A Minnesota man who gunned down two teens who broke into his home was found guilty of murdering the unarmed intruders he likened to “vermin.”
A jury took just three hours Tuesday afternoon to find Byron Smith, 65, guilty of the Thanksgiving Day 2012 slayings of Haile Kifer, 18, and Nick Brady, 17. Audio clips of the shootings were captured by a recording system the man had rigged up to capture the burglars in the act.
The Little Falls jury of six men and six women, in a small town 100 miles northwest of Minneapolis along the Mississippi River, found Smith guilty of premeditated first-degree murder and second-degree murder in the deaths of the two teens.
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Byron David Smith of Minnesota was convicted Tuesday of premeditated murder in the shootings of two teen burglars. </figure>
During closing arguments Tuesday, prosecutor Pete Orput likened the killings to deer hunting from a tree stand as he outlined the preparations Smith took before slaying the teens: he stocked up on water, snacks, extra ammo, a book and a tarp in his basement, and even moved his truck away from his home to make it appear he was away.
As Orput showed the courtroom a picture of the chair where Smith waited, he said, “That’s the deer stand, right there.”
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</ins> Facebook Enlarge </figure> <figure class="a-image"> <ins style="height:462px;">
</ins> Facebook Enlarge </figure> Nick Brady, 17, and Haile Kifer, 18, were shot and killed by a homeowner after breaking into the man’s home on Thanksgiving Day 2012.
The audio recordings, taken from his bugged basement, seemed to hurt the man’s case. He appeared to take pleasure in the murders, prosecutors contended.
A 15-minute clip of the shooting includes the sounds of the teens getting gunned down and Smith dragging their bodies in a tarp to keep their blood from staining his carpet.
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Dave Schwarz/AP Byron Smith leaves the Morrison County, Minn., Courthouse after closing arguments in his trial Tuesday. A jury found him guilty of murder three hours later. </figure>
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/cri...een-intruders-article-1.1773270#ixzz30PQ1erU9
A jury took just three hours Tuesday afternoon to find Byron Smith, 65, guilty of the Thanksgiving Day 2012 slayings of Haile Kifer, 18, and Nick Brady, 17. Audio clips of the shootings were captured by a recording system the man had rigged up to capture the burglars in the act.
The Little Falls jury of six men and six women, in a small town 100 miles northwest of Minneapolis along the Mississippi River, found Smith guilty of premeditated first-degree murder and second-degree murder in the deaths of the two teens.
<figure class="a-image v">
During closing arguments Tuesday, prosecutor Pete Orput likened the killings to deer hunting from a tree stand as he outlined the preparations Smith took before slaying the teens: he stocked up on water, snacks, extra ammo, a book and a tarp in his basement, and even moved his truck away from his home to make it appear he was away.
As Orput showed the courtroom a picture of the chair where Smith waited, he said, “That’s the deer stand, right there.”
<figure class="a-image"> <ins style="height:462px;">
The audio recordings, taken from his bugged basement, seemed to hurt the man’s case. He appeared to take pleasure in the murders, prosecutors contended.
A 15-minute clip of the shooting includes the sounds of the teens getting gunned down and Smith dragging their bodies in a tarp to keep their blood from staining his carpet.
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Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/cri...een-intruders-article-1.1773270#ixzz30PQ1erU9
