The murders of Haile Kifer and Nicholas Brady occurred on Thanksgiving Day of 2012, when Haile Kifer, 18, and her cousin, Nicholas Brady, 17, broke into the home of 64-year-old Byron David Smith in Little Falls, Minnesota, in the United States.
Smith shot the teens separately and 10 minutes apart as they entered the basement where he was, later stating to police he was worried about them being armed.
The case sparked debate over the "castle doctrine", which allows homeowners to defend their homes with lethal force.
[2][3] The prosecution alleged that Smith's actions and a recording he made himself while the incidents were unfolding showed premeditation (lying in wait) and that he used excessive force after having neutralized the threat.
[6] Smith claimed at trial that prior to the murders he had been burgled at least half a dozen times over the preceding few months.
Among the items stolen were four thousand dollars in cash, his father's POW watch, coins from a collection, and a chainsaw.
Smith began routinely wearing a holster with a loaded gun inside his home, as well as stashing bottles of water and granola bars in his basement.
[9] By his own account to police, Smith had been visiting neighbors when he saw Kifer, whom he suspected was responsible for the burglaries, driving past his home.
Smith then made taunting remarks to Brady's body, wrapped it in a tarp and dragged him into another room.
He went upstairs, and 10 to 15 minutes later, he ran back down into the basement, reloaded his weapon and took up his previous position in the obscured chair.
[10] He repeatedly called her derogatory names and then dragged her into the other room, tossing her body on top of her cousin's, and shot her one final time under the chin, murdering her.
[7] Morrison County Sheriff Michel Wetzel has acknowledged that Brady and Kifer were there to burgle Smith's residence.
[6] Evidence recovered from the car driven by Brady was linked to a burglary of the residence of a retired teacher the night before he and Kifer were killed by Smith.
[15] Smith's statements to police describe delivering the coups mortels (English: fatal blows) to the heads of both teens after he had shot them on the stairs and they lay wounded on the basement floor.
"[6] Hamline University School of Law professor Joseph Olson said, "I think the first shot is justified.
The prosecution noted that Kifer was later shot in the left eye by Smith and allege that the other statement is a rehearsal of what he would say after the shooting—an indication that he knew he would soon need an attorney.
He pointed to other states, such as Florida, having a "stand your ground" law but Minnesota has what is known as a reasonable person doctrine.
[27] On November 20, 2020, Smith's lawyers filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court, which was denied on March 22, 2021.
The jury believed the actions Smith undertook to kill Brady and Kifer after disabling them were not an act of reasonable force to resist unlawful interference.