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 ...
I don’t think they were meth users —
Ah. You understand. He is a classic case.
Sounds like the home owner just had enough and snapped. He was pushed over the edge.
Appropriate card. All three are going to lose from that day’s bad deeds.
well if they get caught and then get angry coming back for revenge , like happened in my neighborhood. You just might want to make sure nobody comes back. I think that if someone broke into my mothers house,she is in her 80's and lives alone, multiple times. Well besides moving her in with me,which she will refuse, I'd eliminate any doubt of the little burglar ever doing it or having her friends hurt my mom.
in fact ,the way this old fool is yapping he's obviously not a thug but just an old dottering fool that got scared, fed up and very angry. If he was a criminal or really laying a trap, he'd of shut his pie hole and just stated his name and lawyers name.
guess the burglar won't be coming back,eh? Doesn't bother me in the least. My chief concern would be cleaning up the mess and getting rid of the smell and the ringing in my ears from shooting a weapon indoors.
“So, he acted like an LEO.”
He messed up and didn’t shoot the dog!
It was meant as a tip to the thread not to judge you too harshly.
Something that's perfectly legal if the government does it. They call it a 'stake out'.
My point is that he planned this all out as best he could.
He clearly would have been very disappointed if, after all that work and effort, he didn't get to kill at least one human being.
Those kids literally made his day.
He probably felt like a kid at Christmas when his CCTV motion cameras lit up.
He clearly laid a trap.
He felt very comfortable talking because he is retired law enforcement.
He had a readymade excuse for everything he did.
“Appropriate card. All three are going to lose from that day’s bad deeds.”
True. Anybody know why the deceaseds felt the need to put their lives on the line to rob from the man’s home? Poverty, drugs...thrills?
Did he invite them in? No? Then oh well.
Kind of like trolling through the 'hood trying to draw an attack from a Knockout King wannabee, so you can shoot the b@$t@rd? Nope, no "good guy" in this scenario, even though "vermin" is an accurate description.
It's perfectly legal if a civilian does it on his own property too, as long as it is not part of a premeditated murder.
If he had made all those extensive preparations, called 911 as soon as he saw them on his CCTV, and held them at gunpoint until the police arrived, he'd be a hero.
But his goal wasn't to catch them.
Mr. Smith is retired from the secrete service?
The police found other people's prescription drugs in their car.
At the time someone enters your home do you know at that point if they are just there to rob you or to harm you physically. Yes, robbery may carry a smaller penalty, but you don’t know when a person first enters your home their intent.
The evidence says otherwise.
He may have gotten carried away, but it was most definitely not by fear.
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