Nanny Fine
02-21-2004, 08:27 PM
I hope they fry him.
:mad:
Ex-Con Indicted In Death Of Carlie
By ROBERT ECKHART and MIKE SAEWITZ Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Published: Feb 21, 2004
SARASOTA - An indictment filed Friday says Joseph P. Smith raped and strangled 11-year-old Carlie Brucia after kidnapping her from behind a carwash.
The grand jury indictment is the first information released by authorities to explain what happened to the sixth-grader whose Feb. 1 abduction was filmed by a surveillance camera behind Evie's Car Wash on Bee Ridge Road.
Carlie's mother, Susan Schorpen, said she retreated to her bedroom when she heard the news.
``I screamed and I screamed,'' Schorpen said. ``It was all I could do.''
The indictment is one of the first steps as prosecutors seek the death penalty for Smith, an auto mechanic with a history of drug arrests. He was accused, but not convicted, of two attacks on women before Carlie's disappearance.
``I don't think the lethal injection is enough for that man,'' Schorpen said.
Carlie's father, Joe Brucia, also has called for the death penalty for Smith, as has Carlie's stepfather, Steve Kansler.
The indictment says Smith strangled the girl with an object wrapped around or pressed against her neck. She died Feb. 1 or Feb. 2.
Smith is charged with first- degree murder, rape of a child less than 12 years old and kidnapping.
The document doesn't indicate what evidence the authorities have against Smith or whether he has given a statement to investigators.
Smith's public defender, Adam Tebrugge, said his client will plead not guilty.
``We will thoroughly investigate the case and vigorously defend Mr. Joseph Smith,'' Tebrugge said.
The surveillance video shows the girl was abducted at 6:21 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday. The carwash was closed. The tape shows Carlie crossed behind the building while walking home from a friend's house.
The carwash owner, Mike Evanoff, gave the tape to deputies the next day, leading them to launch an Amber Alert as they searched for Carlie.
The video was shown on news broadcasts across the United States, riveting thousands of people to every development in the daily search for the girl and her abductor.
Several tips to a telephone hot line led deputies to suspect Smith. They arrested him Feb. 3 on a violation of probation charge after officers found drugs in his car, sheriff's reports say.
Initially, Smith refused to talk to investigators.
His mother and brother visited him in jail two days after his arrest, along with sheriff's detectives and his public defenders, a source said.
According to sheriff's reports, while Smith was in jail he told someone he had taken the girl. That person called deputies and told them where to look for her body.
They found Carlie's body that night in the woods behind a church on Proctor Road, four days after she was abducted.
Smith's arraignment is scheduled for March 12. He is being held in isolation at the Manatee County Jail.
He was arrested a dozen times, with one resulting in a prison sentence - 13 months for drug possession and probation violations. Drug tests showed he violated his probation in August by using cocaine, but Smith was sentenced to drug treatment instead of jail time.
As the state Legislature convenes next week, a Senate committee plans to hold a hearing to determine whether Smith's case exposed flaws in the justice system.
Schorpen cried for hours at her McIntosh Road home.
``I had a beautiful, compassionate, responsible little girl and he took her away.''
:mad:
Ex-Con Indicted In Death Of Carlie
By ROBERT ECKHART and MIKE SAEWITZ Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Published: Feb 21, 2004
SARASOTA - An indictment filed Friday says Joseph P. Smith raped and strangled 11-year-old Carlie Brucia after kidnapping her from behind a carwash.
The grand jury indictment is the first information released by authorities to explain what happened to the sixth-grader whose Feb. 1 abduction was filmed by a surveillance camera behind Evie's Car Wash on Bee Ridge Road.
Carlie's mother, Susan Schorpen, said she retreated to her bedroom when she heard the news.
``I screamed and I screamed,'' Schorpen said. ``It was all I could do.''
The indictment is one of the first steps as prosecutors seek the death penalty for Smith, an auto mechanic with a history of drug arrests. He was accused, but not convicted, of two attacks on women before Carlie's disappearance.
``I don't think the lethal injection is enough for that man,'' Schorpen said.
Carlie's father, Joe Brucia, also has called for the death penalty for Smith, as has Carlie's stepfather, Steve Kansler.
The indictment says Smith strangled the girl with an object wrapped around or pressed against her neck. She died Feb. 1 or Feb. 2.
Smith is charged with first- degree murder, rape of a child less than 12 years old and kidnapping.
The document doesn't indicate what evidence the authorities have against Smith or whether he has given a statement to investigators.
Smith's public defender, Adam Tebrugge, said his client will plead not guilty.
``We will thoroughly investigate the case and vigorously defend Mr. Joseph Smith,'' Tebrugge said.
The surveillance video shows the girl was abducted at 6:21 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday. The carwash was closed. The tape shows Carlie crossed behind the building while walking home from a friend's house.
The carwash owner, Mike Evanoff, gave the tape to deputies the next day, leading them to launch an Amber Alert as they searched for Carlie.
The video was shown on news broadcasts across the United States, riveting thousands of people to every development in the daily search for the girl and her abductor.
Several tips to a telephone hot line led deputies to suspect Smith. They arrested him Feb. 3 on a violation of probation charge after officers found drugs in his car, sheriff's reports say.
Initially, Smith refused to talk to investigators.
His mother and brother visited him in jail two days after his arrest, along with sheriff's detectives and his public defenders, a source said.
According to sheriff's reports, while Smith was in jail he told someone he had taken the girl. That person called deputies and told them where to look for her body.
They found Carlie's body that night in the woods behind a church on Proctor Road, four days after she was abducted.
Smith's arraignment is scheduled for March 12. He is being held in isolation at the Manatee County Jail.
He was arrested a dozen times, with one resulting in a prison sentence - 13 months for drug possession and probation violations. Drug tests showed he violated his probation in August by using cocaine, but Smith was sentenced to drug treatment instead of jail time.
As the state Legislature convenes next week, a Senate committee plans to hold a hearing to determine whether Smith's case exposed flaws in the justice system.
Schorpen cried for hours at her McIntosh Road home.
``I had a beautiful, compassionate, responsible little girl and he took her away.''