State Supreme Court Orders New Sentencing for Sarasota Child's Killer

SARASOTA -- The state supreme court ordered a new hearing Friday, for the man convicted of killing an 11 year old girl in Sarasota, more than a decade ago.

Joseph P. Smith, now 55, gets a new hearing along with several other murderers because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Florida's system for administering the death penalty to be unconstitutional. The court found that it gave too much authority to judges instead of juries.

Smith was convicted in the 2004 murder of Carlie Brucia. The case drew nationwide attention because surveillance video behind a car wash captured video of a man later identified as Smith, grabbing the child by the hand and dragging her away on Super Bowl Sunday in 2004. Brucia's body was found several days later behind a church. It was one of the earliest instances in which surveillance video played a major role in solving a missing child case and finding a killer.

Communities responded to the murder by promoting self-defense courses for children and young women.

Information from the News Service of Florida was used in this report.

Photo: Getty Images


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