LITTLE FALLS, Minn. — Byron Smith, serving a life sentence in prison without parole for the 2012 murders of 17-year-old Nicholas Brady and 18-year-old Haile Kifer in his Little Falls home, filed a defamation civil lawsuit against the former Morrison County Sheriff’s sergeant who served as the lead investigator on the case.

In his lawsuit, filed Aug. 8 in Morrison County District Court in Little Falls, Smith, 77, alleges Jeremy Luberts’ 2023 book about the murders and investigation, “Murder on Elm Street,” contains numerous false statements, misrepresentations and omissions that defame Smith and mislead readers. Also named as a defendant in the lawsuit is the book’s publisher, St. Paul-based Beaver’s Pond Press.

Smith claims on March 26, 2024, his counsel, Minneapolis-based Marshall T

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