Circling The News

Brianna Kupfer was brutally murdered.

After the jury left the courtroom at 9:45, it took just a little over an hour for them to elect a jury foreman and then come back with guilty in the first-degree for defendant Shawn Laval Smith.

The twelve-member jury, six men and six women, also found the allegation that the murder had been committed while the defendant was lying in wait, true.  Finding that allegation true, means he was also guilty of special circumstances. The judge asked if the jurors were all in agreement.

“Yes” was the answer.

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

These are the booking photos of Shawn Lavel Smith who was found guilty.

Judge Mildred Escobedo in her instructions to jurors before she sent them to deliberate was “Do not rush.”

But the DNA, audio and surveillance evidence was so overwhelming against Smith, there was nothing for jurors to discuss. Defense Attorney Robert Haberer’s closing argument attempted to make the case possibly about race, or to paint Smith as someone who did not have the intelligence to lie in wait.

He argued that Smith had not planned this murder because he left behind the knife and an audio recording of the murder.

The jurors were dismissed and then came the nightmare for the Kupfers – and the public.

It was revealed that before the trial had started Smith had pled “not guilty” by reason of insanity. He could have had a jury hear the insanity portion of the case, too, but he waived the right to a jury for the insanity pleading. He will let the judge decide on that plea.

Once the jury determined Smith was “guilty” of the charges, the jury was dismissed. The second part of the trial, “not guilty by reason of insanity,” will take place on October 2. CTN was told in that portion of the trial that sometimes there is testimony, sometimes just reports.

The nightmare continues as long Smith is not shut up, forever.

Lori, Brianna’s mother said after the verdict was read in the courtroom, “I’m very happy with the verdict.” She praised the jurors for listening closely to the case and making the decision they did.

“There’s no justice for Brianna because my daughter it not alive,” Lori said. “We have done what we could to protect the public.”

In the court hallway, Briana’s father Todd spoke about District Attorney Habib Balian, “I think he did an effective job. It’s a relief, but there’s still a pending trial.”

The Kupfers spoke before several television news cameras after the trial.

Todd said, “There’s an overwhelming sense of relief. I do feel relief that the system delivered.

“Justice will never be served because our daughter will never be alive,” he said. “It’s not justice.”

Lori said, “When your children go off to work, you never expect the phone call that we got from the sheriff [that our daughter was dead]. Brianna was doing all the right things.”

The couple were asked by reporters if they wanted to share something about Brianna.

“She loved learning, she was curious, she had a big heart, she had a purity,” Todd said. “She cared.”

Lori added, “She had a beautiful soul. She was empathetic. She has a lot of good things to give this world.”

When asked about the trial and hearing the devastating tapes, Todd said, “It was brutal – we cried the entire time.” It was a painful and emotional trial with spectators joining the Kupfers with tears.

A portion of the taped interview is below. Councilmember Traci Park has come to the trial several times and offered support. She stands with the Kupfers.

There were so many friends, family, members of the community and media that came to the day’s closing arguments, that the trial was moved to a larger courtroom.

“This was not a movie, not a crime novel, not a fantastical story,” said District attorney Habib Bailian at the downtown courtroom in the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center. “This is real life. This is what happened to Brianna Kupfer.”

Closing arguments were given today, September 9. Kupfer, a 5’3” 123-pound UCLA graduate student was murdered as she worked alone on January 13, 2020.

Brianna Kupfer was murdered by Shawn Smith.

She was found dead on the floor at Croft House, a Hancock Park boutique furniture store on La Brea Avenue by a customer. About a week later Shawn Laval Smith was arrested for her violent murder.

The day started with instructions to the jury by Judge Mildred Escobedo. In addition to the murder charge, Smith faces two special circumstances allegations: lying in wait and use of a knife.

Balian described Kupfer as kind. Through an audio tape, we learned that she was pleasant to Smith at the store, tried to make him comfortable, which is what she did for all of the customers.

But “He used her kindness to get close,” Balian said, pulling out a replica of the knife. “He used this to puncture her lungs, stomach and liver. He stabbed her 46 times.”

Balian told jurors, “You’re thinking there must be something wrong with his head. We don’t want to see the bad in people. It’s easier to sleep at night if we think something’s wrong.

But he said if we face the truth, “We see this is a man who hated women and was on a rampage. We must view and judge the evidence as it is, no matter how vile.”

The attorney reminded jurors of the evidence, including videos and DNA, they had seen during the trial. That the defendant had gone in and out five different businesses, seeking to find a woman working alone.

He replayed the tape for the jury that Smith had recorded in December that spoke of his hatred for women. “I’m going to kill you all mother f*ckers. . .that’s all I give a f*ck about. That’s all. That’s killing you all mother f”ckers. . .I do not like the b*tches, girl. You all primary targets girl . . .”

Balian said Kupfer was about to become the ultimate target. He said Smith went from business to business “hunting for a victim.” Smith first went into Twentieth, then Art Space and Friedman Law Office.

There were other people working in the first two, and “he could see the law office was under surveillance,” Balian said. “He’s hunting and has not yet found his subject.”

Smith goes into Langdon Cole (furniture) but finds the male owner with two dogs. His next stop is a chiropractic office. “Why doesn’t he stay?” Balian asks, and then answers, because it was busy with multiple people.

“Then his evil hunt brought him to Brianna,” Balian said. She was working alone that day.
Smith walked into the store and struck up a conversation with Kupfer. He told her he was looking for furniture for he and his girlfriend.

“She has no idea what she’s facing,” Balian said, and shows a still from the Croft House, with Kupfer behind the desk and Smith at the counter. “She’s at ease, acting professional and welcoming.”

Balian said that Smith was lying in wait, because he had a knife in his pocket, and left the store briefly under the pretext of calling his girlfriend.

Outside the store, Smith is shown on video. It appears he looks one way down the street and then the other before returning to the store. “He checked to see if the coast was clear and then returns and butchers her with a filet knife.

“As she is clawing to try and stand up, he’s running to get out the back door,” Balian said.

“This is first degree murder because it was willful, deliberate and premeditative,” he said. “There was overwhelming evidence it was a premeditative murder.”

Balian also argued that the jury should find a special circumstance of lying in wait because “he was smart, he hid his true intentions, he lures her, he engages her.”

Defense Attorney Robert Haberer did not argue that his client killed, but rather argued this was not a first-degree murder and that the special circumstance of lying in wait did not apply.

Defense attorney Robert Haberer and Shawn Laval Smith listens to testimony in Los Angeles Superior Court from a witness during the murder trial for the killing of UCLA college student Brianna Kupfer. 
Frederick M. Brown for DailyMail.com

After putting up large photos of Kupfer and Smith, he started with a question “Why has this case stirred up more emotion and garnered more media coverage for this victim?”

He told about a case he had just worked where a pregnant woman had been shot and left on the ground and no media showed up. “There are many cases with a higher body count,” Haberer said. “But this case only supports a verdict of second-degree murder.

“We hunger for a meaning,” he said and explained that passion cannot dictate justice. “We can say that the suspect was like the Big Bad Wolf slaughtering Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother.” Or that Kupfer for many was like a princess, with “a dark monster emerging to kill an innocent young girl.

“That’s why this case has attracted so much attention,” he said.

Haberer then went through the same facts that Balian had presented, but with a different interpretation. He described his client as a transient, who sought to have contact with others.

“The suspect wasn’t waiting to murder her, but rather to sustain conversation with a friendly, attractive woman,” Haberer said, and told jurors that Smith going into different stores, was not to find someone to murder, but rather a pastime, a way for him to connect and speak to different individuals.

“He would just start walking and go into stores without buying,” the defense attorney said and added the murderer was trying to flirt because Brianna was pretty and kind.

“Things between him and the victim were relatively normal,” Haberer said. “The attack occurred spontaneously.

“Why did he kill her?” Haberer asked. “I don’t know. The killer doesn’t know either. He can’t think in a linear fashion. His ability to carry on a logical conversation is limited.”

Haberer repeated the killing was not premeditated, but was caused by emotion, not thoughts or ideas.

He said the attack was not planned, that the defendant was not smart enough to do that.

“Would he leave his knife and sheath with DNA behind,” Haberer said. “Why would he  forget to take the voice recording?”

Smith left a tape recording on the counter of Croft House that captured Kupfer’s final moments and it has been played in court several times.

“Anyone who would leave the most critical items behind is not smart,” Haberer said.

After the defense closing, the District Attorney once again addresses the jury.

“Haberer is an excellent attorney. He’s skilled, he’s a great guy, but his argument was to confuse and distract you.

“If he confuses you, you will stop looking at the evidence in front of you,” Balian said.
He repeated that Smith hated women, that he went hunting. “He lured Brianna into a sense of security by lying in wait.” He told the jury “He [Haberer] is trying to get one of you to not to think that’s what it was.

“There is overwhelming evidence that murder was premeditated,” Balian said and concluded “Brianna was ambushed. If you’re going to do what’s fair; do what’s just; you will find Smith guilty of murder.”

The jury will start deliberations tomorrow.