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

[Anyong Bluth]

You dont think firing a warning shot when someone is crawling in thru a basement window is enough to get them to stop breaking in and call the cops?

[WhiteWhale]

Originally Posted by crazycoffey

Now were on a different topic, I'm not saying it's right or I'd do it the same way. I understand the verdict is more about the "finished them" than the protection of the house.

But some on here said it was premeditated murder because he parked his truck down the street and sat in a dark house. He was charged with murder, like he walked into a store, business, or school; and opened fire on two kids.

I just don't see how this is the same, it shouldn't be judged the same way, valued he same way, because bottom line, the kids would be alive if they didn't break in to the house and commit a crime.

So there needs to be another charge the lawyers can levy on this man besides murder. One were it sets a proper tone about taking matters too far and he can get help for.

He murdered them.

There is seriously no way around that.

[Anyong Bluth]

The difference between viewpoints pretty much plays out like each side sees this one of 2 ways:

Two wrongs don't make it / a right.

-or-

A negative x a negative = a positive.

[WhiteWhale]

Originally Posted by Anyong Bluth

The difference between viewpoints pretty much plays out like each side sees this one of 2 ways:

Two wrongs don't make it / a right.

-or-

A negative x a negative = a positive.

I never really considered either.

I just know that executing people when they present no threat to you is murder.

[Omaha]

Originally Posted by crazycoffey

I disagree, it's setting equal value on human life despite an unequal situation. It's saying to homeowners "be extra careful how you protect yourself, because people who weren't there, second guessing your actions are going to be critical of them. And the law will make shooting someone in defense of yourself or your home the same as shooting someone in he street", and it's not, nor should it be in my opinion.

This will give more protection to home invaders breaking in to your house. A sense of it to them when deciding to commit the act, it's fluffy feel good shit and **** them for breaking in to the old mans house even if he had a ****ing sign on his door, "come take my shit, I'm not home". When the first shot rang out, the second little criminal should've left.

Absolutely not. This is a rare situation where the crazy old ****er clearly executed them once he had them down. If he'd simply let them die without his finishing shots, he'd likely be sitting in his living room right now.

[RaiderH8r]

Originally Posted by Omaha

That's essentially what happens when you go to sleep with a gun near your bed, right? If they enter & you shoot them, you've successfully protected yourself and you have no problem. If you incapacitate them and then go back & finish them off, you probably have a problem.

Double tap.

[Chief_For_Life58]

Originally Posted by Anyong Bluth

You dont think firing a warning shot when someone is crawling in thru a basement window is enough to get them to stop breaking in and call the cops?

2 in the chest 1 in the head, call 911, tell them you feared for your life

[Anyong Bluth]

Originally Posted by WhiteWhale

I never really considered either.

I just know that executing people when they present no threat to you is murder.

Then you would fall into the 1st category.

[crazycoffey]

Originally Posted by Omaha

Absolutely not. This is a rare situation where the crazy old ****er clearly executed them once he had them down. If he'd simply let them die without his finishing shots, he'd likely be sitting in his living room right now.

I get that, I think he clearly lost his battle when he stated to the court he wanted to finish them so they couldn't come rob him again. But it also could speak to the level of psychological fear from multiple robberies, but that'll be for the doctors called to the appeal process.

If he had said he finished them because they were clearly dieing and suffering, showing some level of normal human emotions for taking a life, maybe there'd be a different outcome too, who knows.

I just don't want rulings that give criminals a safety net. "No gun zones" shootings as a more obvious example.

[WhiteWhale]

Originally Posted by Anyong Bluth

Then you would fall into the 1st category.

Not really.

It's not a matter of 'right' vs. 'wrong'.

It's a matter of the law. What he did is not self defense.

It's no different than someone punching you and you winning the fight... then climbing on their back and breaking their neck and using the defense of 'he started it'. It's not going to fly.

[ForeverChiefs58]

Originally Posted by ForeverChiefs58

See a patern forming here:

Montana man charged with shooting teen in his garage

MISSOULA, Mont. - A man has been charged in the shooting death of a 17-year-old boy after prosecutors said he set a trap in his garage to catch any would-be burglars because he was frustrated over recent thefts.

Markus Kaarma, 29, made an initial appearance in Justice Court on Monday but did not enter a plea to the count of felony deliberate homicide filed in the death of Diren Dede, an exchange student from Hamburg, Germany.

Kaarma's attorney, Paul Ryan, said his client feels terrible about the death of the young man, but he was also was disappointed that the Missoula County attorney filed the charge.

Ryan told CBS affiliate KPAX his client will plead not guilty and will fight the charge all the way.

Court records said Kaarma and his common-law wife, Janelle Pflager, had set up sensors outside the garage, a video monitoring system in the garage and left the garage door open. Pflager said she put personal items that she had cataloged in a purse in the garage "so that they would take it."

Early Sunday, the sensors went off, and Kaarma and Pflager looked at the video feed and saw that someone was in the garage.

Kaarma went outside with his shotgun. He told investigators he heard a noise that sounded like metal on metal, and he was afraid the intruder would come out and hurt him. He said he did not see anyone in the darkened garage and did not communicate with anyone before sweeping the garage with four shotgun blasts.

According to an affidavit filed by prosecutors, Pflager told investigators that Kaarma yelled into the garage, and that someone responded either "hey" or "wait." Soon after, Kaarma fired four shots into the dark garage, she said.

Dede was struck in the head and arm and died at a Missoula hospital, court records said.

Kaarma said he didn't want the suspect to get away and added that police can't catch burglars in the act, the affidavit filed Monday said.

Pflager told police that they had been burglarized two times within the last three weeks. Ryan said.

They were frustrated, on edge and felt someone in their neighborhood was watching them, Ryan said. The couple called police "and nothing was done," he said.

Pflager had made a list of the items in the purse so if it was taken she could attempt to track the thief, Ryan said. Despite the recent burglaries, they left the garage door open, prosecutors noted.

"They certainly didn't tell the kid to come in (the garage)," Ryan said. "He entered voluntarily."

Dede was a junior at Big Sky High School. He was an All-State soccer player and also competed in track. Monday was a scheduled day off in the Missoula County Public School District, but KPAX said counselors were made available to students.

On Sunday, a woman told investigators that Kaarma had told her that he had been waiting up for three nights with his shotgun to shoot a kid, court records said.
Justice of the Peace Karen Orzech set Kaarma's bail at $30,000.

Kaarma's arrest comes as a man is on trial in Minnesota for fatally shooting two teenage intruders in his Little Falls home. Byron Smith, 65, is charged with first-degree premeditated murder in the deaths of 18-year-old Haile Kifer and 17-year-old Nick Brady.

Smith contends he was defending himself when he shot the two cousins in his basement because he feared for his life after several break-ins. Prosecutors say he lay in wait for the teens.

Originally Posted by Omaha

This decision does not do that AT ALL.

Originally Posted by Omaha

Absolutely not. This is a rare situation where the crazy old ****er clearly executed them once he had them down. If he'd simply let them die without his finishing shots, he'd likely be sitting in his living room right now.

.

[tooge]

Unfortunate situation for sure. I don't think what the homeowner did was right, but he was in his house and someone broke in and he shot them. It'd be an entirely different deal if the guy waits two or three more seconds until they are in full view and pops the first round into the chest instead of the legs. That is where he ****ed up.

[WhiteWhale]

Originally Posted by ForeverChiefs58

.

That's shadier territory in my eyes, since he didn't execute a defenseless person.

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by Fish

No, it's not. That's ridiculous. The only reason this dumbshit was prosecuted at all is because he turned a home defense situation into an execution. Without the unnecessary "Finishing shots", we likely would have never heard of this story.

Finishing shots are legally defensible. It's the delay and returning to kill unarmed people that isn't. This guy's problem was the totality of the circumstances. He's a free man today if he:

Keeps his car in its usual spot
Doesn't record everything
Finishes the criminals off in the immediacy of the initial shootings.

[crazycoffey]

And bottom line; kids are still alive if they don't break into a house