Joseph P Smith: The Trial

10-2 FOR DEATH

Jurors take five hours to condemn Joseph P. Smith

By Tom Arthur

SARASOTA -- Joseph P. Smith should pay with his life for the kidnapping, rape and murder of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia,
a jury recommended Thursday.

After five hours of deliberation, the eight-woman, four-man jury rejected a plea from Smith's defense team that he be
sentenced to life in prison without parole, and instead recommended a death sentence, 10-2.

Their verdict was greeted with tears from Carlie's mother, who said the sentence can't be carried out
quickly enough.

"I want him dead," Susan Schorpen said. "I want him dead now."

Across the aisle in the courtroom, Smith's mother had to be helped from her seat. She did not speak to reporters.

The jury's recommendation will be given great weight by Circuit Judge Andrew Owens, who has the
final say on Smith's fate.

Before rendering his sentence, Owens will hear a final plea for life from Smith's defense at a hearing scheduled for January.
It's rare for judges to vary from a jury's recommended sentence in a capital murder case.

During her closing remarks, prosecutor Debra Johnes Riva described Smith as a cold, calculating
killer who acted on his worst impulses and deserved to die for his crimes.

His defense in pleading for his life -- that he was under the influence of drugs and unable to control
his actions -- was unacceptable, she said.

"He has to hold the ultimate responsibility for these crimes," she said. "He chose to prey upon a child for sexual gratification.
He was under the influences of his urges, not the influence of a mental disorder or drugs."

Riva made reference to a letter Smith wrote while in jail that said he intended to break his brother's
jaw for cooperating with investigators.

She said the letter proved he might harm others if given a chance to spend his life in prison, another
reason to reject a life sentence.

"Some say life in prison is better than death, but it still is life," she said. "He will still have friendships.
He will have privileges and rights. He will receive special protection."

Riva described how Carlie was bound and brutally raped and strangled, and said Carlie must have
known that Smith intended to kill her.

She said Smith had a choice.

"He chose to kill," she said.

She showed a photo of a smiling Carlie to jurors, then told them to remember the photos taken
by crime scene investigators after her body was found in a field behind a church.

Countering testimony from Smith's friends and family that he was a good person who liked animals,
she asked jurors to remember the details of the crime.

"That's the real Joe Smith," she said.

She said jurors should dismiss testimony from defense witnesses who portrayed Smith as a clinically
depressed drug addict who could not control his urges.

"There's no evidence there is any drug that will cause a person to kill a child," Riva said.
"The drugs didn't make him pick Carlie. He picked Carlie. He picked an 11-year-old."

At the emotional peak of her statement, as she described how Smith had strangled Carlie, a spectator
rose in his seat and shouted, "Let's string him up now."

He was escorted from the courtroom and arrested, and Riva continued her remarks.

Defense attorney Adam Tebrugge told the jury he understood the crime would make them angry at Smith and
sympathetic toward Carlie's family, but that they should make the decision based on the law.

A life sentence, "doesn't make Joe any less responsible," Tebrugge said. "But recommending
the execution of Joe Smith will not do anything to bring her back or honor her memory."

Smith's abilities as a mechanic, and his love for his three children, shows he can still contribute
and still be loved, he said.

But in the end, Smith's own words seemed to seal his fate.

During his trial several weeks ago, jurors listened to recorded jailhouse conversations during
which Smith described the crime. After five hours of deliberation, the jury found him guilty of first-degree murder,
sexual battery and kidnapping.

During the sentencing phase of his trial this past week, those same jurors listened to a corrections officer read a letter Smith
had written while in jail, in which he promised to break his brother's jaw for cooperating with investigators.

The letter was devastating to a defense that had tried to portray Smith as someone who could be
rehabilitated when not on drugs, someone whose life is worth saving.

Moments before the verdict was read, Smith sat at the defense table alone, folding his hands and
looking nervous.
His mother wiped away tears just a few feet behind him in the gallery.

After the verdict, Tebrugge was the first out of the courtroom. He had a blank look on his face as
he came down the escalator, Smith's family behind him.

"We're not going to have anything to say tonight," Tebrugge said.

Before pushing through the courthouse doors to dodge the television reporters, Tebrugge had a
word with Smith's family.

"We keep our heads high and we keep moving," he said.

He had his arm around Smith's mother ( Patricia Davis ) as he led her away from the courthouse.

Prosecutors met the media for a brief statement, offering little because a final hearing must still be held
before Smith is sentenced by Owens.

"Obviously, this is the goal we were all hoping to achieve," Riva said.

Schorpen mouthed, "Thank you" when she heard the verdict. Outside the courthouse, she said she was overwhelmed
and that this outcome was what she wanted. But she again expressed anger over the
slowness of death cases.

"If he was to die tonight, I could get a good night's sleep," she said. "He's still breathing. He may be condemned, but he's still breathing."

To Schorpen, the case was "cut and dry." And she highlighted what became the strongest evidence in the case: statements
and letters from Smith himself.

"He damned himself," she said. "He did this all to himself."

And she brought up the letter written by Smith during his trial that expressed anger toward his brother for testifying against him.
The letter was the last piece of evidence the jury heard.

"He showed his true colors while he was incarcerated," Schorpen said. "It shows what kind of animal
he was."

Jurors were the last to meet the media. They huddled close behind the foreman, the Rev. Ron Kruzel
of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Venice, who said a few sentences about the heavy burden of recommending Smith's death.

"It was not an easy task," Kruzel said. "Our hearts go out to the family of Carlie Brucia and the family
of Joseph Smith. We're praying for them."

And then they went back into the courthouse, surrounded by sheriff's deputies.

Staff writers Todd Ruger and Mike Saewitz contributed to this report.