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Thread: Joseph Peter Smith - Florida

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    Joseph Peter Smith - Florida




    Carlie Brucia


    January 9, 2009

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - An attorney for condemned killer Joseph Smith is asking the Florida Supreme Court to overturn his death sentence. Smith was sentenced to death for the highly publicized murder of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia in 2004. His abduction of the middle school student was captured on security cameras and broadcast nationwide.

    Public Defender Deborah Brueckheimer raised questions about the handling of DNA that linked Smith to the killing and sexual assault, suggesting it could have been mishandled by the FBI lab and that lawyers for Smith didn't have a chance to adequately question technicians on how the evidence was handled.

    The defense questioned why graphic photos were shown to the jury and is also suggesting several jurors had already made up their minds and should have been excluded from the jury pool. The jury voted 10-2 for death.

    The court itself seemed concerned that the trial judge sited six aggregating factors in imposing death and that at least two of them may have been improper, including a prior conviction in which Smith pleaded no contest. The court also asked pointed questions about Smith's alleged drug use and whether the crime was pre-meditated.

    A lawyer for the state argued the DNA was properly handled and that strangulating the 11 year old was well thought out in advance since Smith attacked her from behind with a shoe lace and strangled her while her hands were bound.

    In disputing the allegation that Smith was under the influence of drugs and didn't remember anything, Assistant Attorney General Carol Dittmar recalled testimony from neighbors who saw Smith before and after the abduction and said he was acting normally.

    The court took the case under advisement. Neither attorney would talk with reporters afterward. The court could order a new trial, a new sentencing hearing, or affirm the lower court decision.

    http://www.winknews.com/news/top/37212979.html

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    Case Information:

    On 04/20/06, Smith filed a Direct Appeal in the Florida Supreme Court, citing the following issues: (1) the appellant’s federal constitutional right to confront was violated when the State was allowed to introduce DNA lab results without the testimony of the person who conducted the tests and obtained the results, (2) the trial court erred in allowing the medical examiner to give an opinion that was beyond his competence and invaded the province of the jury as to whether the victim had been sexually assaulted, (3) the trial court erred in not suppressing the appellant’s brother’s statements concerning the appellant’s statements because the brother was acting as an agent of the State, (4) the trial court erred in denying the appellant’s counsel’s challenges for cause, (5) the trial court erred in allowing the State to introduce gruesome and shocking photographs that had no or little relevance, (6) the trial court erred when it impermissibly doubled the following sentencing aggravators: the murder was committed during the course of the felony of sexual battery on a child under 12 and the murder was committed on a victim under 12, (7) the aggravator of the victim being under 12 years old is unconstitutional, (8) the trial court erred in finding the aggravating factor that the murder was committed in order to avoid arrest, (9) the trial court erred in finding the aggravating factor that the murder was “cold, calculated, and premeditated,” (10) the trial court erred in ruling that the State could cross-examine the appellant’s mother and sister on highly prejudicial and irrelevant acts that occurred between the appellant and his sister, if the mother and/or sister testified on behalf of the appellant at the penalty phase, (11) the trial court erred in refusing to allow the appellant the Right of Allocution Before the Jury after the jury asked about the appellant making a statement of allocution, (12) Section 775.051, Fla Statute (2003), which abolished the defense of voluntary intoxication and excludes evidence of a defendant’s voluntary intoxication under some but not all circumstances, violates due process under the Fourteenth Amendment, and (13) Florida’s capital sentencing scheme, which emphasized the role of the circuit judge over the trial jury in the decision to impose a sentence of death, is unconstitutional under Ring V. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584 (2002). Oral Arguments were held on 01/07/09. The Florida State Supreme Court affirmed Smith’s conviction and sentence on 12/17/09. Smith filed a Motion for Rehearing on 12/31/09, and it was denied on 02/18/10. A mandate was issued on 03/08/10.

    A Petition for Writ of Certiorari was filed in the United States Supreme Court on 05/10/10. This case is pending.

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    Quote Originally Posted by JLR View Post
    A Petition for Writ of Certiorari was filed in the United States Supreme Court on 05/10/10. This case is pending.
    Petition DENIED on June 28, 2011. Smith's petition for rehearing was DENIED on Friday June 29, 2012.
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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Murder victim Carlie Brucia remembered 10 years later

    SARASOTA, Fla - Friends and family gathered to remember Carlie Brucia, 10 years after the tragedy. The 11-year-old girl was heading home after a sleepover on February 1, 2004, when surveillance video from a car wash showed a man luring her away.

    “It was such a tragedy with Carlie, but it has helped a lot of other kids now,” said Steven Kansler, Carlie’s step-father as he addressed the large crowd gathered at the Central Church of Christ.

    Her mother, Susan Schopren was too emotional to speak at the place her daughter's body was found four days after her abduction.

    “Hopefully, it makes kids aware and adults aware, it could happen to you. You hear about it happening somewhere else, not in your backyard,” said Kansler.

    The case shocked the nation. That surveillance video showed the suspect, Joe Smith luring Carlie away. The massive search and the tragic discovery is hard to forget, even for seasoned officers who attended the memorial.

    “There is no greater victim than a child, especially an 11-year-old girl. For something like this to happen to her, it is our worst nightmare. But it gave us that sense of vigilance, and that is what drives us all together to bring him to justice,” said Captain Jeff Bell of the Sarasota Sheriff’s Office.

    Smith sits on death row, but in the past 10 years, the church has worked with the community, sponsoring eight kids’ safety rallies among other campaigns,.all in memory of the little girl gone too soon.

    “We are going to keep Carlie's memory alive. This will always be a place where you can come and remember and take care of the kids in our community,” said Pastor Rod Myers

    For Kansler, seeing all the people at the memorial helps ease his pain in hopes of protecting another child.

    “I think it woke a lot of people up, and people learned from it.”

    http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/new...#ixzz2sIhubv9d

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    Carlie Brucia's killer appeals death sentence

    The man convicted of killing 11-year-old Carlie Brucia is appealing his death sentence to Florida's Supreme Court.

    Joseph Smith was found guilty of the 2004 kidnapping, sexual battery and murder of the young girl in Sarasota County. Smith's attorney claims a number of errors in his trial led to his death sentence.

    Florida's Supreme Court judges will hear the argument later today. Smith's appeal requests a new trial or penalty phase.

    This is the second appeal for Smith, who is currently on death row in a Tallahassee prison.

    http://www.mysuncoast.com/news/local...7a43b2370.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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    JOSEPH P. SMITH vs STATE OF FLORIDA

    In today's Florida Supreme Court opinions, the court AFFIRMED the district court's DENIAL of Smith's motion for postconviction relief.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On December 16, 2014, Smith filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/flo...cv03128/305505

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    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Convicted killer of Sarasota girl appeals death sentence

    The man convicted of killing Sarasota 11-year-old Carlie Brucia in 2004 has been sitting on death row for more than a decade. Now, he is trying to be resentenced under the state's new death penalty law.

    According to WWSB, Joseph Smith is appealing his sentence, arguing it's no longer valid under the new law, which requires a unanimous jury recommendation for death before the death penalty can be imposed.

    "It appears almost certain that Joseph Smith's death sentence will be reversed," said Adam Tebrugge, who defended Smith in 2004, "and his case will go back to Sarasota County for a new re-sentencing trial."

    Brucia was the subject of a days-long search after she disappeared in February 2004. Her body was found behind a Sarasota church.

    Smith was convicted of abducting, raping and killing Brucia behind a car wash on Bee Ridge Road. He was sentenced to death in March 2006.

    http://www.wtsp.com/mb/news/crime/co...ence/423455004
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    **Related**

    Death of Carlie Brucia’s mother being investigated as heroin overdose

    The death of Susan Schorpen, the mother of slain 11-year-old Carlie Brucia, is being investigated as a heroin overdose, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

    Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd made that announcement at a press conference Thursday in conjunction with the results of a three-month undercover investigation into heroin trafficking that resulted in 17 arrests.

    Schorpen, 47, who struggled with drug addiction, died April 10 in a Polk County hospital. Judd said that after her daughter’s death, Schorpen’s life “went downhill.”

    “The person who viciously murdered Carlie Brucia is also responsible for the stress and the pressure on this lady who ultimately died of a heroin overdose,” Judd said.

    On Feb. 1, 2004, Carlie Brucia was walking home from a friend’s house when Joseph Smith abducted her as she passed the back of Evie’s Car Wash, 4715 Bee Ridge Road, Sarasota. The abduction was captured by the car wash’s video surveillance system.

    Law enforcement frantically searched for Carlie for five days, but her body wasn’t found until five days later at Central Church of Christ, 6221 Proctor Road, after Smith was arrested and he confessed to the crime.

    On Nov. 17, 2005, a jury found Smith guilty of first-degree murder, sexual battery and kidnapping. On Dec. 1 of that year, the jury voted 10-2 to recommend Smith be sentenced to death.

    http://www.bradenton.com/news/local/...145856594.html

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    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Death sentence for Carlie Brucia’s killer is vacated

    By Carlos R. Munoz
    Sarasota Herald-Tribune

    SARASOTA — Joseph P. Smith, one of Southwest Florida’s most notorious convicted murderers, will receive a new sentencing trial.

    Sarasota County Circuit Judge Charles Roberts granted a part of Smith’s motion to vacate his death sentence for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia, a girl whose haunting death drew international attention to the region in 2004 and 2005.

    In one of the most poignant images emerging in the case, a motion-activated surveillance camera showed Carlie Brucia walking away with Smith from Evie’s Car Wash on Bee Ridge Road. She was never seen alive again. Smith left her body in the woods behind Central Church of Christ on Proctor Road, where it was found five days later.

    In December 2005, a jury recommended death for Smith by a 10-2 vote and also imposed concurrent life terms for the sexual assault and kidnapping convictions.

    In this latest ruling, Judge Roberts ordered a new penalty phase trial, which does not overturn the verdict in the case. The judge ruled that the 51-year-old Smith demonstrated an entitlement to the vacation of his sentence under the amended death penalty statute. Judge Roberts cited Hurst v. State, case law in which the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a Florida capital-sentencing law, and ruled it unconstitutional.

    Smith’s sentencing decision retroactively applied to the precedent, and the state conceded that the court was bound by the precedent.

    A date for the new sentencing trial has not yet been set.

    Roberts denied Smith’s request to automatically substitute a life sentence, opening the door for a new sentencing trial.

    Smith, who is no longer listed as one of Florida’s 364 death row inmates, now has 30 days to appeal any decision made in the order.

    Judge Roberts was assigned to the case after the retirement of former Judge Andrew Owens.

    It is likely Smith will file a motion asking for a life sentence despite winning a new sentencing trial to avoid the risk of capital punishment, said prominent Sarasota criminal defense attorney Derek Byrd, who is not involved in the case.

    “It’s certainly a victory for him to have another trial, but it’s not the ultimate victory because another jury could decide to give him the death penalty,” Byrd said.

    Juries in some of the region’s recent death penalty cases, including those of convicted murderers Christian Theodore (a 10-2 vote) in Sarasota County and Andres “Andy” Avalos Jr. (7-5) in Manatee County, failed to impose death.

    “Those people heard the entire trial,” Byrd said, referring to the 10-2 jury decision in Smith’s trial. “They heard how bad the facts were abducting and killing a little girl and there were still two people who would not go along with the death penalty. It’s a tall order for the state to get a unanimous verdict.”

    Judge Roberts’ ruling comes three months after Brucia’s mother, Susan Schorpen, died of an apparent heroin overdose in Polk County. Two people who attended Narcotics Anonymous meetings with Schorpen said she struggled with the “demon” of drug addiction.

    Schorpen’s emotional pleas for the return of Carlie after she was kidnapped by Smith captivated the nation during a six-day search in February 2004.

    Smith quickly became a suspect in the case based on the video. His instructions to his brother led law enforcement to Carlie’s body, which had been dragged into a wooded area near the church. Court documents indicated she had been assaulted, bound and strangled.

    The aggravating circumstances in the case led a majority of jurors to impose death in Smith’s case.

    The convicted murderer appealed the judgments and sentences in his case to the Florida Supreme Court in 2009 — and the U.S. Supreme Court in 2011 — but was denied “post-conviction relief.”

    In 2016, the Florida Supreme Court twice ruled that the death penalty law was unconstitutional because it did not require a jury to unanimously impose capital punishment. The Florida Legislature updated the death penalty law requiring a unanimous jury to impose death in March.

    Gov. Rick Scott signed the measure into law, opening the door for Smith to once again ask for relief from his murder conviction.

    A management conference in Smith’s case is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 31 at the Sarasota County Courthouse.

    http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20...ler-is-vacated
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