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Continued: Little Falls teen shooting deaths called 'cold-blooded’
Star Tribune ^ | November 27, 2012 | Kurt Brown

Posted on 11/27/2012 7:59:37 AM PST by Uncle Chip

LITTLE FALLS, MINN. - Insisting the case crosses the line from self-defense to a cold-blooded double execution, Morrison County authorities filed second-degree murder charges Monday against a 64-year-old man who killed two teenage cousins after they'd broken into his home on Thanksgiving.

This woodsy central Minnesota town of 8,000 was jolted as the gruesome details spilled out in a criminal complaint, alleging Byron David Smith put a handgun under the chin of wounded and gasping 18-year-old Haile Kifer for what he told police was a "good clean finishing shot."

Smith, who according to a friend and a relative had endured previous break-ins, sat shackled in an orange jail jumpsuit as County Attorney Brian Middendorf accused him of "cold-blooded murder of two teenagers under circumstances that are appalling and far beyond any self-defense claim."

Sheriff Michel Wetzel said Monday that he believes the teenagers were committing a burglary but said Smith's reaction went beyond legal protections of Minnesota law that allows crime victims to use reasonable force to protect themselves and their property during a felony.

"We understand and respect that right exists, but what happened in this case went further," Wetzel said. "The law doesn't permit you to execute somebody when there's no possible way the crime can continue."

And the law requires people to notify police, said Wetzel, who learned about the shooting from a neighbor the next day. The sheriff said the reason Smith gave for never calling police was "it was Thanksgiving and he didn't want to bother us on a holiday."

Hamline University School of Law professor Joseph Olson, who has studied self-defense laws, noted that the number of Smith's shots will make it difficult for him to claim self-defense in court.

(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: littlefalls; shooting
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1 posted on 11/27/2012 7:59:43 AM PST by Uncle Chip
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To: Uncle Chip

Unrelated historical note: Little Falls is the home town of Charles Limbergh. They have a nice little Limbergh musium there if you’re ever in the neighborhood.


2 posted on 11/27/2012 8:06:17 AM PST by DManA
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To: Uncle Chip

This guy is a cold blooded murderer. Probably a psychopath. I hope he gets the maximum penalty allowed by the state of MN.


3 posted on 11/27/2012 8:06:46 AM PST by pgkdan (We are witnessing the modern sack of Rome. The barbarians have taken over.)
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To: Uncle Chip

Here are the burglars.. GIRL POWER?

4 posted on 11/27/2012 8:08:17 AM PST by Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America (IMPEACH OBAMA)
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To: Uncle Chip

He is charged with ‘murdering’ two teens.

Gad, the propaganda. “They were such nice kids, everybody loved them, inseparable, yadayada.”

What, exactly, are the workplace guarantees that criminals can expect when they choose this line of work? To be only shot once? To be asked, politely, to leave. To have to pay for the broken windows and smashed in doors, or is that just the victim’s tough luck? To be able to laugh and ‘express their feelings’ to the person they are robbing?

Might be none of the above.


5 posted on 11/27/2012 8:08:27 AM PST by bboop (does not suffer fools gladly)
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To: DManA

“Unrelated historical note: Little Falls is the home town of Charles Limbergh”

Is that the guy who invented Limbergher cheese?


6 posted on 11/27/2012 8:11:57 AM PST by raybbr (People who still support Obama are either a Marxist or a moron.)
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To: Uncle Chip
...what he told police was a "good clean finishing shot."

Never say anything except "I was in fear for my life".

7 posted on 11/27/2012 8:12:18 AM PST by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed &water the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS, NOW & FOREVER!)
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To: pgkdan

I don’t know which way to go on this story.. It’s possible these kids were breaking into his house and stealing stuff over a number of many days or months.. Or, it’s possible they didn’t even break into his house and that he lured them in. I’d like to see the police reports from prior burglaries. Also, if this man has lost valuables on numerous occasions I can understand his rage. These kids don’t look thugs but.. Who the hell knows anymore.


8 posted on 11/27/2012 8:15:42 AM PST by Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America (IMPEACH OBAMA)
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To: Uncle Chip
He was traumatized after having his house broken into 8 times and may have eaten too many twinkies as well.

That's my defense and I'm sticking to it.

9 posted on 11/27/2012 8:17:15 AM PST by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: bboop

You can defend your property from burglars, and if they die in the process, them’s the breaks. But you can’t execute burglars as they’re bleeding out on the floor at your feet.


10 posted on 11/27/2012 8:18:17 AM PST by mvpel (Michael Pelletier)
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To: Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America

The girl hears multiple gun shots in the basement. So what? She calmly walks down there to see what’s going on?


11 posted on 11/27/2012 8:18:35 AM PST by DManA
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To: Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America
Here are the burglars.. GIRL POWER?

Dollars to donuts she no longer looked pretty and fresh by the time of her demise, due to meth or other-drug-of-choice.

12 posted on 11/27/2012 8:19:10 AM PST by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed &water the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS, NOW & FOREVER!)
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To: Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America

I’m pretty sure shooting up a 18 year old girl finding out she’s not dead so you put a gun under her chin and blow her head off......

belongs in some sick slashed flic


13 posted on 11/27/2012 8:20:16 AM PST by Blackirish
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To: raybbr

No, that would be Rush Limbergh.


14 posted on 11/27/2012 8:21:07 AM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo (FR: Now, More Than Ever.)
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To: Blackirish

I know who’s getting the longer life sentence of the 3.


15 posted on 11/27/2012 8:22:35 AM PST by TurboZamboni (Looting the future to bribe the present)
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To: Uncle Chip
The guy never called 911.
He engaged in overkill...."a good clean finishing shot"? Really?
This whole thing stinks. Normally I root for the homeowner who's being intruded upon and threatened with bodily harm or death,but this just sounds like someone who was ready,willing and able to kill.
16 posted on 11/27/2012 8:23:15 AM PST by gimme1ibertee (When injustice becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.)
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To: mvpel

Agreed 100%. No way to condone what he did, but criminals had better understand that their actions have consequences, sometime severe, or even final.

Tragic, but I won’t waste any tears over these two.


17 posted on 11/27/2012 8:25:25 AM PST by Mich Patriot (PITCH BLACK is the new "transparent")
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To: Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America

Not girl power, meth power.


18 posted on 11/27/2012 8:27:58 AM PST by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: bboop

He was so upset at all the stuff stolen from him in previous burglaries that he shoots and kills probably the only people that know where it is and could get it back for him.


19 posted on 11/27/2012 8:30:24 AM PST by Uncle Chip
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To: JimRed

Still, a perplexing story.. He went for the overkill, possibly in a hyper-engraged state, or maybe just wacko. I can understand that if his place has been hit on multiple occasions and his valuables stolen. These kids should’ve been at home with family on Thanksgiving! You’re probably right.. Valuables for money for meth.


20 posted on 11/27/2012 8:30:47 AM PST by Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America (IMPEACH OBAMA)
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