Posted on 04/24/2014 11:07:12 AM PDT by Uncle Chip
LITTLE FALLS, Minn. — A Minnesota man who killed two teenagers who broke into his home can be heard on an audio recording talking to himself for hours after the shooting and at one point, apparently describing the slain teens as "vermin."
Byron Smith, of Little Falls, faces first-degree premeditated murder charges in the deaths of 18-year-old Haile Kifer and 17-year-old Nick Brady on Thanksgiving Day in 2012. Smith, 65, claimed he was defending himself and feared for his life after several break-ins at his home.
Prosecutors, though, say Smith planned the killings. They say he sat in a chair in his basement and waited for the teens to enter his home, instead of calling police.
Smith waited a full day after he shot them before asking a neighbor to call the authorities....
The killings stunned this central Minnesota community and stirred debate about how far people can go to defend their homes. 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.
Authorities who searched Smith's home after the killings testified Wednesday that they found an audio recorder that was turned on and an operating video surveillance system. The recorder was sitting on top of books on a bookshelf, near a chair where prosecutors say Smith waited for the teens....
Prosecutors also showed images from surveillance cameras that Smith had set up outside his home. The four different camera angles showed Smith leaving his home in his truck at 11:25 a.m. on the day of the killings, then returning on foot at 11:45.
At 12:33 p.m., Brady shows up in a hooded, camouflage jacket ...
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonherald.com ...
Byron Smith made many decisions that night as well.
And he will spend the rest of his life in a cell thinking about those decisions.
One thing is true: if you break into someone's house you have no way of knowing whether that someone is a normal human being or a sadistic maniac. You are asking for trouble.
Exo 22:2 If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him.
He might have waited for them to break in his house but he did not know they would or when and if they would be armed. The adrenaline would have a powerful effect on a 65 year old man. I don’t think it was 1rst degree murder.
This is the only "JBT" the "JBT" obsessives around here like.
He's their "JBT."
This news story doesn’t tell the *whole* story. I read a transcript yesterday of the tape that was running while this guy actually killed the would-be burglars. It is very apparent that he lay in wait for them, killed the first one deliberately, with no warning, then when the girl came in, also killed her with no warning. He shot them seveeral times to make sure they were dead, after they were on the floor and apparently (judging by his own tape) absolutely no threat. He dragged them around on tarps to keep them from staining his carpeting. Then he waited a whole day to report it.
This is NOT a case of a homeowner in fear of his life. This is a case of revenge (and also incredible stupidity, for taping the whole thing, but I for one am glad he did). He murdered two people (low-lifes, perhaps, but he murdered them). To defend this man’s actions makes all *responsible* gun-owners look bad.
He had them on CCTV.
He watched them on video walking around his home.
He could see they were unarmed.
I don’t think it was 1rst degree murder.
He had an unarmed teenage girl bleeding out on his floor. Rather than call 911, he took the time to put her in a tarp, then went to another room and then leaned in close, called her a "b!tch" and fired a single shot at point blank range into her head.
If that is not murder in the first degree, then there is no such thing as murder in the first degree.
It appears from other reports that he only called the police regarding one break-in.
Should have used a 12 gauge .
One well placed shot would have ended it pronto.
He broke the law(as it is written in Minnesota statute)
That said, I’m not losing any sleep over dead robbers and Mr. Smith goes to prison.
But I doubt Smith is/was a threat to anyone on Earth other than people sneaking into his house or he’d probably killed other people before making it to age 65.
The threshold - legal and moral - is self-defense.
However, as everyone knows, LEOs regularly fill people with holes on self-defense arguments no other person but a LEO could even remotely get away with.
And I have always believed that non-LEOs should be given more leeway in “going too far” because of the fact that they are not trained in wartime threat from firearms, and so can easily have an emotional reaction that is excessively violent, paranoid or lethal, because of the condition the PERP put them in by threatening them. This is solely the perp’s fault.
But... when you have someone acting as cold-blooded and methodical as this guy did, the uttermost limits of even that emotional trauma argument are stretched to the breaking point.
The bottom line is that the guy - pay attention here - has every right to be a nasty, unbalanced, vindictive asshole in his own home, hurting no one. If someone chooses to repeatedly break in and terrorize someone that unstable, I don’t think he has any responsibility to become a psychologically balanced person before he takes care of the threat to his life (as he perceives it).
On the other hand, the law cannot allow people to look at visitors and say “I feel threatened by you” and blow them away for fun or psychosis reasons either. And while these two were certainly not mere visitors, and certainly were not invited, playing with the line of how far someone can go on their own property is beyond important.
So I’d say that what looks like an easy case in either direction (depending on your preference), is not, actually, so easy after all.
‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us..
But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.’
Tough to see those words in the context of a trial, but regardless of the legal outcome:
I pray that Bryon and the parents of the intruders can be reconciled in time knowing we all must forgive to be forgiven, regardless of what the courts rule.
Seems like after eight break ins, he couldn’t forgive the 9th trespass of his house being broken into...
even Peter asked is not seven times enough to forgive?
Not seven times , but seventy times seven was His reply..
And the parents, mercy, can’t imagine having to forgive the man who killed your child, regardless of the circumstances..
And neither the homeowner or their parents have the two kids back to say I am sorry, forgive me..
Sad case.
I live in the country, like most people, I have firearms and I have known how to use them since childhood.
But that man is just plain crazy, and what he did was pre-meditated murder, and not self defense-he needs to be declared insane and locked up...
I’m glad he wasn’t hurt.
Reimburse him for his time, ammo, and a replacement tarp and send him on his way.
He did a service for the community.
His orginal story was 8 previous break-ins.
Then his story changed to 4 previous break-ins.
How many of these previous break-ins was reported to the authorities?
Apparently zero.
Byron Smith is not a reliable witness. He is the antithesis of one.
Exactly —
This is the kind of psycho who would shoot your dog if he saw him pooping in his yard.
Your solidarity with your compatriot is oddly touching.
Ah... Insults.
About what I’d expect from someone who has such sympathies for meth heads...
Calling them vermin is an insult to vermin.
He wanted to spend some time with his trophies and pat himself on the back for his "good finishing shot" under the girl's chin as she was struggling to breathe.
I think Smith went way too far, but a dark and unoccupied house is not what I would call a “tempting target,” an attractive nuisance. It could only tempt those already criminally inclined.
I saw meth mentioned-has it been established that the two intruders were meth users? I had not seen/heard that...
Meth labs are found in rural areas like this sometimes-they usually end up exploding, but are just as often raided by the county deputies.
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