-factly described the shootings in chilling detail, telling authorities he finished off one teen with a shot under her chin because a .22-caliber "doesn't go through bone very well," according to an audiotaped interview played in court Monday.

Byron Smith, 65, of Little Falls, is charged with first-degree premeditated murder in the slayings of 17-year-old Nick Brady and 18-year-old Haile Kifer on Thanksgiving Day 2012. The killings rocked the small central Minnesota city of about 8,000 and stirred debate about how far people can go in defending their homes.

Prosecutors said during opening statements that Smith planned the killings and was lying in wait in his basement.


Smith's attorney said his client was terrified after several increasingly violent break-ins and was hiding after he heard a window break and footsteps upstairs.
"He became frightened and scared to live in his own home," said Smith's attorney, Steve Meshbesher, later adding, "He began to wear a holster and pistol in his own house. That is how afraid he is, and became."

Assistant Washington County Attorney Brent Wartner told jurors that Smith thought a neighbor girl had been breaking into his home. On that day, he moved his truck away from his house, sat in his basement "and he waited," Wartner said.

"He's down in the basement, in a chair, tucked between two bookcases at the bottom of the stairs. He said he was down there reading a book ... with his Mini-14, a .22-caliber revolver, some energy bars and a bottle of water," Wartner said.

Under Minnesota law, a person may use deadly force to prevent a felony from taking place in one's home or dwelling, but authorities have said Smith crossed a line when he continued to shoot the teens after they were no longer a threat. The teens were not armed, but Smith told authorities he assumed they were -- and he thought they had taken guns from his house in a past burglary.


In the recordings, Smith can be heard politely recounting details to investigators. As the recordings were played Monday, Smith sat still at the defense table, at some points crying.

Smith told Morrison County Sheriff's Sgt. Jeremy Luberts that he was in his basement when he heard someone rattle his door, followed by footsteps on his deck and a shadow in a window.

"I'm getting seriously stressed because somebody wants in," he said. After a moment of silence, he said he heard a window break, and footsteps inside.

Smith told authorities he saw Brady begin descending the basement steps, then fired once Brady's hips came into view. Brady fell.

"He's looking, facing up at me, and I shoot him in the face. I want him dead," Smith told investigators.

Smith said he put Brady's body on a tarp so he wouldn't get blood into his carpet, dragged it into his workshop, reloaded his rifle and sat down.

Smith described feeling adrenaline, and "blood was pounding in my ears." He said he also felt he was being ganged up on, something he called one of his "red buttons." So when he saw Kifer come down the stairs minutes later, "I killed her too."

He shot her, and when he tried to "finish her off" his rifle jammed and she laughed, he said.

"I just pulled out the 22 and I shot her," he told authorities. He said he then pulled her into the workshop, but she was still gasping, so "I did a good, clean finishing shot and she gave out the death twitch."

He said he didn't call police because the teens were already dead and "just cause my Thanksgiving is screwed up I don't need to screw up yours." The next day, he asked a neighbor to call police.

Smith is a retired security engineer for the U.S. Department of State. Kifer and Brady were cousins. The two were well-known in the community, and both were involved in sports.

Court documents from another case show Brady had burglarized Smith's property at least twice in the months before he was killed.

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[displacedinMN]

Yes, completely ugly.

We will never know the motive from the kids.
No winners here.

[Rain Man]

I'm thinking that that fellow shouldn't take the stand during his trial.

[Tombstone RJ]

I love how the news agency says he killed two teens "who entered his home..." um, nope. They broke in.

The guy was pretty cold blooded but he had every right to defend himself and his property. He's old and he was tired of being robbed and obviously, the authorities couldn't do anything to stop the break ins. Did the kids deserve to die? I really don't think so but I do think it's silly to charge the old guy with premeditated murder and turn the real criminals into some kind of innocent victoms.

[Aries Walker]

There are plenty of real criminals here to go around, but whether they were hoodlums or saints, laying in wait, shooting, then executing someone is clearly premeditated murder.

[ForeverChiefs58]

Assistant Washington County Attorney Brent Wartner outlined for jurors Monday the evidence that prosecutors will present, including Smith's statements and audio from a recorder that Smith had set up in a bookcase the day of the break-in.

"He's down in the basement, in a chair, tucked between two bookcases at the bottom of the stairs. He said he was down there reading a book ... with his Mini-14, a .22-caliber revolver, some energy bars and a bottle of water," Wartner said.

Wartner said Smith heard the door of his house rattle at about 12:30 p.m., then someone walking across the deck, then a window breaking.

"And he waited," Wartner said.

As Brady descended the basement steps, Smith shot him in the chest, then in the back while Brady fell, Wartner said. Smith fired a final shot into Brady's head, the bullet passing through Brady's hand, Wartner said.

Smith put Brady's body on a tarp, dragged it into his workshop, reloaded his Mini-14 rifle and sat down again, the prosecutor said. A few minutes later, Kifer walked down the stairs and Smith shot her, Wartner said. He tried another shot, but his rifle jammed, Wartner said, and Smith told police he believed Kifer laughed at him.

"He was angry," Wartner said. "So he pulled out his revolver and he shot her twice in the head, once in the left eye and once behind the left ear."

Smith dragged Kifer's body into the workshop and laid it on top of Brady's. Smith told investigators he thought he heard Kifer gasping, so he pulled out his revolver for what he told police was a "good clean finishing shot to the head," the assistant prosecutor said.

[Tombstone RJ]

Originally Posted by Aries Walker

There are plenty of real criminals here to go around, but whether they were hoodlums or saints, laying in wait, shooting, then executing someone is clearly premeditated murder.

Here's the definition of premeditated murder: Premeditated murder is the crime of wrongfully and intentionally causing the death of another human being (also known as murder) after rationally considering the timing or method of doing so, in order to either increase the likelihood of success, or to evade detection or apprehension.

I don't think you can say he "wrongfully" killed these robbers when they had broken into his house several times. Again, these are not "innocent" victims. I also think that you can question his ability to rationally think through what he was doing being that he was tired of being a victim and he was scared. Finally, he never concealed what he did, in fact, he's fully confessed all his actions. Just because everyone doesn't agree with his actions or his methodology, does not make him a first degree murderer IMHO.

[Easy 6]

You mean this guy isn't dead yet?

He's eating up tax dollars because why?

[Tombstone RJ]

I bet it gets pleaded down to something like manslaughter. The old guy will end up in jail one way or another and it's too bad. It's too bad these idiot teens died and it's too bad this old guy was so robotic in his method of protecting himself.

[aturnis]

Originally Posted by Tombstone RJ

Here's the definition of premeditated murder: Premeditated murder is the crime of wrongfully and intentionally causing the death of another human being (also known as murder) after rationally considering the timing or method of doing so, in order to either increase the likelihood of success, or to evade detection or apprehension.

I don't think you can say he "wrongfully" killed these robbers when they had broken into his house several times. Again, these are not "innocent" victims. I also think that you can question his ability to rationally think through what he was doing being that he was tired of being a victim and he was scared. Finally, he never concealed what he did, in fact, he's fully confessed all his actions. Just because everyone doesn't agree with his actions or his methodology, does not make him a first degree murderer IMHO.

Once he shot them each a first time, incapacitating them, and them being unarmed, he had successfully defended his life and property with no threat left to himself. Anything that happened after the first incapacitating shot was murder.

You can ARGUE that he didn't, but that would likely just mean you're a disgusting human being who is also wrong.

Throw the book at him.

[Tombstone RJ]

Originally Posted by aturnis

Once he shot them each a first time, incapacitating them, and them being unarmed, he had successfully defended his life and property with no threat left to himself. Anything that happened after the first incapacitating shot was murder.

You can ARGUE that he didn't, but that would likely just mean you're a disgusting human being who is also wrong.

Throw the book at him.