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 15th 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.
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.
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 25th 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.”