Here are the burglars.. GIRL POWER?
Posted on 11/27/2012 7:59:37 AM PST by Uncle Chip
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
Unrelated historical note: Little Falls is the home town of Charles Limbergh. They have a nice little Limbergh musium there if you’re ever in the neighborhood.
This guy is a cold blooded murderer. Probably a psychopath. I hope he gets the maximum penalty allowed by the state of MN.
Here are the burglars.. GIRL POWER?
He is charged with ‘murdering’ two teens.
Gad, the propaganda. “They were such nice kids, everybody loved them, inseparable, yadayada.”
What, exactly, are the workplace guarantees that criminals can expect when they choose this line of work? To be only shot once? To be asked, politely, to leave. To have to pay for the broken windows and smashed in doors, or is that just the victim’s tough luck? To be able to laugh and ‘express their feelings’ to the person they are robbing?
Might be none of the above.
“Unrelated historical note: Little Falls is the home town of Charles Limbergh”
Is that the guy who invented Limbergher cheese?
Never say anything except "I was in fear for my life".
I don’t know which way to go on this story.. It’s possible these kids were breaking into his house and stealing stuff over a number of many days or months.. Or, it’s possible they didn’t even break into his house and that he lured them in. I’d like to see the police reports from prior burglaries. Also, if this man has lost valuables on numerous occasions I can understand his rage. These kids don’t look thugs but.. Who the hell knows anymore.
That's my defense and I'm sticking to it.
You can defend your property from burglars, and if they die in the process, them’s the breaks. But you can’t execute burglars as they’re bleeding out on the floor at your feet.
The girl hears multiple gun shots in the basement. So what? She calmly walks down there to see what’s going on?
Dollars to donuts she no longer looked pretty and fresh by the time of her demise, due to meth or other-drug-of-choice.
I’m pretty sure shooting up a 18 year old girl finding out she’s not dead so you put a gun under her chin and blow her head off......
belongs in some sick slashed flic
No, that would be Rush Limbergh.
I know who’s getting the longer life sentence of the 3.
Agreed 100%. No way to condone what he did, but criminals had better understand that their actions have consequences, sometime severe, or even final.
Tragic, but I won’t waste any tears over these two.
Not girl power, meth power.
He was so upset at all the stuff stolen from him in previous burglaries that he shoots and kills probably the only people that know where it is and could get it back for him.
Still, a perplexing story.. He went for the overkill, possibly in a hyper-engraged state, or maybe just wacko. I can understand that if his place has been hit on multiple occasions and his valuables stolen. These kids should’ve been at home with family on Thanksgiving! You’re probably right.. Valuables for money for meth.
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