Circling The News

Brianna Kupfer was brutally murdered.

Mother Lori Kupfer’s Victim Impact Statement:

I want to thank the prosecution and his team for all the support they have given us throughout this process and your honor for her time and for keeping an orderly proceeding.

I have written this statement in my mind a million times, but this is the first and last written version I wrote.

The last time I saw my daughter Brianna was the night before she was murdered. She was packing for a trip. I was helping her find warm clothes before she left.  I hugged her and told her I loved her and to have a safe trip. That was the last time I would ever speak or listen to or hug my daughter. The last time I would see her smile or hear her laughter.

Brianna was a beautiful person inside and out.  She was artistic. She was intelligent. She was a hard worker. She was a daughter, a sister and a friend to many.  She cared about people in a selfless sweet way that few possess.   She was a true empath.  She cared so deeply about her family and her friends. She was always trying to make everyone peaceful and happy. She was trying to make the world a better place.

She was still in school with dreams of owning her own business.  She dreamed of getting married and having kids and had a list of baby names.  She had a list of hundreds of books she wanted to read; she was an avid reader. She had a bucket list of all the places she wanted to travel.  She had aspirations and goals. She had a list of where she wanted to be in three years, five years and 10 years.

She will never get her graduate degree from UCLA, start her business, get married and have kids, read those books, travel to those countries, nor make those three-, five- and 10-year goals.  We will never hear her laughter nor receive phone messages from her nor have any deep and intelligent discussions with her.  We will never have any more holiday gatherings with her. We will not meet her husband or her children.

Forty-six stabs took that away. The holes he made in her body, he made in my heart.

Not a day goes by that I do not feel the loss. She’s not in a better place because she is supposed to be here. The end of this trial is not closure. There’s no such thing for me.  This crime did not end with my beautiful daughter’s death but lives on forever in all the lives of the people who love Brianna.  She will forever be in my mind and heart, but today is the last day I will ever think of this murderer.

I had to sit in court and listen to evidence of the murderer going into my daughter’s place of employment and lie to my sweet daughter about his intentions.

I had to listen to my daughter scream and plead that she can help him as he ruthlessly kept stabbing her 46 times stating “it is over bitch,”  her last words” I can help you,” but the last thing she heard was him shouting obscenities.

I find it appalling that my world is home to people like him who have total disregard  for a stranger’s life.

Throughout this trial the murderer sat there with zero remorse. His actions were the worst evil and most heinous actions I could ever imagine towards a sweet innocent girl who only showed him kindness,

He took away one of the most precious things in my life, but he did not beat us, he did not break us down for all the hatred and pain and needless suffering that his actions and this trial entailed.  We are stronger. He did not rob me of my hope nor my faith in the good parts of this life.

He ruthlessly ended my daughter’s life, and made my family smaller, and my life forever will be changed, but he did not destroy us, he only destroyed himself. Martin Luther King stated darkness cannot drive out darkness only light can do that, hate cannot drive out hate only love can do that. My daughter represented pure light and love.

I plead with this court to protect society from this evil person and sentence the murderer to prison for life without the possibility of parole for any reason so that he can never inflict pain and hurt another beautiful innocent person.

Father Todd Kupfer’s Impact Statement:

Good morning your honor. I am guessing by now you know that I am Brianna’s father.

Before Brianna’s murder, I felt that our family was blessed. My wife and I had four healthy, well-achieving and amazing children. Each of them was unique, yet they shared an incredible bond. At Christmas time just three weeks before the murder, the care and love between them was so palpable and endearing, I had to comment on it for the whole family to hear.

I think that all of us would agree that Brianna was the glue between the siblings, the go-to person when any of them needed advice, on anything.  I should include my wife and I in this, she had great insight that was genuinely delivered for anyone, any age.

Obviously, Brianna was a cherished daughter. She gave the world love, kindness, wisdom, grace, courage, curiosity, laughter, and an uncanny ability to make others feel important, heard, and loved. I cannot be prouder of who she was.

I also could not be sadder by her loss. I wish I could have seen what incredible things she would have accomplished, who she would have included in her life, and perhaps the babies she would have loved and nurtured. She could always surprise you with new accomplishments in things you didn’t even know she was interested in; I would relish to see what those may have been in her future.

There isn’t a day, and for that matter, a night, that I don’t think of her. No one can understand the depth of despair and sadness at the loss of a child unless they have experienced it. It is a nightmare that haunts you to your core.

The criminal, on the other hand, and I will only refer to him as the criminal, he doesn’t deserve to be called by his name, couldn’t be more opposite than Brianna. He has given the world darkness, hatred, malice, fear, and cowardice. The first of these nouns speak for themselves. He is beyond evil; He is evil incarnate. The last noun, cowardice, I use to describe him because he not only preyed on a defenseless and unsuspecting female victim, killing her senselessly and brutally, but he has forced us to view and relive the heinousness of his crime here in this courtroom, even though he knows the facts of his guilt were overwhelming, and his sanity never questioned. In a better world, he would have been denied his deceitful plea and sentenced for quick elimination. He deserves nothing but that. After this day, I hope I don’t ever have to hear of him again.

I believe Brianna is amongst the angels in heaven. I know she would prefer to be here on earth, but heaven deserves her and is better because of her. The angels got a really good one in Brianna.

Then there is hell; I believe that a reservation is being held there in the criminal’s name, most assuredly in its deepest and darkest depths.

Your honor, as much as I wish it, I know it is not in your power to send him to that reservation today, but I would ask that you use all the legal power you have to sentence him as harshly as possible. If not, I fear there will be other parents, family members, friends, and communities, who will suffer the same fate as we all have.

Brianna surrounded by her family – mom, dad and siblings.

(Editor’s note: the sanity portion of the trial against Shawn Laval Smith ended yesterday, October 2. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the brutal murder of 24-year-old Palisadian Brianna Kupfer, who he stabbed 46 times as she worked in a furniture store on La Brea Avenue. Brianna’s siblings and friends also gave victim impact statements about the beauty of their friend and sister, who provided inspiration and goodness, and how her death has changed their lives forever.)

Friends and family of Brianna Kufper gathered in the hallway before the courtroom was opened for the sanity portion of the murder trial.

Shawn Laval Smith was declared sane, today, October 2. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole for the brutal murder of Brianna Kupfer, 24.

Smith, a transient with a long criminal history, stabbed Kupfer 46 times when she was working alone in the Croft House on January 13, 2022.

On September 10, a jury found Smith guilty of first-degree murder and a special circumstance of lying in wait. Once the jury found him guilty, a separate determination needed to be made about the insanity plea. Smith agreed to have the judge hear the insanity portion of the trial, rather than a jury.

In a courtroom on the 15^th floor of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, the judge said “This is the second phase of the trial. We have concluded the guilt phase and now we move to the sanity phase.”  She pointed out that the burden of the proof is on the defense.

A person is considered not guilty if they 1) do not understand the nature of their crime, and 2) they could not distinguish between right and wrong at the time of the crime.

If a person is legally declared insane, they do not go to jail, but rather spend time in a state mental hospital until a doctor determines their sanity is restored.

District Attorney Habib Bailian and Smith’s Defense Attorney  Robert Haberer both had psychiatrists examine Smith. The judge had read both reports.

Before the judge discussed the reports, Bailian submitted four jail cell phone calls and the transcripts into the record.

Shawn Laval Smith was sentenced today for  the murder of Brianna Kupfer. His defense attorney is Robert Haberer.

The calls were between Smith and an unidentified friend/family member over several months in 2022. Prison calls are recorded and inmates have that knowledge.

In the first call Smith told the person not to worry, “All I got to do is go to competency court. All I got to do is play crazy,” he said.

In the next call, Smith said “I just go to the hospital and play retarded. I’ll be in the state hospital five years.”

In the third call, the caller told him they had DNA and everything to which Smith said, “They’re letting me out on the insanity plea, bro.”

In the final call, the caller asked him “How much time you’re going to get?” To which Smith said, “N*gger, zero time. Insanity plea.”

The report from the Smith’s psychiatrist was nine pages long and the judge cited different pages. “On p. 3, the report says, the defendant appears to be logical.” The psychiatrist said there could be a diagnosis of bipolar, but that the defendant didn’t exhibit signs of depression, and that the defendant identified with a psychotic disorder of schizophrenia, but that the diagnosis was not applicable to insanity defense.

The people’s psychiatrist wrote an 88-page report. It was thorough and detailed the defendant’s behavior. He administered 15 tests to Smith but concluded that there were no discernable signs of mental illness. According to the doctor, the defendant had a pattern of aggressive and violent behavior towards others, but was never given consequences.

The defendant told the doctor that his mother was an addict, his father sent to jail and he and siblings were put in foster homes where they suffered sexual abuse.

In the report it was noted that “the defendant had a propensity for deceitfulness and for violence.”

The judge noted that the defendant was upset with his mother and said the way he had been raised was wrong. “He clearly knows the difference between right and wrong,” the judge said. “The doctor said he was sane at the time of the crime.”

The insanity plea was rejected.

Brianna Kupfer was murdered and remembered in victim impact statements.

Victim impact statements, from Kupfer’s parents, three siblings and seven friends, were given and included descriptions of Brianna, her personality and character.

Tears were running down the faces of almost everyone in the courtroom as Brianna was remembered.

Mother Lori said, “Brianna was a beautiful person inside and out. She was trying to make the world a better place, she wanted to marry to have kids . . . .the holes he made in her body are the holes in my heart.”

Brianna’s brothers said, “We’re heartbroken, our sibling was taken far too soon.” Her sister said, “We lost Brianna because of this monster, who epitomizes darkness and pure evil.” She described how her sister was her best friend in the world and when she woke up her sister was gone, “I feel heart-shattering pain. Nothing will ever make this right. Brianna will never celebrate her 25^th birthday.”

Her father Todd said, “Brianna gave the world kindness and laughter. The loss of a child haunts you to the core. I believe she is in heaven with the angels.”

He asked the judge to sentence Smith as harshly as possible because, “he is beyond evil, he preyed on an innocent victim. He deserves death.”

The friend’s statements were equally emotional, and her friend Gabi spoke about how Brianna was booked to take a flight to New York City to celebrate Gabi’s birthday. Instead, her best friend was killed. Brianna had written her birthday card, which Lori found in her suitcase and gave to Gabi.

In it Brianna wrote, “I can’t wait to be old women together.”

Her friends spoke about how their world would never be the same after Brianna was gone and described her as “a true angel among us and the light she brought into our lives.”

In sentencing Smith, the judge acknowledged the Kupfers, “I cannot even come close to understanding what your family is going through. . . .but as a constitutional officer I have to follow the law and that’s what I’ll do.”

“This particular case was so brutal it shocked the conscience of the court,” the judge said. “From the victim’s statements I heard that Brianna’s death caused lives to be changed forever.”

The judge sentenced Smith to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

She added that there are a new flurry of laws that are allowing for early release of inmates, but “the facts of this case are so heinous and egregious that it should be clear to the appellate court that the sentence should be life without the possibility of parole.

“The court points out the jail cell calls were efforts to feign insanity. This defendant was calculated and knew exactly what he wanted to do. He knew the difference between right and wrong,” the judge said.

“The defendant is remanded to the Department of Corrections, forthwith.”