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 ...
Not from the Strib you won’t. Although, they may find some photos of them off Facebook from their Grade 8 school play...
This is Minnesota. Logic, fact, and law are cousins that rarely talk to each other.
Is that the guy who invented Limbergh cheese?
But he wanted to take credit for his work.
However, Smith shot the woman, who was unarmed, until she was incapacitated and then - instead of calling 911 - deliberately finished her off.
He is a psychopath and a murderer.
So, what you are saying is that it is a bad idea to break into someones home because they might go all psycho on you and kill you...
Good advise.
My first thought was of that pharmacist. Memory of that pharmacist story is that the jury didn’t buy his self-defense claim, either, and he got @ 26 years in prison.
That case doesn’t sound as cold-blooded as this one (tho, of course, there is no video or documentation, other than the victim/perp’s statement to the police).
I kind of agree with the article...to the brutal killing but not to the initial shooting. He had a right to defend his home. I guess he could have waited to see if the legs coming down the stairs belonged to a family member or an intruder. :)
Back to my corner.........
From what I can assess, this guy was enraged about the previous break-ins and robberies. Unfortunately, these two fools put themselves in the position where they became targets for him to take out his vengeance on them.
That said, he followed through with a “nice finishing shot”? I want him to receive one himself.
Circumstances do not match up. This guy was trapped in his basement. The Pharmacy guy was able to leave the area to retrieve another gun.
(1) It is always a bad idea to break into someone's house.
(2) It is always a bad idea to murder a helpless woman in cold blood.
If she hadn't broken into the house, she wouldn't be dead.
If he hadn't murdered a helpless woman, he wouldn't be dying in prison.
Or...
Those who do not respect civility will eventually lose its protection.
Incorrect.
The man was dead. The unarmed woman was on the ground with at least four bullets in her.
Rather than leave the basement and call 911, he decided to get up close and give her a kill shot to the head.
He is every bit as evil and the OKC Stolen Valor murderer.
All three involved in this incident had long since lost any civil qualities.
The fact (alleged) that he put the dead guy on a tarp after he shot him dead, and then drug the woman alongside of Dead Guy once she went down, then admitted shooting her in the head, is not going to work in his favor.
I’m a self defense guy, but this is a but over the top for me.
A person's true moral fiber is exhibited in trying circumstances. Such situations are a test of character.
This individual, by his own statements, gut shot and incapacitated an unarmed woman for breaking into his house. So far, a legitimate use of force.
At this point, he believed that she was laughing at him, despite her wounds. So he produced another weapon and shot her several times as revenge for her alleged merriment.
This is where he moves from crime victim to criminal.
But he did not stop there.
He then decided to close up with her and fire a kill shot with the pistol's muzzle to the underside of her chin.
That's where he moves from criminal to drooling psychopath.
After that, he lived with the corpses for a day and ate his Thanksgiving dinner before calling the police.
More range time, and a properly placed first shot, would negate any and all of this uninformed speculation. He would have been within his rights to shoot the two felons that broke into his occupied home.
“All three involved in this incident had long since lost any civil qualities.”
I’ll wager they were burglarizing houses before he shot anyone.
In one of the stories it said Bauer heard them enter his bldg, got his gun and sat in his chair until they started down the stairs. AND according to stories, when his first weapon jammed and the girl laughed at him, he retrieved and used another. He wasn’t exactly ‘trapped’ and unable to retrieve another weapon.
From a legal perspective, what’s important is that they weren’t exactly dead after the initial shots. After his legitimate self-defense, Bauer chose to execute them, thus violating the law
According to another story posted here last night, he saw that she was struggling and dying and he wanted to put her out of her misery.
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