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 ...
A teenage girl can still beat an elderly man to death, if she gets the upper hand. The "unarmed" girl can also pull a knife or gun from concealment. You don't KNOW she's unarmed until you've thoroughly searched her, something NOT advised for a lone old man.
I would not have taken a chance. I would have shot her as soon as I saw her, and would have put enough bullets into her that I was sure she would stay down while I called police. Even down, she would still have the potential ability to draw a concealed gun and shoot me as long as she was alive.
Here's a better translation (NIV), “If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed.
Guy laid a trap for them during the daytime. Under Law of Moses, he's up for the big jump.
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Perhaps not. But they are the actions of man who feels, believes, or is otherwise convinced that the rule of law no longer protects the people for whom it was purportedly designed to to protect, and doe not provide “justice” (whatever that means anymore) on behalf of the victim as well as the community.
Everything you have written about him and the pedestal you put him on indicates that he is your hero — c’mon admit it.
Your posts might as well be odes or ballads to this hero of yours.
I have no problem with a man who has been victimized before setting a “trap” for the burglars (and we know he was a previous victim, probably of these same two hoodlums, or it would be a remarkable coincidence that they struck as soon as he set the stage). If they are obsessed enough with stealing from him to come just because his car is gone and the lights are out, I’m okay with the criminals ending their lives of crime.
I have no problem with shooting a criminal breaking into your home who startles you, in some sense creating a justifiable fear for your life, even if you were expecting them to break in eventually.
I have a huge problem with continuing to shoot once the disgusting thug is down - he should have stopped once the threat was ended. As someone else said, if he wanted them dead, he should have gone with a 12 gauge and buckshot or similar load for the first shot.
Whether I would find him guilty of the crime he clearly committed or go with jury nullification depends on a lot of details, beyond the fact that I think he’s a danger only to criminals, probably. However, it seems likely that he is at least technically guilty.
Forgiveness? Sure. I would not hold a grudge against the dead criminals. Their lost chance to reform? They had several chances to reflect on their previous crimes and realize that the harm done to their victims should have outweighed their joy in getting high off the proceeds, and they chose not to take advantage of those opportunities.
Gee, maybe if he would have just placed a gun in one of their hands he would have gotten off Scott free. I think that happens some times , doesn’t it?
Falsely attributting statements. If that’s how you live your life there’s not much I can do about that.
Gee, maybe if he would have just placed a gun in one of their hands he would have gotten off Scott free. I think that happens some times , doesn’t it?
*************
A modestly competent crime lab would probably have found that the shots continued after the decedents were down. The drop weapon can work in what looks like a spontaneous shoot.
After reading the first 100 postings, I’ll add my 2 cents worth. This is a very complicated case.
First, Mr. Byron Smith does not live in a suburb. He lives in a rural area outside the small central Minnesota town of Little Falls. This area had been experiencing numerous burglaries, with no hint that the Morrison County sheriff’s office was getting anywhere in resolving the problem of who was responsible for the home break-ins. Apparently Mr. Smith had experienced several break-ins including one the previous summer when several of his rifles were stolen. In fact, photos of Brady posing with Smith’s rifles have now begun circulating in the news stories.
The day before Thanksgiving 2012, another home was invaded, and prescription drugs were stolen. Following the death of Nicolas Brady, his car was impounded and the stolen prescription drugs from the previous day’s burglary were recovered from his vehicle.
Now a bit of information on the two perpetrators of the burglaries. Nicholas Brady, age 17, and a cousin of Haile Kifer, age 18, was attending HS in Pillager, MN for the 2012 school year. He had been at the Little Falls HS previously. The news has never mentioned why he moved to the Pillager HS, and no mention has been made as to the current domicile of his parents. Nor are we made aware of whether NIcholas’s parents were still together, i.e. did Nicholas have an intact home?
Haile Kifer was a student who was into gymnastics and some other HS activities, but also was involved in felonious conduct with her cousin, Nicholas. She seemed to be fully engaged in the burglaries and willing to continue this life-style. The news media seems to have a gag order on Haile’s family. We know she was still attending Little Falls HS in November 2012.
A friend of Nicholas Brady’s claimed that he had helped Nicholas scope out the Smith home during one of the burglaries, in that this friend was being a watchman for Brady, keeping the burglar informed if there was any sign of the homeowner returning. This boy also admitted that they had been scoping out several homes in Sartell, Minnesota, a prosperous suburb of St. Cloud, MN. To add insult to injury, this boy, who assisted Nicholas Brady, had formerly been employed by Mr. Smith doing yard work, etc.
Apparently Smith had some premonition that his house was about to be burglarized again. Not much information has come out about this fact. But, this would explain the how and the reason why Byron Smith decided to set up surveillance cameras and tape recorders around his home. Smith has stated that he wanted proof of who the perpetrators were.
So, when we get to the day of the burglary, and the deaths of Brady and Kifer - it can easily be imagined that Smith’s emotions were running on adrenaline. Being a rural resident, he could certainly be allowed to have an excessive fear for his life.
So, on the day of the event. we are looking at three people, none of whom are totally innocent, But. Mr. Smith’s home was invaded, and he did have a legitimate cause to defend himself and his domicile. Brady and Kifer had absolutely no legitimate reason to be inside Mr. Smith’s house.
This all resulted in a situation which was certain to be a tragedy on all sides. Two foolish, criminal, kids invade the home of a man who has guns [The kids ought to have known that since they had stolen rifles from him the previous summer.] But, they persisted, and without any sense of fear or shame, ended up confronting the irate homeowner.
Given Mr. Smith’s history, and temperament, this was not going to end well. If Smith had been stable in mind and body on that day, he would have injured the burglars and called the sheriff’s office. But he didn’t, and Smith continues to mutter under his breath about the awful perps getting what they had coming, etc..
Rational people look at the evidence and think Smith is either a cold-blood murderer or is an unbalanced person, bent on revenge.
This is the crux of the problem. A lot of people have totally mixed emotions about the whole affair. They don’t necessarily place much blame on Smith’s shoulders, as to them they can understand and empathize with him.
Still many observers say he did “overkill” in his continued shooting of the teens after they were immobilized. Judge Napolitano thinks that Smith has the stronger position than the prosecution, and that a First Degree murder indictment is too harsh. He thinks a Second Degree or Manslaughter is as good as the prosecution can expect.
It will eventually sort itself out. But, the rest of the story is still hidden form out views.
When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.
5.56mm
He did that, when she was laying there wounded from his pistol and talking to him he got his rifle and finished her off, he thought, he then hauled her body over by the boys, on the tarp, and when she groaned, he said he didn't want her to suffer, so he put a pistol under her chin and a bullet in her head.
““When the female stopped moving, he dragged her by her clothes and into the workshop, too. There, he said, he noticed she was still gasping and didn’t believe she should suffer, so he gave her “a good clean finishing shot,” he said.”
LOL. Reminds me of the old saying “shoot them outside but drag them into a bedroom” so it would be legal!
Longer than that at Byron Smith's house especially since he didn't bother to call the police as he never intended to even 24 hours after executing the two in his basement.
Here's some news. You're either a wolf or a sheep. I choose to be armed and if someone were to break in my house and I felt threatened, then they'd die from dog bites or gun shot wounds. Nobody is "sneaking in" and if they kill my dog, well then I think you'd be willing to kill me and I'd be afraid for my life.
I can guarantee that I'd only give my name, that I was afraid for my life or the life of my family then only talk to my lawyer after going to the hospital to "get checked out".
I'm glad the old guy is alive if the choice were between the two pieces of crap that broke into his house or him...... I chose him.
Ha ha so true. Or sometimes not at all. A few weeks ago I posted a story on Freep how in 1980 in New York city I had a street gang try to murder me because I had the audacity to try to pick up one of the their girlfriends. They chased me all over Manhattan, sometimes hitting 100 MPH down the Henry Hudson parkway, when they got close they would shoot at me, shot out my back window just like in the movies, and this went on for over an hour. Any cops around? Of cooourse not! Even though I was blowing my horn like crazy, going through every red light I could. Just by the skin of my teeth I got away when a tractor trailer was backing up into a dock and I went on the sidewalk and pulled around him and he pulled up blocking them, just sheer luck otherwise without one single solitary doubt I would have been dead. I was just mentioning that a few weeks ago because they were talking about Bloomberg spending 50 million for gun control, and I was saying Bloomberg is an idiot who has no idea what the reality is. Cops will never be there in time to save your life, ever. All I thought about the whole time was either getting a cop or wishing I had a gun..Since the cops weren’t coming all I kept saying was “I wish I had a gun! I wish I had a gun! I wish I had a gun!” All these people who are for gun control, you know how you change their mind in a split second? Have someone try to kill them. These anti-gun liberals have absolutely no idea how a gun becomes God when your life is on the line.
I'm neither, you left out a 3rd category.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Sounds like there was plenty of stupid going around that night.
Bury the dead and piss on the graves. Toss this idiot into prison so decent folks will learn to keep their mouths shut when they send vermin off to the great beyond.
Call it a day.
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