In what can only be described as a quest to promote and defend the most vile and disgusting among the dregs of humanity, Sean Hannity may have outdone even himself this time.
Via Media Matters:
"Fox host Sean Hannity dismissed the murder convictions of a Minnesota homeowner who used excessive force in killing two teenagers who broke into his home, claiming with exasperation, "They broke into the guy's house."
On April 29, Minnesota resident Byron Smith was convicted on two counts each of premeditated first-degree murder and second-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Haile Kifer, 18, and Nick Brady, 17. Brady and Kifer were killed on Thanksgiving Day 2012 after breaking into Smith's home.
While homeowners have broad latitude in defending their residences from intruders, a jury believed that Smith went too far. Prosecutors compared Smith's actions on Thanksgiving Day to the setting up of a deer stand. After spotting a neighbor he believed had previously burglarized his house, Smith moved his car to make his home seem unoccupied and then waited in his basement "with a book, energy bars, a bottle of water and two guns."
Smith also set up an audio recording which captured what transpired. After breaking a window, Brady came down the basement stairs and was shot two times. Smith was then heard saying, "You're dead," before firing a third shot into his face. He then put Brady's body on a tarp and moved him to another room.
Moments later, Smith wounded and then killed Kifer execution-style with a shot under her chin."
The Washington Post
published (Part 1) a
recount (Part 2) of the chilling audio of the killing made by the shooter himself. The audio was played for jurors in Smith's Minnesota trial.
After the killings, Smith's recorder captured him calling the teenagers "vermin" and stating the "mess" he had to clean up was worse than "vomit" or "diarrhea."
Smith then waited until the next day before asking his neighbor to alert police about the shooting.
Hannity covered the case on his April 30th segment of his Fox News "show."
Media Matters:
While Hannity said he didn't like the fact that Smith had called the slain teens "vermin," he nonetheless questioned the verdict because "they broke into the guy's house." Hannity also suggested that "the judge in that case didn't give all the facts to the jury," and asked, "How could it be premeditated when they broke into his house?" When Fox's Geraldo Rivera expressed disgust at the "coup de grace" shot that killed Kifer, Hannity responded, "You know what, it's easy to say after the fact, 'I wouldn't.'"
Guest Bernard McGuirk, a producer for Fox Business' Imus in the Morning, claimed that Smith should "get a Medal of Freedom for what he did. He protected himself."
The Fox News crew shares some hearty laughter at the end that should chill your blood more than the account of these brutal murders.
The dead teens were, btw, unarmed.