• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Florida man gets death sentence for murdering girl

Posted on: Wednesday, 15 March 2006, 16:45 CST

By Robert Green

SARASOTA, Florida (Reuters) - A Florida mechanic was sentenced to death on Wednesday for the rape and murder of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia, whose abduction gained national attention after being caught on a security camera and broadcast.

Joseph Smith was identified from the videotape and convicted of first degree murder in November. The jury voted 10-2 in favor of the death penalty, but the final decision of execution or life in prison was up to Sarasota Circuit Judge Andrew Owens.

Brucia disappeared on February 1, 2004, while she was walking home from a friend's house. A surveillance camera at a car wash she was passing recorded a man approaching her and leading her away by her arm.

Brucia's body was found four days later. Police said she had been raped and strangled.

At a hearing last month, Smith, 39, asked Owens not to sentence him to death to spare his family further pain. He said he had been depressed and using narcotics on the day of the murder and did not remember much of what happened.

But Owens said Smith had acted in a cold and calculated manner and that Brucia's death from strangulation with her hands tied behind her had been especially cruel and heinous.

"Carlie Brucia endured unspeakable trauma," Owens said.

"Perhaps worst of all, Carlie Brucia knew she was going to die. The defendant used her for his own sexual gratification."

Smith, dressed in a yellow prison jumpsuit and handcuffed, showed no emotion as he listened to Owens read the death sentence.

Appeals in the case are likely to delay Smith's execution for a decade or more.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently blocked two scheduled executions in Florida to consider appeals that the state's method of lethal injection violated the constitutional ban against cruel and unusual punishment.

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category