'You're Dead,' Minn. Man Said After Shooting Teen Intruder

[Baron Von Crowder]

Im a bit torn. On one hand, dont break into houses, dont end up dead. On the other, this sounds too much like premeditated murder, like he was planning to play a real life game of Doom in his house. I dont doubt that with as many break-ins as he has had, that he didnt fear the next time it would be someone with a gun, ready to spray hot lead at him. It doesnt sound like this was that scenario, and the recording is making that worse.

[ELVIS]

i think the issue is keeping the bodies hidden. thats where he went wrong. well that and not erasing the recordings. Lamont you big dummy.

god bless.

[SS Junk]

Not sure if this was covered, but....

http://www.startribune.com/local/182840451.html?refer=y

A surveillance video found at the Little Falls home of Byron Smith shows teenagers Nick Brady and Haile Kifer outside Smith's house on Thanksgiving Day before the homeowner shot them to death after they broke in.

A digital audio recorder found in the house also had been running and "contained audio of the shooting," according to a search warrant filed in the murder case.

Smith, 64, faces two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Brady, 17, and Kifer, 18.

Morrison County Attorney Brian Middendorf and Sheriff Michel Wetzel declined to comment Monday on the recordings. Based on the search warrants, however, the findings seem to support pieces of the story that Smith, a retired U.S. State Department worker who set up security systems for embassies, told deputies a day after the killings, when they showed up at his house in response to a neighbor's concern that he may have shot someone.

Smith told police that he shot the teenagers, who were cousins, multiple times after they broke into his house and walked down the stairs to his basement. He described "a good clean finishing shot" at Kifer, after she had been shot several times in the chest and dragged into an office workshop. He left the bodies there for a full day before deputies arrived.

He also said that his home, where he lived alone, had been burglarized several times before the Thanksgiving Day shooting.

Hamline University School of Law Prof. Joseph Olson said Monday that the videos, while significant, probably aren't critical in building the case that Smith went beyond self defense in the killings.

"The first shot was completely authorized by Minnesota law," Olson said. But if they have "given up the fight and are no longer a threat, you can't shoot them again."

Had Smith not confessed, the video and audio findings "would be monumentally important," Olson added. "But he's already told them."

Minneapolis attorney Steven Meshbesher, who now represents Smith, could not be reached for comment Monday.

Investigators executed six search warrants in the two days after the shootings, finding, among other things, computers, computer memory cards and other equipment, ammunition and a large number of firearms in Smith's home. They also found bullets and bullet fragments and recovered blood spattered on guns, carpeting, chair legs, stairs, walls and a doorway.

Investigators also searched the car that Brady and Kifer were driving at the time of the burglary. It was there that police found six prescription pill bottles that had been stolen in a home burglary the day before.

When deputies arrived at Smith's house, "Byron opened up the door with his hands up to greet us," a warrant said.

Smith was sitting in a chair in the basement of his house and holding a loaded, mini 14 rifle when Brady walked down the stairs. Smith, sitting near the stairwell, shot him, then dragged his body into his office before going back to sit in his chair, the search warrants said.

Several minutes later, Smith shot Kifer as she walked down the stairs.

Smith's next court appearance is Dec. 17 in Morrison County District Court in Little Falls.

He's a lunatic and he's done.

[JP135]

...a real life game of Doom in his house..

When you put it that way, I'm like "Dude! Okay!"

Plus, in court you won't even need a high-priced lawyer: You can say it was just a game.

[VaderTT]

Fuck that psycho. He shot that chick 6 times with two different guns, many of which were after she was incapacitated on the ground. One of those he refered to as "a nice clean finishing shot". I'm all for shooting a robber to protect your family and/or your belongings, but this dude executed these retards.

[CJ-95GT]

He's a lunatic and he's done.

Yup, but he probably doesn't care at 65.

[Sgt Beavis]

I have no problems with standing your ground and defending yourself. Doubly so when it is in your own house. However he ended the threat with his first shot. There is the potential that he made his finishing shot thinking they were reaching for a weapon or posing some other sort of realistic threat but the evidence doesn't seem to support that.

I'm more inclined to think that he intended to execute both of them. Stand your ground is meant to provide you with legal cover when you are rightly defending yourself. It doesn't make you judge, jury, and executioner.

[jluv]

Fuck that psycho. He shot that chick 6 times with two different guns, many of which were after she was incapacitated on the ground. One of those he refered to as "a nice clean finishing shot". I'm all for shooting a robber to protect your family and/or your belongings, but this dude executed these retards.

I'm with Yale on this one. He killed for the thrill after the threat was neutralized. And he was an idiot about it with the recordings and moving the bodies and shit. There are definitely justified ways of killing intruders, and that should always be protected, but this is textbook for the wrong way to do it where you aren't justified.

[talisman]

I'm with Yale on this one. He killed for the thrill after the threat was neutralized. And he was an idiot about it with the recordings and moving the bodies and shit. There are definitely justified ways of killing intruders, and that should always be protected, but this is textbook for the wrong way to do it where you aren't justified.

Yale hasn't posted in this thread.

[SSMAN]

i think the issue is keeping the bodies hidden. thats where he went wrong. well that and not erasing the recordings. Lamont you big dummy.

god bless.

I would move a body to keep it from bleeding on my carpet. That was what I was thinking when it said he was moving one? I dunno?

[SSMAN]

Ok, Holy shit, just saw where he did not report them for a full day. While I still think his shooting is justified, not reporting them is just retarded and sick.

[Machx2]

I would move a body to keep it from bleeding on my carpet. That was what I was thinking when it said he was moving one? I dunno?

How long do you think it takes after you shoot someone for blood to come out on your carpet. Never touch someone you just killed. Especially don't try to move them. You are tampering with evidence. What might have been a good shoot, would turn into a bad one real quick.

[Machx2]

I know how much it matters to you guys, but the chick was pretty hot. Also, just read some more on this case, the guy is done. He parked his vehicle 3 blocks away to make it look as if no one was home and police believe he staged himself in the basement waiting for someone to break in. He also NEVER called the police. The following day he call and told a neighbor. The neighbor then called police.

[Baron Von Crowder]

I know how much it matters to you guys, but the chick was pretty hot. Also, just read some more on this case, the guy is done. He parked his vehicle 3 blocks away to make it look as if no one was home and police believe he staged himself in the basement waiting for someone to break in. He also NEVER called the police. The following day he call and told a neighbor. The neighbor then called police.

well, he did apologize to her, before finishing her.

[ceyko]

Am I wrong for not caring that he may have made it look like no one was home on purpose?

I do find it abnormal and wrong to not call the police, but you do call a neighbor about it.

*I* would not finish her off, but I understand. It's all the little/big things surrounding it that change the dynamics of that trial though for sure.