Shawn Laval Smith, 31, was charged Friday with one count of murder and a special charge that he used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a knife.
The suspect in the murder of UCLA grad student Brianna Kupfer has been formally charged with murder shifts,
Shawn Laval Smith, 31, was charged Friday with one count of murder and a special charge that he used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a knife, in the January 13 murder.
Smith was produced in Los Angeles Superior Court, where cameras were not allowed to capture the proceedings. california The judge generally prohibits cameras from the court without exception.
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon said in a statement, announcing the charges: ‘Those who show no compassion for human life will face dire consequences.’
“The murder of Brian Kupfer has devastated Los Angeles County and my office is reaching out to provide any service to his family,” Gascon said.
Gascon, a progressive prosecutor who faces a recall initiative after announcing sweeping changes to downgrade and drop charges in several criminal cases, strongly opposes the death penalty in all cases.
Smith appeared in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday, where cameras were not allowed to capture the proceedings.
Brianna was stabbed to death at around 1.50 pm while working alone in a Croft House store, minutes after she wrote to a friend that a man in the store was ‘giving her a bad vibe’
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon vowed ‘serious consequences’ in the case. Prosecutors in his office have been barred from seeking the death penalty
When he took office in December 2020, Gascon barred his prosecutors from seeking the death penalty, writing in a memo: ‘The reality is the death penalty doesn’t make us safe, it’s racist, it’s morally unstable’ Today it is off the table in LA County, it is irreversible and expensive and is beginning.’
Brianna was stabbed at around 1.50 pm while working alone at the Croft House store on La Brea, minutes after she texted a friend that a man in the store was ‘giving her a bad vibe’.
Smith is a career criminal with a long rap sheet on both sides, and at the time of the murder he was released on $1,000 bond from a shoplifting arrest in Los Angeles County in October 2020.
Prosecutors in Gascon’s office determined there was not enough evidence to prosecute the shoplifting case and declined to pursue charges, court records show.
Following the shocking murder, the LAPD immediately released surveillance video of the suspect exiting a furniture store, as well as buying a vape pen at a convenience store approximately 30 minutes later.
Smith was named as a suspect on Tuesday and a massive search began. A tip from the public led police to Smith at the Pasadena bus stop on Wednesday, where he was arrested without incident.
The suspect, dressed in all black, walked into a store about four miles from the crime scene where Kupfer was found dead
Smith was arrested by Pasadena police a day after the Los Angeles Police Department called for help to find the ‘armed and dangerous’ man.
Smith was detained about 15 miles from the high-end furniture store where Kupfer was murdered.
Public records show that the accused murderer has a prolific criminal record, with dozens of prior charges in North Carolina and South Carolina.
He was freed on $50,000 bond in Charleston, South Carolina in connection with a November 2019 arrest on suspicion of firing a weapon into an occupied vehicle, court records show.
An indictment in that case was handed down on March 16, 2020, before COVID-19 paralyzed the courts, and the docket does not show further action on the case.
He was indicted in 2017 by San Diego prosecutors for carrying a concealed dagger and brandishing a deadly weapon in a fight. According to court records, he was given three years’ probation and ordered to pay a $400 fine.
Smith has a prolific criminal record with dozens of prior charges in North Carolina and South Carolina.
Last year, he was arrested for biting a cop while in custody near San Francisco.
It is unclear why he was not held in custody and extradited to South Carolina at the time, as he had an open warrant in Palmetto State.
Smith suffered from mental health issues and had a history of violence, Velma Washington – who claimed to be his aunt – told Fox Digital,
She said she was not familiar with his diagnosis but that ‘he was a good boy’.
According to LAPD data, homicide took place amid a massive increase in crime in Los Angeles, a 52 percent increase from 2019 last year and a 59 percent increase in shooting incidents.
Jonathan Hatami, a veteran Los Angeles County prosecutor who has been an outspoken critic of Gascon and even sued him for retaliation last year, has targeted his boss in the wake of Kupfer’s murder, arguing He believes that his progressive policies are failing the community, and that he deserves to be out along with other ‘awake’ DAs in cities with rising crime rates.
Hatami tweeted on Tuesday, ‘No parent should ever bury their child. ‘But, if you lose a child to violence, we must have a DA who is ready to stand up and fight for the victims and prosecute these cases to the fullest extent of the law. Every victim deserves a voice and we all deserve justice.
,