Trial for the Man who Stabbed Briana Kupfer to Start

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Briana Kupfer was brutally murdered.

Jury selection for the trial of Shawn Laval Smith, who is accused of killing Brianna Kupfer, is supposed to start on Thursday, August 22.

The court is dark on August 23. If the jury is seated on August 22, opening statements could begin as early as August 26.

Kupfer’s mom Lori said she would let CTN know exact dates as soon as she found out. “The media asked to live stream the trial, but the judge denied the request and said that all reporters are allowed but no video cameras or cameras in the court room,” Lori said.

Todd and Lori’s 24-year-old daughter was stabbed on January 13, 2022, when she was working alone at Croft House, a Hancock Park boutique furniture store. Kupfer was found on the floor by a customer.

The young woman suffered 46-sharp force wounds. There were 26 stab wounds and 11 of the wounds were to the chest, which punctured both lungs. According to the autopsy, she died from exsanguination – the loss of blood.

Kupfer attended St. Matthew’s Parish School and then Brentwood School before going to the University of Miami. Upon the completion of her degree in 2019, she returned to attend graduate school at UCLA.

On “Fox and Friends,” her dad said “”She was a kind soul and always was trying to make herself better and everything around her better. She cared about people.”

The slain woman loved to sew and made a lot of her own garments by hand. “She liked fun clothes and thought they said something about people’s personalities,” he said. “She wanted to create a clothing line.”

“She was the kind of person we need on this Earth,” Todd said. “She was strong and vivacious.”

Kupfer, an optimistic, petite woman, was much beloved in the Pacific Palisades community by neighbors, classmates and friends.

By contrast, Smith, 6’2” and 190-pound male has a long rap sheet with 15 arrests. He has at least 11 arrests in Charleston, S.C., dating back to 2010, when he would have been in high school.

There is still a pending November 2019 South Carolina case against Smith for allegedly discharging a firearm into a stranger’s vehicle while a toddler was in the back seat. Records show he was released 10 days later after posting $50,000 bond. He was told not to leave the state but went to California.

He was arrested in Covina in 2020 for misdemeanor possession of stolen property after allegedly shoplifting at a Home Depot but L.A. County prosecutors didn’t press charges, the Covina Police Department said. He was released on $1,000 bail.

In January 2021, Smith vandalized a car in Daly City, California and when officers arrested him, he resisted and bit one of them, according to court records. He was charged with assault on a police officer and resisting arrest.

Dist. Atty. Steve Wagstaffe said that Smith’s defense attorney claimed he was mentally incompetent to stand trial. But the suspect was examined by two doctors and, based on their findings last May, a judge determined he was competent to be tried. He served 133 days of an eight-month sentence and was released, but failed to report to his probation officer and his probation was revoked in November.

A bench warrant was issued for Smith’s arrest, but he vanished from the scene, Wagstaffe said. South Carolina authorities never contacted his office, he said, despite Smith being held in San Mateo County jail for eight months.

In addition to the murder charge, Smith also faces two special circumstances allegations: lying in wait and use of a knife. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Smith is being held at the Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles on $2 million bail.

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