Minnesota man who killed teens in break-in charged with murder

[NIUhuskies]

wow, this sounds pretty messed up... Cant tell if his guy is nuts or if these kids were on drugs

By NBC News staff and wire services

A 64-year-old Minnesota man was charged Monday with murder for killing two teenagers who he said broke into his Little Falls home, shooting them in the head, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

AP file

Byron David Smith was arrested after he told police he shot and killed two teenagers who he said were breaking into his home on Thanksgiving Day.

"If you're trying to shoot somebody and they laugh at you, you go again," Byron David Smith of Little Falls told investigators, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday.

Smith was charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Haile Kifer, 18, and her cousin, Nicholas Brady, 17, both of Little Falls. The teens were shot on Thanksgiving Day, but their deaths weren't reported until Friday.
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Brady has also used the name Schaeffel, which is his mother’s maiden name, at times for family reasons, according to the sheriff's office.

In the criminal complaint, Smith said he was in the basement of his remote home about 10 miles southwest of Little Falls when he heard a window breaking upstairs, followed by footsteps that eventually approached the basement stairwell. Fearful after several break-ins, according to the complaint, Smith said he fired when Brady 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 Brady's body into his basement workshop, then sat back down on his chair, and after a few minutes Kifer began coming down the stairs. He said he shot her as soon as her hips appeared, and she fell down the steps.

Smith said he tried to shoot her again with his Mini 14 rifle, but that the gun jammed and Kifer laughed at him.

"Smith stated that it was not a very long laugh because she was already hurting," according to the complaint.

Smith said he then shot Kifer in the chest several times with a .22-caliber revolver, dragged her next to Brady, and with her still gasping for air, fired a shot under her chin "up into the cranium."

"Smith described it as 'a good clean finishing shot,'" according to the compliant, but also that he acknowledged he had fired "more shots than (he) needed to."

The following 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."

"Mr. Smith intentionally killed two teenagers in his home in a matter that goes well beyond self-defense," Morrison County Attorney Brian Middendorf said after Smith appeared at Morrison County District Court on Monday morning. Bail was set at $2 million.

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Minnesota law allows a homeowner to use deadly force on an intruder if a reasonable person would fear they're in danger of harm. Smith told investigators he was afraid the intruders might have a weapon.

Smith's actions "sound like an execution" rather than legitimate self-defense, said David Pecchia, executive director of the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association. Pecchia said his statements to investigators suggest he had eliminated any threat to his safety by wounding the cousins.

Smith's brother, Bruce Smith, told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis that the incident was the eighth burglary at Byron Smith's home in recent years.

The only report the Morrison County sheriff's office has for a break-in at the home was for one on Oct. 27. It shows Byron Smith reported losing cash and gold coins worth $9,200, plus two guns worth $200 each, photo equipment worth more than $3,000 and a ring worth $300.

Little Falls is about 100 miles northwest of Minneapolis.

Brady's sister, Crystal Schaeffel, told the Star Tribune that Kifer had broken into her home before. Little Falls police records show Crystal Schaeffel reported a theft Aug. 28, but the department said the report was not public because that investigation was continuing and because it named juveniles.

Tessa Ruth, an aunt of Brady, attended Smith's hearing. She told the Star Tribune she wished the man had fired a warning shot or alerted the police instead of shooting the teens.

"It wasn't right for them to be there and, yes, he had a right to defend himself. But to execute them like that..."

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012...th-murder?lite

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by aturnis

So in your mind... Murderer > thief?

I think the point some of you are missing is that we don't know if these people were just thieves. Ever heard of home invasions turning into tortures, rapes, murders?

[Gravedigger]

Originally Posted by Lzen

I think the point some of you are missing is that we don't know if these people were just thieves. Ever heard of home invasions turning into tortures, rapes, murders?

You don't know the teens were thieves either. I'd trust these teens over a trigger happy old man anyway. Of course I'd rather be stolen from than killed, but that's just me.

[Gravedigger]

Originally Posted by ForeverChiefs58

See a patern forming here:

Montana man charged with shooting teen in his garage

MISSOULA, Mont. - A man has been charged in the shooting death of a 17-year-old boy after prosecutors said he set a trap in his garage to catch any would-be burglars because he was frustrated over recent thefts.

Markus Kaarma, 29, made an initial appearance in Justice Court on Monday but did not enter a plea to the count of felony deliberate homicide filed in the death of Diren Dede, an exchange student from Hamburg, Germany.

Kaarma's attorney, Paul Ryan, said his client feels terrible about the death of the young man, but he was also was disappointed that the Missoula County attorney filed the charge.

Ryan told CBS affiliate KPAX his client will plead not guilty and will fight the charge all the way.

Court records said Kaarma and his common-law wife, Janelle Pflager, had set up sensors outside the garage, a video monitoring system in the garage and left the garage door open. Pflager said she put personal items that she had cataloged in a purse in the garage "so that they would take it."

Early Sunday, the sensors went off, and Kaarma and Pflager looked at the video feed and saw that someone was in the garage.

Kaarma went outside with his shotgun. He told investigators he heard a noise that sounded like metal on metal, and he was afraid the intruder would come out and hurt him. He said he did not see anyone in the darkened garage and did not communicate with anyone before sweeping the garage with four shotgun blasts.

According to an affidavit filed by prosecutors, Pflager told investigators that Kaarma yelled into the garage, and that someone responded either "hey" or "wait." Soon after, Kaarma fired four shots into the dark garage, she said.

Dede was struck in the head and arm and died at a Missoula hospital, court records said.

Kaarma said he didn't want the suspect to get away and added that police can't catch burglars in the act, the affidavit filed Monday said.

Pflager told police that they had been burglarized two times within the last three weeks. Ryan said.

They were frustrated, on edge and felt someone in their neighborhood was watching them, Ryan said. The couple called police "and nothing was done," he said.

Pflager had made a list of the items in the purse so if it was taken she could attempt to track the thief, Ryan said. Despite the recent burglaries, they left the garage door open, prosecutors noted.

"They certainly didn't tell the kid to come in (the garage)," Ryan said. "He entered voluntarily."

Dede was a junior at Big Sky High School. He was an All-State soccer player and also competed in track. Monday was a scheduled day off in the Missoula County Public School District, but KPAX said counselors were made available to students.

On Sunday, a woman told investigators that Kaarma had told her that he had been waiting up for three nights with his shotgun to shoot a kid, court records said.
Justice of the Peace Karen Orzech set Kaarma's bail at $30,000.

Kaarma's arrest comes as a man is on trial in Minnesota for fatally shooting two teenage intruders in his Little Falls home. Byron Smith, 65, is charged with first-degree premeditated murder in the deaths of 18-year-old Haile Kifer and 17-year-old Nick Brady.

Smith contends he was defending himself when he shot the two cousins in his basement because he feared for his life after several break-ins. Prosecutors say he lay in wait for the teens.

Tricky one. They did set a trap that a kid, a rodent, or anyone could've tipped off. They practically invited someone into their garage just to shoot them. Alls I know is that I'm not going to leave my front door open with my xbox one sitting in the middle of my living room floor just so I can shoot someone. They were begging for trouble with that idea.

[Predarat]

Originally Posted by Lzen

I think the point some of you are missing is that we don't know if these people were just thieves. Ever heard of home invasions turning into tortures, rapes, murders?

Yes and it happens more and more every day, if they keep punishing people defending from it its going to escalate even faster then it already it.

[ForeverChiefs58]

Originally Posted by Gravedigger

You don't know the teens were thieves either. I'd trust these teens over a trigger happy old man anyway. Of course I'd rather be stolen from than killed, but that's just me.

Jury didn't know. I bet it would change the verdict.

Court documents that were not allowed as evidence showed Brady had broken into Smith's house and garage before. Brady and Kifer were also linked to another burglary the day before they were killed; stolen prescription drugs were found in the car they were driving.

Judge Douglas Anderson excluded evidence about the teens' histories from the trial as irrelevant

[Predarat]

Originally Posted by ForeverChiefs58

Jury didn't know. I bet it would change the verdict.

Court documents that were not allowed as evidence showed Brady had broken into Smith's house and garage before. Brady and Kifer were also linked to another burglary the day before they were killed; stolen prescription drugs were found in the car they were driving.

Judge Douglas Anderson excluded evidence about the teens' histories from the trial as irrelevant

What a bunch of crap, some of these damn Judges are awful, and we wonder how and why these home invaders never get punished properly. Hope this guy gets a retrial.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by ForeverChiefs58

Jury didn't know. I bet it would change the verdict.

Court documents that were not allowed as evidence showed Brady had broken into Smith's house and garage before. Brady and Kifer were also linked to another burglary the day before they were killed; stolen prescription drugs were found in the car they were driving.

Judge Douglas Anderson excluded evidence about the teens' histories from the trial as irrelevant

I recognize that it's a gray area and you want to presume the "innocent until proven guilty" foundation of law, but at the same time I've never quite understood why you can't present evidence like this to show a pattern of behavior, or at the very least show evidence from the previous 24 hours as evidence of a crime spree.

If this guy goes to prison, so be it. But he did a service to society by removing two criminals from it.

[aturnis]

Originally Posted by Lzen

I think the point some of you are missing is that we don't know if these people were just thieves. Ever heard of home invasions turning into tortures, rapes, murders?

You're right. My mailman might not just be a mailman! He may be a terrorist! He might be putting anthrax in my mailbox!

[Predarat]

This 'trial' was more rigged then a ****ing SEC vs Mid Major football game.

[Sully]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I recognize that it's a gray area and you want to presume the "innocent until proven guilty" foundation of law, but at the same time I've never quite understood why you can't present evidence like this to show a pattern of behavior, or at the very least show evidence from the previous 24 hours as evidence of a crime spree.



If this guy goes to prison, so be it. But he did a service to society by removing two criminals from it.

I don't think it's as much about "innocent until proven guilty" as it is the following two things;
1) The kids weren't on trial.
2) The man didn't know of these previous things the kids had done, so those facts are irrelevant to the case.

[Omaha]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I recognize that it's a gray area and you want to presume the "innocent until proven guilty" foundation of law, but at the same time I've never quite understood why you can't present evidence like this to show a pattern of behavior, or at the very least show evidence from the previous 24 hours as evidence of a crime spree.

All of this would have happened during their trial if the teens had gone to trial. They can't go to trial, though, because they were murdered.

[Omaha]

Originally Posted by Predarat

This 'trial' was more rigged then a ****ing SEC vs Mid Major football game.

than

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by ForeverChiefs58

Jury didn't know. I bet it would change the verdict.

Court documents that were not allowed as evidence showed Brady had broken into Smith's house and garage before. Brady and Kifer were also linked to another burglary the day before they were killed; stolen prescription drugs were found in the car they were driving.

Judge Douglas Anderson excluded evidence about the teens' histories from the trial as irrelevant

That's ridiculous, but the same thing happened in a trial where I was a juror recently.

[Predarat]

Originally Posted by Omaha

than

Oops I think I got it now. Kaley Cuoco is hotter than Christina Aguilera. Christina Aguilera used to be hot then she got fat.

[Omaha]

Originally Posted by Predarat

Oops I think I got it now. Kaley Cuoco is hotter than Christina Aguilera. Christina Aguilera used to be hot then she got fat.

Holy shit! You nailed it!