Posted on 04/29/2014 1:57:58 PM PDT by TurboZamboni
LITTLE FALLS, Minn. (AP/WCCO) — The Little Falls, Minn. man who shot and killed two teenagers after they broke into his home has been found guilty of all four counts of premeditated murder. After roughly three hours of deliberation, the jury found 65-year-old Byron Smith guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder for the shooting deaths of 18-year-old Haile Kifer and 17-year-old Nick Brady.
(Excerpt) Read more at minnesota.cbslocal.com ...
Sad story but the verdict was justified........
More likely prescription pills OD.
That was their ‘thing’. (And stealing.)
No surprise here...This guy was clearly a ding.
Absolutely. This was an easy verdict to find.
How is he guilty of two counts of different degrees of murder on the same persons?
Four counts...two people killed?
What’s slightly disturbing in this case, is so many felt what he did was totally reasonable and rational.
It was anything but reasonable and rational.
Where did the audio recording come from? 911?
It would be hard to prove pre-meditated murder in this case unless he had them tied up and subdued, and then decided not to wait on the cops.
Having intruders possibly armed and roaming your house is a threat to life and property.
I am truly shocked at the verdict. What am I missing?
Unless I'm missing something very important here murder one is far,far too harsh.Some time in prison,yah OK....but not anywhere *near* life.I doubt I would have voted for anything more than Reckless Endangerment under the circumstances.
He had laid it all out as a trap for the teens: hid his car, and read a book while waiting for them. He shot them each about six times with a rifle, one after the other. He could have easily captured them or had the police set up a trap but clearly he wanted them dead. That’s premeditated murder.
Same way George Zimmerman hunted Saint Trayvon down and killed him.
Where did the audio recording come from? 911?
The killer set up an audio recorder to capture the killings on tape. Classy.
I am a bit surprised, but a lot of evidence was excluded in this trial. I think a more correct verdict would have been manslaughter. Just my two cents worth.
The two deceased teenagers were going to either die from some irate homeowner, or spend a lot of time in jail as they were involved in multiple felonies with no signs of remorse, nor showed any intention of reforming their behavior.
As for Byron Smith, he seemed to be a bit unbalanced in his plan of action. He had no need to go so far as to execute the perps. Still, he may have been indeed scared for his life and behaving under extreme duress during the actual events. He does belong in jail, however.
After you are shot and lying on the ground begging for your life and your killer pulls another gun and shoots you under your chin, I hope to have the opportunity to remind him that he was reckless in ending your life.
Yep. It was cold and calculated murder. He killed them after they were no longer a threat to him.
He shot them both and after he determined they were unarmed, he killed them. Then he waited a day to call the cops. You think THAT is reasonable?
Maybe not totally *rational* but totally *understandable*.Ninety nine times out of a hundred the outcome in a scenario like that is that the law abiding *homeowner* is murdered by the *teenage punks*.
It *was* totally rational for the homeowner to *fear* that one or both of the punks were armed and fear can,*totally* understandably,lead to irrational acts.
If I ever decide to start breaking into dwellings I'm gonna assume that the residents will be *very* fearful.And if,in their fear,they use their Smith & Wesson to shatter my aorta I'll know that I had it coming.
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