Brianna Kupfer murder trial: Homeless man convicted of killing UCLA student at furniture store

LOS ANGELES - A jury on Tuesday convicted 34-year-old Shawn Laval Smith in the gruesome killing of UCLA graduate student Brianna Kupfer at a furniture store in Hancock Park two years ago.

Smith was convicted for the Jan. 13, 2022, attack on Kupfer. Jurors also found true a special circumstance allegation of murder while lying in wait, along with an allegation that he used a knife during the commission of the crime.

The trial will now move into a non-jury sanity phase, which is set to begin Oct. 2.

Smith faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if the judge determines he was sane at the time of the crime.

Brianna Kupfer, Shawn Laval Smith.

In his closing argument on Monday, Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian described Smith as a man who "hates women" and went from business to business while "hunting for a woman alone" and then posed as a customer when he found Kupfer working on her own inside the Croft House in the 300 block of North La Brea Avenue, near Beverly Boulevard.

Investigators said Smith is homeless and has a lengthy criminal record and was arrested several days after prosecutors said he allegedly stabbed Kupfer to death.  An autopsy report revealed Kupfer suffered 46 sharp force injuries, consisting of 26 stab wounds and 20 incised wounds. She suffered 11 stabs to the chest, two in the abdomen, one to the pelvis, two on her right arm, five on her left arm, two on her right leg and three on her left leg. All the stab wounds were said to be about five inches deep.

Her manner of death was ruled a homicide and her cause of death was sharp force injuries.

In an exclusive interview with FOX 11's Hailey Winslow, Todd and Lori Kupfer described their daughter as empathetic and the family peacemaker. Now, they say they're constantly reminded that she's gone. 

Prosecutors alleged there are images from security cameras of Smith at the store, along with his DNA on a knife left behind. Prosecutors also have a digital audio recorder they claim Smith left behind. On the recording, they claim to hear him rant about his hatred of women, as well as a recording of the killing.

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Judge Mildred Escobedo did not allow the media to get a copy of the recording, which the prosecution played during their opening statement. The sounds were so disturbing that Brianna's family walked out of the courtroom.

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Smith, who was ordered to wear a spit mask due to past outbursts in court, sat quietly through the prosecution's presentation. At times, he stared at the family, wrote notes on a pad, and showed little reaction to disturbing crime scene photos, or the sound of a voice coming out of the recorder saying "it's over (expletive)" repeatedly, on which Brianna is heard whimpering "I wanted to help you."

Defense attorney Robert Haberer countered that the recording did not prove there was a motive to commit murder by the man he described as a "homeless drifter" roaming at commercial businesses to talk with people behind the counter.

Smith's lawyer called the recording a "mildly incoherent rant laced with profanities" and "not exactly some sort of manifesto" or "smoking gun" for a "ghastly murder 2 1/2 weeks later."

"The decision to attack Brianna Kupfer happened in an instant ... This was not planned in any way," the defense lawyer said.

The judge revoked Smith's right to act as his own attorney during the trial following a contentious hearing in June 2023 in which he directed profanities at the judge during his first appearance before her and abruptly rose from his seat in the downtown Los Angeles courtroom.

A day after Smith was arrested in connection with Kupfer's killing, dozens of people gathered outside the furniture store for a vigil to pay tribute to the young woman's life and decry the senselessness of her death.

"Bri was the brightest part of anyone's day who got to interact with her," Alex Segal, a co-owner of the Croft House furniture store, said then. "She was smart and capable and intelligent. Kind and friendly and just an incredibly driven person."

FOX 11's Christina Gonzalez and Hailey Winslow and City News Service contributed to this report.