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BYRON SMITH MURDER TRIAL: Minnesota Teenagers Shot Dead During Break-In
#1
This happened Thanksgiving Day near Little Falls, MN. Details just provided.

http://www.startribune.com/local/180853761.html

Article by: CURT BROWN and PAUL WALSH , Star Tribune

A 64-year-old man was charged Monday with murdering two teenagers who broke into his home on the outskirts of Little Falls, Minn., shooting each of them at close range in the head after he had already wounded them. Byron David Smith was charged in Morrison County District Court with two counts of second-degree murder without premeditation in the killings of Nicholas Brady, 17, and his cousin Haile Kifer, 18. Smith is scheduled to appear in court later Monday.

The criminal complaint says that Smith shot the two as they came down his basement stairs several minutes apart on Thanksgiving Day. The complaint adds that he shot them numerous times. He then waited a day before asking a neighbor to alert authorities, the document added. Smith showed investigators the bodies, was arrested and has remained jailed since.

According to the complaint, Smith told investigators:

He heard glass breaking around noon Thursday while he was in the basement. It was the latest of several break-ins that he's experienced. Brady started coming down the stairs, and Smith shot him with a rifle by the time he saw the intruder's hips. Brady fell down the stairs and was looking up at Smith when the homeowner shot him in the face. "I want him dead," Smith explained to the investigator for the additional shot.

Smith put Brady's body on a tarp and dragged him to an office workshop. A few minutes later, Smith heard footsteps above him. As in Brady's case, Kifer too started down the stairs and was shot by Smith by the time he saw her hips, sending her tumbling down the stairs. Smith attempted to shoot her again, but his rifle jammed, prompting Kifer to laugh. Upset, Smith, pulled out a revolver he had on him and shot her "more times than I needed to" in the chest, he said.

Smith dragged Kifer next to Brady as she gasped for her life. He pressed the revolver's barrel under her chin and pulled the trigger in what he described as a "good, clean finishing shot" that was meant to end her suffering.

Smith acknowledged leaving the bodies in his home overnight before calling a neighbor to askabout a lawyer and to request that authorities be notified.
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#2
This is beyond the weirdest story I have read today. Not sure what to make of it, but it sounds a little "fishy."
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#3


I was prepared to be argumentative about this & defend the shooter but I no longer feel that way. He murdered them.
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#4
He definitely wanted them dead. His home had been broken into several times over the past year, and, although it doesn't say anything about it in the article, I have a hunch these two may have been behind some of the earlier robberies.

The young lady was addicted to pills, and according to friends, these two had broken off relationships with them in the past couple of months.

She had to have been high on something to be laughing at a guy who has just shot her and is trying to finish her off.

Gruesome, brutal end to a couple of young lives. If you play with fire enough times, you'll eventually get burned.
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#5
Upon reading into this matter further, media outlets have also made the claim through the defendant's brother that the home had been broke into a few times, but only one report regarding an incident exists.

I agree with Duchess, I was going to jump on my soapbox and say "fuck you" to these kids, but it is obvious that their deaths are as much of a crime as the act of breaking into the home. It will be interesting to see where this goes. With a good attorney I can see this guy walking.

Guess it will depend on a Jury, if there is one.
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#6
Attempting to rob a senior citizen on Thanksgiving Day - pretty effin' low.

Sounds like Mr. Smith had been robbed before and was bound and determined to kill anyone who tried it again; he became a vigilante.

Based on what's in the OP story, Mr. Smith is guilty of murder, imo - no "standing his ground" or self-defense involved here based on his own statements. Anxious to see if he goes with a temporary insanity or PTSD defense due to having been robbed before.

Odd story.
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#7
What a fucking idiot (and murderer). It sure doesn't sound like he had an attorney when he made his statements to police!! If he hadn't admitted to shooting the girl when she laughed (and more times than he probably "needed to") and all the rest, he might have had a chance. But since he stated all that and kept the bodies for a day, I think he'll get convicted of something.
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#8
User, I feel like he made his statements to the police in the mode of 'Hey, I've done nothing wrong here, I know the law.'

He figured, if anyone comes in to his home again, he's free and clear to KILL whomever it may be.

Small town America has a real issue with drug abuse. Meth is running rampant and other drugs are taking hold of people. I don't doubt for a minute that these kids robbed him before (for the drug $$$) and were going to milk that cow again.

So is he guilty of murder? He has to be. He's admitted to the kill shots. He was no longer 'defending himself' when he finished each of them off.

Usually with simple B & E you don't pay with your life. They fucked with the wrong guy one time too many.
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#9


Don't ever, EVER talk to LE without an attorney by your side.

I see a lot of sleuths who think people are guilty simply because they got a lawyer. If they are guilty, it's very smart of them to get a lawyer, if they are innocent, it is very smart of them to get a lawyer.
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#10
(11-26-2012, 03:12 PM)Duchess Wrote:

Don't ever, EVER talk to LE without an attorney by your side.

I see a lot of sleuths who think people are guilty simply because they got a lawyer. If they are guilty, it's very smart of them to get a lawyer, if they are innocent, it is very smart of them to get a lawyer.

I agree, you don't want someone who does a lackluster job at investigating trying to implicate you in anything when you are INNOCENT!!!!!!
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#11


Bad cops are such a bane on those of you who do a wonderful job.
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#12
All criminals should realize they take their puny lives in hand when they walk through anothers door uninvited.
He ain't heavy, he's my brother.
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#13


Yeah! What he said. The_Villagers
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#14
Fuck em, thieving bastards
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#15
While it is definitely "overkill"...those bastards got what they deserved! Don't break in to people's houses, fuckers!!!!
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#16
[Image: s-BYRON-DAVID-SMITH-large.jpg]

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A snippet of details from a huge article on this case......
In the complaint, Smith said he was in his basement when he heard a window breaking upstairs, followed by footsteps that eventually approached the basement stairwell. Smith said he fired when Schaeffel came into view from the waist down.

After the teen fell down the stairs, Smith said he shot him in the face as he lay on the floor.

"I want him dead," the complaint quoted Smith telling an investigator.

Smith said he dragged Schaeffel's body into his basement workshop, then sat down on his chair. After a few minutes, Kifer began coming down the stairs and he shot her as soon as her hips appeared, he said.

After shooting her with both the Mini 14 and the .22-caliber revolver, he dragged her next to Schaeffel. With her still gasping for air, he fired a shot under her chin "up into the cranium," the complaint says.

"Smith described it as `a good clean finishing shot,'" according to the complaint.

The next day he asked a neighbor to recommend a good lawyer, according to the complaint. He later asked his neighbor to call the police.

A prosecutor called Smith's reaction "appalling."
The Entire Article

Morrison County Sheriff Michel Wetzel Press Conference
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#17
I think most white people would admit that if this were the case of a couple of North Minneapolis black teenagers breaking into someone's house, there wouldn't be a lot of sympathy.

However, when you look at the pictures of those two kids, you hardly imagine them having to pay with their lives during a B & E.

I hope that if any good comes from this it'll stop stupid kids from considering any thoughts of going into somebody's house.
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#18
Bullshit MS. It's the guy's callousness that is appalling.
Commando Cunt Queen
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#19
(11-27-2012, 07:49 PM)username Wrote: Bullshit MS. It's the guy's callousness that is appalling.

Oh, there are plenty of people here who feel he was justified in 'finishing them off.'

Which is amazing to me.
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#20
Why did he "just happen" to have a revolver on his person as well as a rifle and why did he feel it necessary to give her a "finishing shot"?
OK, he lived in a secluded area and had been burgled before but is that any reason to be certain they were both died?
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