Posted on 04/22/2014 6:21:59 PM PDT by GrandJediMasterYoda
Minnesota Man Accused of Murdering Teens Who Entered His Home By GIO BENITEZ
The trial against a 65-year-old man accused of murdering two teens who entered his home is underway in Minnesota, stirring debate about how far people can go in defending their homes. Byron Smith, a retired security engineer for the U.S. Department of State, is charged with first-degree premeditated murder in the slayings of cousins Nick Brady, 17, and Haile Kifer, 16, on Thanksgiving Day 2012. The killings rocked the small city of Little Falls. Prosecutors say Smith was sitting in his basement when he heard a window breaking upstairs. When Brady started walking down the basement stairs, Smith shot him twice. Then, according to court documents, Smith shot Brady a third time in the face, allegedly telling investigators, “I want him dead.”
(Excerpt) Read more at gma.yahoo.com ...
When one intruder is on the ground unconscious and bleeding out, and the other is gurgling on her own blood on your floor, you have already successfully defended yourself.
When your next step is to not call 911, but to go to another room, find another weapon, and then finish them off at point blank range, then you have crossed the line into a murdering psycho.
The question is whether he crossed the line from self-defense to execution. According to the DA he was waiting, they were unarmed, did not surprise him, made no attempt to harm him, and then he drug the bodies across the floor, putting finishing shots into their heads, I really don’t know if a jury is going to believe self-defense if those are the facts.
No way he's a liar - he probably just felt bad for his insurance company and didn't want them to be stuck on the hook for replacing his stolen stuff.
he's going away, just not sure for what yet.
In other words
Shoot them
Bury them in the back yard
Shut up about it
I don’t want to do it. And I hope I never have to do it. But if someone breaks a window and enters my house I’m not going to fire one round. I’m going to fire at least 3 or 4 rounds. Or at least till I see him fall and not moving.
Remember the expert testified in the Zimmerman trial that a person can live quite a long time even after the heart is removed from the body. I’m not sure the guy would be capable of firing a weapon, but, like I said, I’m not sure.
you enter my home uninvited... your life is mine to dispense with as I please
don’t want to be killed... then don’t break into other peoples homes
Much better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6.
He's retired State Department security, but he apparently didn't know self-defense law and hadn't heard the old rule, "Shoot, shovel, and shut up!"
His best option was Home Depot bright and early Black Friday. Saws! Contractor cleanup bags! Detergents. Bleach!! (Just ask Detective Fuhrman.) And, of course, silence! Stone wall silence!
The Mississippi runs right by his house.
Nope. The second shot was for breaking my window!
vaudine
Yeah, read what he did in real life, don’t create a fake scenario.
Yeah, I’d say he’s in a bit of trouble.
read much?
The guy should spend time in prison for what he did. You cannot execute someone like he did when they are laying on the ground. Cold blooded murder in my opinion.
I can’t believe this guy is a Sheriff. They should call him “Sheriff ‘One shot’ Wetzel! Can stop any crook with one shot!
He said that he didn’t want the teens to suffer, so he finished them off.
In other words
Shoot them
Bury them in the back yard
Shut up about it
= = = = = = = = = = = = =
He would have been ‘fine’ had he not done the TV ‘Hit Man’ act of the ‘kill shot’.
If he actually said all that to the Cops in the beginning and had been robbed before, I would imagine he had sort of ‘put out the word’ that if ‘they’ came back he would be waiting for them.....that last remark is just speculation on my part but considering all he blabbed after the fact, they could probably find enough people in the neighborhood (bar??) that would testify that he had ‘planned’ a little surprise.
Still probably would have been alright without the ‘dramatics’....2nd one definitely deserved to get shot— UNLESS he somehow lured her downstairs,— as only a complete idiot would hear shots and go down without hearing from the partner....
Good link. Bad shoot.
“The question is whether he crossed the line from self-defense to execution. According to the DA he was waiting, they were unarmed, did not surprise him, made no attempt to harm him, and then he drug the bodies across the floor, putting finishing shots into their heads, I really don’t know if a jury is going to believe self-defense if those are the facts.”
Dead men (and/or women) don’t talk. How many times have perps been wounded, recovered and then sued the victim for shooting them? If you are going to end up broke or in jail anyhow, may as well polish them off and have the satisfaction that the perps won’t be up to no good ever again. Glad they’re dead; they were serial burglars.
Also, if this was a couple of older, scuzzy looking perps, there wouldn’t be this outcry. But the perps were young, pretty good looking teens, so now the cries of outrage. Kind of like killing two Bambi’s, or a good looking Bonnie and Clyde. If they were ugly or a minority, or both, no problem. Doesn’t change the fact that they were rotten to the core; good grief, they were cute and rotten to the core. There’s a difference you know. /s
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