GOOD VERDICT, BAD SHOOT: Jury convicts in MN home invader case

Two kids break into a man’s house and are shot dead.

Sounds like a clear-cut case for self-defense, right?

At first blush, yes.

But not in this case.

In Minnesota, a man laid in wait for burglars to break into his home.  Nothing terribly wrong with guarding your property against burglars.

The difference here is that this man was essentially hunting human beings.

He had a cell-phone jammer set up, along with video surveillance and a tape recorder.

He sat and waited for a couple of teens to break in.

He shot one unarmed teen as he descended the steps into the basement.  Then taunted him as he lay dying.

And then shot him a few more times before dragging his body away, reloading and waiting for the second teen he had seen on his video monitor.

He didn’t have to wait long.  The female half came down, looking for her cousin.  The homeowner shot her in the legs with a Mini-14, then calmly walked over and shot her in the chest a few times with his .22 pistol.  And then there was the “clean finishing shot” to the head.

The homeowner then waits a day before asking a neighbor to notify police.

Good riddance, buddy.

You’re a sociopath.

LITTLE FALLS, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota homeowner who shot and killed two unarmed teenagers during a break-in was quickly convicted of premeditated murder Tuesday, with a jury taking about three hours to reject his claim of self-defense.

Byron Smith, a 65-year-old retiree who once set up security in American embassies for the U.S. State Department, shot Nick Brady, 17, and Haile Kifer, 18, multiple times after they broke into his home on Thanksgiving Day 2012.

Smith’s attorney said he was fearful after previous burglaries. But prosecutors argued Smith waited in his basement and intended to kill the teens, with a setup so elaborate that lead prosecutor Pete Orput compared it to a deer stand. Their key evidence was an audio recording that captured the killings in chilling detail, including Smith’s taunts as the teens died.

The mothers of the teens, who were cousins, cried as the verdicts were read: guilty on two counts each of first-degree and second-degree murder. Smith, who showed no emotion as he heard the verdicts, was immediately sentenced to life without parole. Defense attorney Steve Meshbesher said he would appeal.