Doctor: Slain Minnesota teens shot multiple times

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Doctor: Slain Minnesota teens shot multiple times
By AMY FORLITI, Associated Press | April 24, 2014 | Updated: April 24, 2014 9:23pm










LITTLE FALLS, Minn. (AP) — The two Minnesota cousins killed by a man who claimed he was defending himself after they broke into his home were each shot multiple times, a medical examiner testified Thursday, and while the initial gunshots caused serious injury, they did not immediately incapacitate the teens.

Byron Smith, of Little Falls, is charged with first-degree premeditated murder in the deaths of 18-year-old Haile Kifer and 17-year-old Nick Brady on Thanksgiving Day 2012. Smith, 65, claims he was defending himself and feared for his life after several break-ins at his home. But prosecutors say he sat in his basement with guns, waiting for the teens to enter his house, then went too far when he continued to shoot them after they were no longer a threat.

~snip~

Jurors viewed autopsy photos Thursday that showed the teens' injuries, as Smith sat still and stared at the photos projected on a screen. Dr. Kelly Mills, with the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office, testified that Brady was shot three times, and Kifer had six gunshot wounds.

Mills said the final shot to Brady, which went through his right hand and into his right temple, was the "most immediately fatal." She described it as a close-range shot, fired from between 6 inches and 3 feet away, that went through his skull and into his brain.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Doctor-Slain-Minnesota-teens-shot-multiple-times-5427175.php

[whathehell]

1. After wounding Haile, he dragged the girl on a tarp & said "You're dying, bitch".

and then shot her in the head at close range...

[someone else]

25. With or without castle doctrine

This is murder.

[whathehell]

28. Absolutely..n/t

[pkdu]

2. He shot her in the head behind her ear....then once more under the chin to finish her off...

Wow - anyone here defend that shit?

[whathehell]

6. Besides addressing her as "bitch", he fired twice as many bullets into her as the boy..

I'd call that evidence of a particular hatred of women.

[NobodyHere]

7. Honestly

If a woman was to break into my house I would have less kinder words.

[cyberswede]

8. What?

[LanternWaste]

9. Seems to me it illustrates much more of the person using the language than it does...

Seems to me it illustrates much more of the person using the language than it does the person the language is directed at.

[greiner3]

10. Enjoy your stay!

[Marrah_G]

11. wtf?

[whathehell]

12. While she was dying from your gunshot on your floor?

This 18 year old "woman"?

[bitchkitty]

17. What an asshole.

Would you shoot her six times too?

[Paladin]

19. Your User Name is prophetic. See ya. (nt)

[Jackpine Radical]

27. Would any of them be strung together according to the rules of grammar?

[weissmam]

3. Low life

[cosmicone]

4. I wonder if these were teenagers from a minority community

or two boys instead of a boy and a girl, would there have been the same media attention and outrage?

[crim son]

5. I wish I could feel confident

that Mr. Smith will be spending a long, long time behind bars for this crime.

[Evasporque]

13. He parked his truck away from house to appear not at home...

That is premeditation. He stalked and murdered the teens.

[kickysnana]

15. ??? No, in MN we have always had the right to use deadly force in our own homes for protection

Makes no difference where his car was when they broke in intending to rob him again. The girl tested positive for drugs. He lost about $10000 to them including his military medals.

They were arrogant, selfish, greedy, evil young adults not poor victims and if they had gone to the Thanksgiving dinner where they were expected at we would not be having this conversation.

These kids had broken into his home and many others multiple times. He did not know for sure how many kids there were or if they were armed. They had stolen his rifle sometime before. Property crimes are usually not solved due to lack of money for police work.

In the past, before the break ins he had allowed the neighborhood teens including the boy to use his garage allowing a local teen band or bands to play.

The only question here is whether he went too far when he finished them off or if his fear justified it.

It is really sad that this happened but I might do the same. Steal my car and I won't kill you but break into my home multiple times, I just might and I might call them names as well.

[MissB]

16. And you'd be facing 1st degree murder if you had done the same thing.

Property crimes don't get the death penalty. He could've wounded them and then called the police. That would've been just fine under the law.

He went far beyond by brutally finishing them off, never calling 911 and waiting a day before having someone else call the police. No property crime - stealing of medals - things - deserves that. Not in a civilized society.

Even the gun nuts I talk to think this case is easily first degree murder.

[whathehell]

20. Yes, and deservedly so..

This monster actually lay in wait for them..

[rbixby]

26. +1 To that

do the crime, do the time......you premeditate killing someone, which is a capital offense, then you deserve what you get.

[NickB79]

18. Yes and no

His actions up to the shooting (parking his truck away from his house, waiting with a loaded gun, etc) are not illegal per se.

And he does have the right to shoot someone entering his home in self-defense.

HOWEVER:

From reports put out by the media, he shot the young man as he was entering the house through a window, feet-first, and opened fire before the man's feet were even on the ground. He then proceeded to fire several more rounds into the young man's body as he lay on the ground, clearly no longer a threat. That alone passed any reasonable expectation of being in fear for your life and guaranteed at least a manslaughter charge.

And rather than calling police, he dragged away the body, sat back down, and waited for the young woman. And after shooting her, he did the same thing: executed her while lying on the floor gasping for breath, after she was clearly no longer a threat, drugs or no in her system.

And then he still didn't call police, letting the neighbor do it for him the next day.

There is absolutely NO question if he went too far, and his "fear"? In the tape HE made, he showed no signs of fear, only anger.

His complete lack of fear shown in the entire situation, his clear-minded planning up to the shooting, and the fact that he passed up MULTIPLE opportunities to call the police both before, during and after the shootings pretty much sealed this case from the very beginning.

And if you did the same as him, you'd (rightly) spend the rest of your life in prison as well.

[kickysnana]

31. It is possible to be very angry when you are terribly afraid.

Anger is not illegal.

What was told to me when I was a young adult was "if you kill someone breaking into your house be sure they are entirely inside the house." If someone is breaking into your home you do not know what they are about to do they already don't are about laws and peoples rights.

Took years to get over a robbery in the daytime when I was at work many years ago.

If you break into my house I just may kill you. I suggest you take your chances with the folks who think property crimes are no big deal if you cannot figure out who is who, oh well; AND I WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW THIS.

Nothing you can say would change my mind. If that were my niece in nephew that I love dearly, I would be on the homeowners side about the shooting. I will let the jury of his peers decide about the rest.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

32. Two problems with this

1) Burglary is not a capital crime, no matter what kind of a lowlife the burglar is, no matter how much is stolen.

2) The guy played Rambo by continuing to shoot the teens after they were no longer a threat. He sounds like an anger junkie. A non-anger junkie would have maybe incapacitated them (or just scared them off with his gun?) and then called the police, not shot them over and over.

[NickB79]

33. Were you also told to shoot them in the head as they were lying there dying?

With a "good clean finishing shot" as this guy did?

If he had just shot the first kid during the break-in, and then called the police after the kid was on the ground, no longer a threat, I'd probably be agreeing with you that he should walk.

But like I said, he fired multiple rounds into a young man lying on the ground, no longer a threat.

THEN he sat back, did NOT call the police, and did the same to the young woman.

AND he didn't call the police AFTER the shooting either, but rather tarped up the bodies in his garage.

I grew up 15 mi. from where this happened, and despite the fact that the area is a very conservative part of the state, I'm very confident that the jury of his peers will be finding him guilty because even the teabagger gun nut family members I have up there think he went WAY too far.

[ManiacJoe]

14. Is there any new news in the article?

Seems like all old facts.

[whathehell]

21. I haven't seen anything else..

I'd like some background on this murdering POS -- He's 65, he's got to have something -- family? prior arrests?

I can't find anything.

[ManiacJoe]

22. The wikipedia article is not a bad place to start for a general overview.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byron_David_Smith_killings

[whathehell]

23. Thanks...I had no idea Wikipedia was so fast! n/t

[ManiacJoe]

24. It surprised me, too.

[whathehell]

29. Did you notice it gave no personal information besides his age & former occupation?

No family information...I guess that will come out...He's a fucking monster.

[KinMd]

30. He had to have a security clearance..

working for the State Department in various embassies. So I'm guessing there's no history of arrests much less any violence.