1st-Degree Murder Charges Stand In Little Falls

LITTLE FALLS (AP) - A judge has declined to dismiss a first-degree murder indictment against a Minnesota man accused of shooting two teens breaking into his house.

Byron David Smith, 64, is accused in the shooting deaths of Haile Kifer, 18, and her cousin Nick Brady, 16. A criminal complaint said Smith shot the teenagers several times as they walked down his basement stairs last Thanksgiving.

Smith's attorneys had argued that prosecutors made mistakes in presenting their case to the grand jury. They also argued that statements he made to police at the scene should be suppressed.

Judge Douglas P. Anderson denied the motions late Friday.