Man executes two teens for breaking into home on Thanksgiving

• Pick6

  

  LITTLE FALLS, MINN. - Insisting the case crosses the line from self-defense to a cold-blooded double execution, Morrison County authorities filed second-degree murder charges Monday against a 64-year-old man who killed two teenage cousins after they'd broken into his home on Thanksgiving.
  
  This woodsy central Minnesota town of 8,000 was jolted as the gruesome details spilled out in a criminal complaint, alleging Byron David Smith put a handgun under the chin of wounded and gasping 18-year-old Haile Kifer for what he told police was a "good clean finishing shot."
  
  Smith, who according to a friend and a relative had endured previous break-ins, sat shackled in an orange jail jumpsuit as County Attorney Brian Middendorf accused him of "cold-blooded murder of two teenagers under circumstances that are appalling and far beyond any self-defense claim."
  
  Sheriff Michel Wetzel said Monday that he believes the teenagers were committing a burglary but said Smith's reaction went beyond legal protections of Minnesota law that allows crime victims to use reasonable force to protect themselves and their property during a felony.
  
  "We understand and respect that right exists, but what happened in this case went further," Wetzel said. "The law doesn't permit you to execute somebody when there's no possible way the crime can continue."
  
  And the law requires people to notify police, said Wetzel, who learned about the shooting from a neighbor the next day. The sheriff said the reason Smith gave for never calling police was "it was Thanksgiving and he didn't want to bother us on a holiday."
  
  Hamline University School of Law professor Joseph Olson, who has studied self-defense laws, noted that the number of Smith's shots will make it difficult for him to claim self-defense in court.
  
  "I think the first shot is justified," Olson said. "After the person is no longer a threat because they're seriously wounded, the application of self-defense is over."
  
  High bail set
  
  Judge Douglas P. Anderson set bail at $2 million or $1 million with conditions that Smith, a retired U.S. State Department employee, surrender his passport and firearms and not leave the state. Prosecutors cited Smith's years of international travel to Moscow, Bangkok and Beijing among the reasons for the high bail.
  
  Smith's attorney, Gregory Larson, did not immediately contest the bail and a jail worker said Smith informed the staff he doesn't plan to post bail.
  
  About a dozen friends and relatives of the victims attended Smith's 10-minute hearing, including 16-year-old Serina Poppen, who wore a brown Little Falls Auto and Transmission sweatshirt. Nicholas Brady, 17, the first shooting victim, lent her the sweatshirt a month ago when she was cold and the two had dated in recent months.
  
  "No amount of bail is fair and no amount will bring them back," Poppen said. "He took it way too far. He could have just showed them his gun and told them to sit still until he called police."
  
  Tessa Ruth, Brady's aunt, also was at the hearing and acknowledged outside the court room that "it wasn't right to be in the house and, yes, he has a right to defend himself, but not to execute them like that."
  
  John Lange, who describes himself as Smith's best friend, was in the courtroom and visited Smith in jail.
  
  "Byron is holding up just fine, but he shouldn't be in there, " Lange said. "You have the right to defend your home, and he's been through hell."
  
  Lange said Smith's house has been broken into six times, although authorities says they have only one report of a break-in, in October.
  
  "They tortured him and targeted him, and it's not good," Lange said. "If you've been broken into one time, that would be enough. But it's terrible."
  
  Smith's brother, Bruce Smith, said about $10,000 worth of guns, electronic gear and cash were stolen in October.
  
  Wetzel, the sheriff, declined to discuss what was taken in the October theft and said they have no suspects. He also declined to say whether the teens knew Smith, insisting the investigation is ongoing.
  
  'I want him dead'
  
  According to the complaint, Smith told police that he heard someone breaking into his house at noon on Thanksgiving. He showed police the window he says Brady and his cousin, Kifer, used to enter his house, which he said had been broken into several times before. Lange, his friend, said he kept his valuables downstairs.
  
  Smith told police he armed himself with a rifle and a handgun and waited downstairs until he saw the first person's feet, then legs, then hips.
  
  He said he fired and the first victim, Brady, tumbled down the stairs. While Brady looked up at him, he shot him in the face, according to the complaint.
  
  "I want him dead," he told investigators.
  
  He put Brady's body on a tarp and dragged him into his basement workshop and sat back down in his chair.
  
  Several minutes later, he heard more footsteps and saw Kifer coming down the stairs. He waited until he saw her hips, then fired. She also fell down the stairs, but then his rifle jammed and Kifer laughed.
  
  That angered Smith. "If you're trying to shoot someone and they laugh at you, you go again," he told police.
  
  He then pulled out the .22-caliber, nine-shot revolver that he was wearing, and fired "more shots than I needed to." He dragged Kifer into the workshop, placed her next to Brady and noticed she was still gasping for air.
  
  "Smith stated at this point he placed the handgun under the woman's chin and shot her ... up into the cranium ... a good clean finishing shot."
  
  He told police neither of the teens were armed but he feared they might have had a weapon.
  
  He asked a neighbor the next morning if he knew any lawyers, and that neighbor apparently called police.
  
  Larson, Smith's lawyer, declined to discuss the case as he left the hearing, saying he needed more time to respond to the county attorney's accusations.
  
  Middendorf, the county attorney, asked community members "not to rush to judgment. This is a terrible tragedy for the whole community," he said. "And Mr. Smith is entitled to a fair process."
  
  'Keep out'
  
  At Smith's house, where a "keep out" sign blocked the driveway, kids drove by who knew the victims.
  
  They remembered two teenage cousins who were inseparable and texted each other thousands of times.
  
  "Nick was always energetic," said Alex Janey, 18. "They had so much more to give and to just shoot them like that, it just isn't right."
  
  Other kids rumored that drugs might have been involved, a subject authorities declined to get into, saying the case is ongoing.
  
  Poppen said her close friend, who lent her the sweatshirt she was wearing, "was always hilarious and lived for the moment."
  
  Throughout the town of Little Falls, stunned residents weighed in.
  
  "This ...doesn't happen in our community," said Liberty Nunn, 20, a friend of Brady's sister. "If it was 3 o'clock in the morning, I'm a shoot first and ask questions later kind of person.
  
  "But this was the middle of Thanksgiving Day and to not bother to call the cops? It's just not right to take a life. ... He got to shut the basement door and go on with his Thanksgiving," Nunn said, "while two families were grieving."

  http://www.startribune.com/local/180853761.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y&refer=y
  
  thoughts? Im a little mixed. Im all for self-defense, but Im not sure I could execute people like this. He seems a tad deranged.
• Al Bundy

  They will most likely try to plea it down to a lesser offense. They will have a hard time finding 12 jurors that find him guilty.
• Tiernan

  Once the intruder has been subdued, no need for a "finishing shot". This guy should be charged with murder. No grey area at all.
• fish82

  

  All that's missing in this story is the trip to the wood chipper out back.
• justincredible

  

  Tiernan;1331537 wrote:Once the intruder has been subdued, no need for a "finishing shot". This guy should be charged with murder. No grey area at all.

  I agree with this. I have no problem with him protecting himself and his property. He took it way too far.
• LJ

  

  Should be charged with murder. The "finishing shots" put him into the grey area. Dragging them to the workshop, waiting till the next day and telling police that he "wanted them dead" is gonna get him sent away for murder.
• gut

  Yeah, that's going too far. That dude has some problems and needs to be locked-up for good. I mean, WTF he took the bodies on a tarp down to his basement?!?
  
  I wouldn't want to shoot someone, probably not even confront them. They'd know I have a gun, and then make sure they hear me **** that shotgun.
  
  Not sure I'm remembering this right (or if it's even legit advice), but something about if you shoot someone in your home you
  1) Want to make sure you kill them
  2) Fire multiple shots (temporary insanity defense, fear for your life = self-defense).
  
  Can't remember the logic, but something about one non-lethal shot setting you up for stalking/ambushing and actually working against a claim of self-defense. Self-defense would usually not be so logical and rational to fire a single, non-lethal shot.
• gut

  LJ;1331547 wrote:Should be charged with murder. The "finishing shots" put him into the grey area. Dragging them to the workshop, waiting till the next day and telling police that he "wanted them dead" is gonna get him sent away for murder.

  He's got a pretty good temporary insanity plea. The multiple break-ins will help build a case of "snapping". Problem is he has already made some pretty clear statements that he knew what he was doing. Blatant disregard for human life isn't exactly a insanity defense.
• LJ

  

  gut;1331550 wrote:Yeah, that's going too far. That dude has some problems and needs to be locked-up for good. I mean, WTF he took the bodies on a tarp down to his basement?!?
  
  I wouldn't want to shoot someone, probably not even confront them. They'd know I have a gun, and then make sure they hear me **** that shotgun.
  
  Not sure I'm remembering this right (or if it's even legit advice), but something about if you shoot someone in your home you
  1) Want to make sure you kill them
  2) Fire multiple shots (temporary insanity defense, fear for your life = self-defense).
  
  Can't remember the logic, but something about one non-lethal shot setting you up for stalking/ambushing and actually working against a claim of self-defense. Self-defense would usually not be so logical and rational to fire a single, non-lethal shot.

  You just shoot center mass. As long as it stops them, you don't care if they die or not. Ohio has laws protecting the person shooting in self defense (BG can't sue you)
• gut

  LJ;1331556 wrote:You just shoot center mass. As long as it stops them, you don't care if they die or not. Ohio has laws protecting the person shooting in self defense (BG can't sue you)

  True, only caveat I'd offer is while you may escape criminal prosecution you could still be open to a civil suit. If there's any doubt as to self-defense, you can still get hosed in civil court. But maybe the law protects you there to, I don't know (I do think it's different for different states).
• friendfromlowry

  The only thing more disturbing would be if he wasnt charged with murder.
• LJ

  

  gut;1331563 wrote:True, only caveat I'd offer is while you may escape criminal prosecution you could still be open to a civil suit. If there's any doubt as to self-defense, you can still get hosed in civil court. But maybe the law protects you there to, I don't know (I do think it's different for different states).

  In Ohio the BG cannot sue you if you hurt them while they are committing a crime
• gut

  friendfromlowry;1331565 wrote:The only thing more disturbing would be if he wasnt charged with murder.

  Wonder what happens if his defense can prove she was already lethally wounded. If a legit self-defense shot was already going to be fatal, then I'm not sure what the law says about a "finishing shot" being murder.
  
  But I can't imagine any jury not cooking him.
• Pick6

  

  gut;1331550 wrote:Yeah, that's going too far. That dude has some problems and needs to be locked-up for good. I mean, WTF he took the bodies on a tarp down to his basement?!?
  
  I wouldn't want to shoot someone, probably not even confront them. They'd know I have a gun, and then make sure they hear me **** that shotgun.
  
  Not sure I'm remembering this right (or if it's even legit advice), but something about if you shoot someone in your home you
  1) Want to make sure you kill them
  2) Fire multiple shots (temporary insanity defense, fear for your life = self-defense).
  
  Can't remember the logic, but something about one non-lethal shot setting you up for stalking/ambushing and actually working against a claim of self-defense. Self-defense would usually not be so logical and rational to fire a single, non-lethal shot.

  I've heard the same. Just playing a little devil's advocate, does the guy have a legit claim of self-defense if he was fearful of his life in the future if he didnt kill them? The way I interpret the story, the breaking and entering has happened on multiple occasions. Even though the guy's story sounded a little fishy. She started laughing after he shot her the first time? I could see it if she was all hopped up on drugs or something I guess.
• gut

  Pick6;1331578 wrote:She started laughing after he shot her the first time? I could see it if she was all hopped up on drugs or something I guess.

  I wonder if that could contribute to claiming she was already fatally wounded. No idea of the medical support, but basically she's in shock/nirvana because death is very near (hence laughing after being shot).
  
  Fear of the future would not qualify for self-defense as it's usually very narrowly defined to "immediate" danger.
• ernest_t_bass

  

  This has belly35 written all over that.
• Pick6

  

  ernest_t_bass;1331581 wrote:This has belly35 written all over that.

  yeah Im waiting for his response lol
• Commander of Awesome

  

  Couple of teenagers?! What a fucking *****, needs a gun for two kids. Pathetic.
• LJ

  

  Pick6;1331578 wrote:I've heard the same. Just playing a little devil's advocate, does the guy have a legit claim of self-defense if he was fearful of his life in the future if he didnt kill them? The way I interpret the story, the breaking and entering has happened on multiple occasions. Even though the guy's story sounded a little fishy. She started laughing after he shot her the first time? I could see it if she was all hopped up on drugs or something I guess.

  No. Especially since he sat down and waited for her without calling police.
• Commander of Awesome

  

  ernest_t_bass;1331581 wrote:This has belly35 written all over that.

  Belly wouldn't need to shoot them. He's not a puss_y and could get rid of a few teenagers without killing them.
• Pick6

  

  "In a statement Wednesday, Nov. 28, Morrison County Sheriff Michel Wetzel said a search of a red Mitsubishi Eclipse seized after Haile Kifer and Nicholas Brady were shot and killed by Byron David Smith, authorities found prescription drugs and other items reported stolen from another Little Falls home."
• Commander of Awesome

  

  ccrunner609;1331592 wrote:Hey here is a novel idea......you dont get your ass shot dead if you dont break into other peoples houses. THey got what they deserved.

  Typical redneck
• LJ

  

  Pick6;1331589 wrote:"In a statement Wednesday, Nov. 28, Morrison County Sheriff Michel Wetzel said a search of a red Mitsubishi Eclipse seized after Haile Kifer and Nicholas Brady were shot and killed by Byron David Smith, authorities found prescription drugs and other items reported stolen from another Little Falls home."

  They were already in his house, not sure that changes anything.
• Pick6

  

  The guy probably fucked himself by being so descriptive in telling his story.
• LJ

  

  Pick6;1331597 wrote:The guy probably fucked himself by being so descriptive in telling his story.

  Or you know, not calling the police till the next day. Or dragging them to the basement on a tarp.