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 ...
That doesn't matter! The Second Amendment does not give this cretin ore anyone else the Right to act as Judge Jury and Executioner. H eshot them and they were then unable to harm him. They were unarmed. What possible right to you think that the guy had to take his 'nice finsihing shot'?
From what I’ve read, the individual in question admitted to putting a gun under the girl’s chin and shooting a ‘finishing shot’.
That’s how you kill deer, not deal with an intruder. It’s quite true that we haven’t heard the details of the break-in, which is why I qualified my earlier statement. I want all the details before making a judgment.
Still, if it’s true that an execution-style killing ended this sad story, can you really defend it?
I dont know I think that there has to be a lot of consideration for what is going on and how it works with the average person. If someone is robbing the victim, viticim pulse and blood pressure goes way up and judgment diminishes of course after heart rate reaches 136.
I would say that anyone who commits a crime like this against another, has to endure the consequences. Whether it is being shot, hit or chased down and killed. It certainly would make some people think twice about breaking and entering. Currently the law holds back the hand of the victim.
LEOs are trained on holding back force and I still see things that amaze me about them.
“,but this just sounds like someone who was ready,willing and able to kill.”
There is somthing wrong with that???
That made me LOL!
Did you even bother to read the article? If you did and then posted wht you posted you should be ashamed. We do not condone cold blooded murder in this country. He Murdered those kids. I don’t argue with his right to shoot anyone who breaks into his house. I do however draw the line at shooting a wounded human being in the head, as a nice clean finishing shot! If you can’t see that as murder then you need to seriously relect upon the state of your soul!
His lawyers should and probably will claim diminished capacity and they should be able to find a doctor somewhere who will say he is suffering from early on set dementia.
This is probably the facts.
The kids were where they had no business being, and we don’t know jhow many times they have burgled in the same neighborhood.
Wait a few weeks and see if burglaries go down.
Nonsense. A gun goes off in the basement the whole house rings.
I notice from the article update that the police are still investigating the crime scene.
They thus far are only saying that the two broke and entered and were burglarizing the home.
I’m sure they are looking carefully at his story of shooting them as they were coming down the stairs to the basement.
Yes. I have ZERO sympathy for thieves and anyone else who initiated force/fraud/theft against someone else.
She was dying anyway. If he had just let her gasp on for a few more minutes, would that have made him "more humane" in your eyes and that of the Leftist Mlps Star Tribune?
The guy was just being considerate and thinking of others..
The case of the pharmacist was what came to my mind, too, in reading this story. There’s no video to substantiate what happened this time, though. Maybe these two teens broke into his house, or maybe they were lured there. Who knows, but the investigation should find out more soon enough. The man is incriminating himself, so maybe he’s telling the absolute truth.
I said it was conceivable, not that it was likely.
Actually, my thought was that a call to the authorities after proper application of Minnesota law would have been more appropriate.
http://www.shotinthedark.info/wp/?p=32070
Take a look at this article. It’s written by Mitch Berg, who takes a back seat to no one in Minnesota gun control debates. You might find it illuminating. Or, you might not. That’s up to you.
Again, I want all facts before I judge, but I don’t believe in execution in the guise of self-defense.
that photo makes me want to shoot him myself
He killed them. No one is denying that. You seem to be over looking that they initiated the actions that got them killed in the first place. How they died is at best a tertiary concern.
You weren't there. I wasn't there. The Strib liberal who wrote the article wasn't there. Your speculation is at best no better than mine. At worst, you are defending thieves while lynching the home owner based on emotions...
check you own soul. Mines just fine.
I wonder what the autopsy will show about drugs in their system. or if we will ever know about any of that.
I stopped reading at “reasonable force”. It’s a subjective clause in the Minn law that has screwed more than one person over in a self-defense situation.
Any time the “law” is left that ambiguous... It’s bad law based on crap logic. Bank on it.
I don’t believe in chasing old geezers into their basements while robbing their homes. Maybe I’m old fashioned that way. :-|
Not according to the law --
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