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Thread: Donald James Smith - Florida Death Row

  1. #1
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JimKay's Avatar
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    Donald James Smith - Florida Death Row


    Cherish Perriwinkle




    Sex offender charged after body of abducted Florida girl found at church

    JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) – A registered sex offender recently released from jail was charged Saturday with murder in the death of an 8-year-old Florida girl abducted while shopping with her mother.

    Donald James Smith of Jacksonville was taken into custody after police cornered his white van on Interstate 95, said Mike Williams, director of investigations at the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

    Authorities had put out an Amber Alert with details of Smith's van early Saturday, hours after receiving a 911 call from Charish Perriwinkle's mother about the missing girl.

    Prior to the alleged abduction Friday night, Smith, 56, befriended Charish and her mother at a dollar store, and "offered to take them to Walmart and buy her family some clothes," Williams said.

    "They appeared to be down on their luck and he could help them out."

    After spending a couple hours inside the Walmart together, Smith offered to buy hamburgers and walked with Charish to the front of the store, Williams said.

    Instead of stopping to buy the snack, Smith walked Charish outside and the two of them got into his van, Williams said.

    The girl's mother called 911 when she realized Charish and Smith were missing. An Amber Alert was issued, and a tip about a suspicious van spotted in the woods near a church led investigators to Charish's body Saturday morning.

    Meanwhile, an officer working at the scene of a traffic crash on Interstate 95 on Saturday morning recognized Smith's van as it drove past her and called it in.

    The highway was shut down while other officers pulled Smith over and arrested him. He has not cooperated with investigators, Williams said, and it was not immediately known whether he had an attorney.

    Williams declined to answer reporters' questions about how Charish died or what Smith did in the hours between his disappearance with the girl and his arrest, saying that the investigation remains open.

    Smith has been a registered sex offender since a 1993 conviction in Duval County for attempted kidnapping and selling obscene materials. He has been arrested several times since then, most recently in 2009 on a charge of child abuse after making obscene phone calls to a 10-year-old girl, making verbal threats, and impersonating a social worker with the Florida Department of Children and Families who claimed to be investigating the girl's family.

    Smith pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in that case and was released from jail May 31.


    Williams said Smith had just met with police Friday morning to comply with a state law that requires sex offenders to verify their address once a year.

    In a highly publicized case in 2009, a 7-year-old northeast Florida girl was abducted while she walked home from school. Police later found Somer Thompson's body in a Georgia landfill. A man who lived with his parents in Somer's Orange Park neighborhood pleaded guilty in 2012 to kidnapping, raping and murdering the girl and was sentenced to life in prison.

    Somer's mother was quoted by The Florida Times-Union as saying that she was sickened by the news of Charish's abduction.

    "Her (Charish's mother) nightmare has just begun," Diena Thompson said.

    http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/06/22...x-offender-in/

    Smith's Sex-Offender Page: http://offender.fdle.state.fl.us/off...?personId=9488

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    Smith could face death penalty in child abduction case

    Donald James Smith appeared in chains before a Florida judge this morning-- charged with abducting and murdering 8-year-old Charish Perriwinkle.

    "Mr. Smith, you're gonna be held without bond both for kidnapping and murder. Your next court date will be before the circuit court on July 16th," said Judge Roberto Arias.

    An amber alert was not enough to save the child.

    Police found her body behind a church in Jacksonville. Even officers were emotional as their desperate search came to a sad end.

    Shannon Hartley of the Jacksonville sheriff's office said, "We've got a lot of officers and sworn personnel people who have dedicated their lives to protecting people, this is hard, this is difficult."

    Police say Smith - a convicted child molester --met Charish with her mother and 2 siblings at a Dollar General store Friday night. Smith allegedly offered to buy Charish a dress at Wal-Mart.

    Officials say they shopped there for hours, then Smith was seen leaving the store with Charish.

    The child's mother reported her missing that night, sending police scouring the streets, even using air support to track down Smith and his white 1998 van.

    But they were too late to save Charish.

    "Awful, I started crying, I felt horrible. We were all in house just looking at the amber alert, and that baby was dyin' there," said Charlotte Dupree, neighbor.

    Donald James Smith is a registered sex offender, with several previous arrests. He was released from jail just last month.

    This is a horrible crime because any time a child is taken from us, etc. it's an awful situation," said Mark Caliel, assistant state attorney.

    (Source: WEAR TV News)
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    Senior Member CnCP Legend JimKay's Avatar
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    Cherish Perrywinkle funeral

    Funeral services for Cherish were held Friday afternoon at the Paxon Revival Center Church in Jacksonville. Pastor Steve Dobbs tried to comfort the hundreds of mourners present - yet he also had a message about the man accused of killing the 8-year-old, Donald Smith.

    Smith had a lengthy rap sheet of convictions for sex crimes against children and had gotten out of prison less than a month earlier.

    "Let's change the law," said pastor Steve Dobbs, adding that he didn't want Cherish's death to be in vain. "Let's not let another guy like this walk free."

    Another issue has also emerged from the case: the sheriff in Jacksonville has said hours passed between the time police learned of the girl's abduction and when the first public alerts were sent, which he blamed on a failure in the chain of command.

    Cherish was born after her mother, an exotic dancer, and her father, a sailor, had a one-night stand in 2004. Perrywinkle, 45, sued the father, Billy Jarreau, 43, for child support three years later, and the two fought for custody of the girl for the rest of her life. They traded accusations over how the girl got head lice and how she was dressed, as well as money.

    In April 2010, a court-appointed evaluator recommended that Cherish live with her father - who, by that time, had moved to California with his new wife. The evaluator wrote that "neither parent was perfect" and acknowledged that it was the hardest case he had ever tackled.

    The evaluator said that Jarreau "hasn't shown himself to be a real enthusiastic player in terms of parental involvement," and noted that it might be difficult for Cherish to move across the country away from her mother. But Perrywinkle had some troubling issues, the report noted, including eviction, a lack of money and some admitted mental health issues that led her to make poor choices.

    "I fear for the child's future living with Ms. Perrywinkle," wrote evaluator Robert Wood. "I do not make my recommendation lightly. I have given many, many hours of thought to the case."

    Despite that recommendation, a Jacksonville judge ruled Cherish should live with her mother.

    That same year, down the halls of the very same courthouse, another man's case snaked through the legal system. Donald James Smith, charged with impersonating a state child welfare officer and making an obscene call to a young girl in 2009, attended hearings for years and was eventually found guilty - but with time served he was ordered to spend only a year in jail.

    Smith had been arrested 19 times since 1977. He had been found guilty on lewd and lascivious charges, charges of trying to lure girls in a van and charges of showing pornography to minors.

    Richard Kuritz, a Jacksonville defense attorney who is not connected to this case, said that Smith's light treatment on the 2009 charge underscores how difficult it is to prosecute some sex crimes. Jacksonville prosecutors, he said, are not known for seeking light sentences.

    "Often times the state's hands are tied and the state will resolve a case for less than what they want because the victim doesn't want to go through the process," he said. And with cases such as the one in 2009 - where Smith was accused of posing as a state worker and then making an obscene phone call to a girl - there is little physical evidence.

    "The fact that this guy got a decent deal, speaks volumes," Kuritz said. "There must have been a problem with the state's case."

    Smith was released May 31 but was still being monitored by authorities as a condition of parole. Officers even checked in on Smith the morning of June 21 in the home he shared with his mother. That same evening, he met Perrywinkle and her children.

    According to court records and police reports, Perrywinkle didn't have a car. Police said Smith saw she seemed like she needed money. So he offered to buy the dress for Cherish, who was supposed to fly to California the next day to visit her father, and the family climbed into his van and headed to Wal-Mart.

    Surveillance video shows they spent a couple of hours in the store, and Smith then took Cherish with him to buy McDonald's for the family. But they never got the hamburgers - Smith took Cherish outside, got into his van with her and left, said Jacksonville Police Director Mike Williams.

    Perrywinkle called authorities, and an all-night search ensued. Officers compiled a list of nearby sex offenders, and Perrywinkle identified Smith as a suspect.

    Nine hours later, Cherish's body was found a few miles away, near a church.

    Smith is in jail without bail, awaiting his next court hearing. His public defender did not return a call for comment, and his mother was not home when an Associated Press reporter visited.

    Gerald Wilkerson, the attorney for Cherish's father in the custody case, said his client is devastated. Jarreau himself posted about the tragedy on his Facebook page, blaming failures in the "system" for his daughter's death.

    On a recent day at Rayne Perrywinkle's home, her boyfriend and the father of her two youngest children, Aharon Pearson, walked outside and asked a reporter, "Do you have the number for Child Protective Services?" He initially thought the state's child welfare agency had taken their children, but later explained he misunderstood Perrywinkle and that the children had been taken only for an interview.

    Pearson said things had been hectic because of the need to plan Cherish's funeral. He said his girlfriend wasn't doing well and could not talk at the green home, where three faded, plastic children's tricycles were lined up on the porch.

    "She won't eat," he said. "She hasn't eaten for four days."

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT

  4. #4
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JimKay's Avatar
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    Troubled history for man charged in Florida slaying

    Donald James Smith has been in jail without bail for more than a week, charged with kidnapping and killing an eight-year-old Jacksonville girl.

    But a troubling portrait of the 56-year-old Smith is emerging.

    The Florida Times-Union (http://bit.ly/18qLHui -- subscriber-only access) says accounts from Smith's childhood and adult acquaintances, neighbors and hundreds of pages of court records paint a picture of the career criminal as a young bully and a sexual deviant from at least his early 20s, as well as a lifelong charmer.

    A neighbor told the paper that after Smith was released from jail in late May on a misdemeanor sex charge, Smith complimented the man's daughter.

    "I said, 'You can stay the hell away from here,'" said Kevin Shivar, 46. He didn't see Smith again.

    Four days later, Smith was arrested and charged with kidnapping and killing Cherish Perrywinkle. Jacksonville Sheriff's detectives say Smith befriended Cherish's mother as the family shopped at a dollar store, then offered to buy Cherish clothing and food at a Wal-Mart. An arrest affidavit said Smith told the mother he was going to buy food and took Cherish with him.

    Authorities have not released details on how Cherish died or whether she was sexually abused. Her body was found near a church about three miles from the Wal-Mart.

    His first recorded brush with trouble came in 1974 as a 17-year-old when police charged him with burning a stolen car. His crimes against children began three years later when he stopped his mother's green convertible outside a home where two girls, ages 5 and 8, were selling sodas and masturbated in front of them.

    Smith failed in his attempt to plead insanity after his arrest. A judge deemed him a mentally disordered sex offender and he spent 18 months being treated in a state hospital. He was later sentenced to a year in jail and 10 years' probation.

    Arrests followed for burglary, battery, stealing electricity, theft, worthless checks, auto theft and prowling, the latter coming a day after the out-of-wedlock birth of his only child, a son.

    Smith's deviance resurfaced in late 1992 when he tried to lure a 13-year-old girl into his van near an elementary school, then hunted her down after she fled and hid in a culvert pipe.

    "You'll have to come out some time," he said, according to court documents

    Smith eventually gave up, but an hour later flashed a pornographic picture at two other girls, ages 13 and 14, and tried to lure them into the van in the same neighborhood. They fled and police later arrested Smith, whose 15-year prison sentence for attempted kidnapping and showing obscene materials to minors got cut to six years upon appeal.

    Because of his continued trouble, Smith spent 1999 to 2002 under involuntary civil commitment after meeting the criteria of a violent sexual predator as part of the state's Jimmy Ryce Act. Prosecutors released Smith instead of holding a civil commitment trial, which could have led to his indefinite detention.

    Smith spent four years in prison for burglary and a judge recommended he get drug treatment. Prosecutors dropped a 2008 child neglect charge after a teen who accused Smith of taking him to a crack den later recanted.

    In 2009, Smith posed on the phone as a state child welfare worker and told the mother of a 9-year-old girl he was investigating allegations she'd been molested by her grandfather. Smith made obscene statements to the girl on the phone and police arrested him after tracing the call.

    The girl's mother refused to let her fearful daughter testify and prosecutors dropped the felony charges to misdemeanors. Smith got two years in jail and not the 20-plus years he faced in prison.

    The mother told the Times-Union that she believes Cherish Perrywinkle would be alive if she'd done more to thwart the plea deal.

    http://www.palmbeachpost.com/ap/ap/c...slaying/nYZ4S/

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Donald Smith indicted for murder of Cherish Perrywinkle; State to seek death penalty

    A grand jury has indicted the man accused of kidnapping and killing 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle on charges of first degree murder, aggravated kidnapping in a child under 13, and capital sexual battery.

    State Attorney Angela Corey made the announcement early Tuesday. She said the grand jury will be seeking the death penalty against Donald Smith.

    The state attorney's office also announced Tuesday the cause of death for Cherish Perrywinkle was strangulation. It did not release any other specifics in her death.

    Smith is accused of kidnapping 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle from a Jacksonville Walmart on June 21. He was arrested Saturday, June 22, along I-95 just north of the I-10 split after an officer spotted his van.

    Police said a woman first spotted the white van driving suspiciously near the Highlands Baptist Church on Broward Road. Within an hour of Smith's arrest, officers found the little girl's body in some woods behind the church.

    Smith pleaded not guilty to charges including murder and kidnapping at a first appearance. He was denied bond. His next appearance is set for July.

    Right now, Smith is being kept in protective custody inside the Duval County Jail.

    Police are still looking for a stroller they are calling "a key piece of evidence" in the case.

    The stroller is a blue, tandem, Graco model with plaid print. It can been seen being pushed by a woman in a grainy picture that police say is a still shot taken from surveillance video inside the Dollar General store where Cherish Perrywinkle's mother, Rayne, first met Smith Friday evening. A friend of the family confirms to Action News that it is in fact Rayne Perrywinkle in the picture.

    If you see the stroller, police are asking that you not touch it or anything around it. Instead, call JSO at 630-0500 to report it immediately.

    Police are still looking for a stroller they are calling "a key piece of evidence" in the case.

    The stroller is a blue, tandem, Graco model with plaid print. It can been seen being pushed by a woman in a grainy picture that police say is a still shot taken from surveillance video inside the Dollar General store where Cherish Perrywinkle's mother Rayne first met Smith Friday evening. A friend of the family confirms to Action News that it is in fact Rayne Perrywinkle in the picture.

    If you see the stroller, police are asking that you not touch it or anything around it. Instead, call 911 to report it immediately.

    http://www.actionnewsjax.com/content...D6h-cbZXw.cspx
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    Mother of Cherish Perrywinkle baker acted

    The mother of slain child, Cherish Perrywinkle, is in protective custody. Action News has confirmed Rayne Perrywinkle was taken into police custody over the weekend and Baker Acted.

    According to an incident report obtained by Action News, officers were called to Rayne Perrywinkle's Jacksonville home on Sunday for a disturbance. Officers said Perrywinkle was throwing dishes and glasses in her kitchen; some hit her estranged boyfriend in the process.

    Police are not charging Perrywinkle with a crime at this time. Her 8-year-old daughter, Cherish, was kidnapped and killed almost two months ago. Police have charged a convicted sex offender, Donald Smith, for taking the child from a Jacksonville Walmart and then dumping her body near a church the next day.

    Rayne Perrywinkle's estranged boyfriend, Ahron Pearson, is scheduled to be in court this afternoon. He will have a custody hearing for the two young daughters, ages 4 and 5, he shares with Rayne.

    Pearson and Perrywinkle are not the only ones fighting for custody. Pearson's father, the paternal grandfather to the younger girls, said he is financially stable enough to care for the children. They were removed from their family home last month after DCF determined Rayne Perrywinkle was not in the position to properly care for the children - citing grief.

    As for Donald Smith, he is scheduled to be in court later this month. Prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty against Smith for kidnapping and strangling Cherish in June.

    http://www.actionnewsjax.com/content...BhfnJ04OQ.cspx.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    Judge puts off decision on release of materials in Cherish Perrywinkle killing

    The Jacksonville man facing the death penalty in the abduction of 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle will have to wait several weeks before finding out if evidence will be released to the public.

    Donald James Smith, a 56-year-old sex offender, is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery in the strangulation of Cherish after her mother was promised a shopping spree at a Walmart in June.

    Assistant Public Defender Fred Gazaleh filed a motion this month to prohibit the release of public documents before the case goes to trial. Thursday attorneys for The Florida Times-Union and WJXT TV-4 asked Circuit Judge Mallory Cooper to deny that motion.

    She said her decision would probably take a couple of weeks.

    Gazaleh told Cooper the motion was necessary because of the large amount of media coverage the case was getting. He worries that the media will report on issues that cannot be brought up at trial, infecting a jury pool with information they’re not supposed to know.

    “The public doesn’t have to know everything about this case before it goes to trial,” Gazaleh said.

    He also argued that the case is unique because it’s so high profile and could put Smith on Death Row.

    But Timothy J. Conner, representing the Times-Union, argued that Gazaleh’s motion was insufficient.

    Under Florida law, information cannot be kept from the public unless there is an imminent threat that releasing it will cause a miscarriage of justice. That is not the case here, Conner said.

    Options to counter a lot of publicity include increasing the number of jurors considered and allowing more peremptory challenges that would allow lawyers from both sides to kick potential jurors out, Conner said.

    Conner noted a lot of information on Smith is already out, citing a story the Times-Union did last month looking at his criminal history, with a timeline of his offenses going back to the 1970s.

    He also argued that in a large urban area with hundreds of thousands of residents, it is unlikely that any case is known to everyone because a significant part of the population doesn’t read newspapers or watch television news.

    Assistant State Attorney Mark Caliel took no position on whether the court documents should be released and said his office would comply with whatever Cooper decided.

    Caliel did agree with Gazaleh in that there would be a wide range of materials released that would probably not be allowed to be discussed during the trial.

    The next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 4. Cooper didn’t think she would have a ruling before then.

    http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2...#ixzz2cjzA0pwm
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    Judge grants protective order against release of discovery in Donald James Smith case

    A Duval County judge ruled Friday that evidence can at least be withheld temporarily from public disclosure in the case of the man charged with killing 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle to protect his right to a fair trial.

    Circuit Judge Mallory Cooper granted the protective order for discovery materials sought by the public defender representing Donald James Smith. Smith, a 56-year-old sex offender, is facing the death penalty after being charged with first degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery in the strangulation of Cherish after her mother was promised a shopping spree at a Walmart in June.

    The ruling, in part, allows Smith’s defense team to review the state’s evidence and ask Cooper to permanently keep some records confidential.

    Assistant Public Defender Fred Gazaleh filed a motion to prohibit the release of public documents before the case goes to trial. Gazaleh told Cooper the motion was necessary because of the large amount of media coverage the case was getting. He said he was worried that the media will report on issues that cannot be brought up at trial, infecting a jury pool with information they’re not supposed to know.

    Cooper’s ruling followed a motion to intervene by The Florida Times-Union and WJXT TV-4. The news organizations argued that Gazaleh’s motion was insufficient since under Florida law information cannot be kept from the public unless there is an imminent threat that releasing it will cause a miscarriage of justice. That was not the case, argued Times-Union attorney Timothy J. Conner.

    Conner noted a lot of information on Smith is already out, citing a story the Times-Union did last month looking at his criminal history, with a timeline of his offenses going back to the 1970s.

    In her decision, Cooper ruled:

    There will be a temporary prohibition against public disclosure of discovery materials.

    Prosecutors will provide discovery to the defendant within 10 days.

    The defense will review discovery and, within 10 days, may file a motion to determine confidentiality. That determination will be made without the media or public being privy to the discussion.

    Assistant State Attorney Mark Caliel took no position on whether the court documents should be released and said his office would comply with whatever Cooper decided. Caliel did agree with Gazaleh that there would be a wide range of materials released that would probably not be allowed to be discussed during the trial.

    http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2...#ixzz2e9NSa11S
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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