Outburst in Court In Case of Hancock Park Furniture Store Slaying
By Dolores Quintana
A judge’s ruling on June 9 determined that Shawn Laval Smith, a homeless man charged with the fatal stabbing of a 24-year-old UCLA grad student inside a Hancock Park furniture store, can no longer act as his own attorney due to an outburst during court proceedings. Brianna Kupfer was stabbed 26 times in the store where she worked.
Superior Court Judge Mildred Escobedo revoked Smith’s right to self-representation after a heated hearing where he directed profanities at the judge and abruptly stood up from his seat in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom, as reported by ABC 7 News.
Judge Escobedo further stated that Smith had been removed from the courtroom and informed the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department that he would likely need to be brought to court in a security chair.
As a result, defense attorney Robert Haberer, who had previously been appointed as Smith’s stand-by counsel, will now represent him in the upcoming trial for the January 13, 2022, killing of Brianna Kupfer. The victim’s body was discovered in the store by a customer approximately 15 minutes after she sent a text to a friend that said she was unnerved by a customer, with authorities noting that the attack seemed to be entirely random and unprovoked.
