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Smith Told How He Raped, Killed Girl, Brother Says

By TODD RUGER Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: Nov 10, 2005

SARASOTA - -- In front of a jury that could recommend whether Joseph P. Smith lives or dies, John Smith looked across a courtroom Wednesday and identified his brother as the man who raped and killed Carlie Brucia.

John Smith wiped away tears, at times mumbled inaudibly, and had to take a break as he related what he said his brother told him he had done to the 11-year-old girl.

Joseph and John Smith talked in a jailhouse meeting four days after Carlie's abduction, and Joseph Smith said he used cocaine and then had "rough sex" with Carlie and strangled her, John Smith told jurors.

"I asked if she was dead. He said, 'I don't know; she could be.' "

Defense: He Just Wanted Reward

John Smith avoided eye contact with his brother as he told the jury why he led police to the spot he said Joseph Smith described to him as the place he dumped Carlie's body.

"I felt the child could still be alive," he testified.

Defense attorneys tried to convince jurors that John Smith wasn't a reluctant witness at all, but rather was serving up his brother to perhaps save himself.

They hinted that he might have played a part in dumping her body at a church off Proctor Road.

Assistant Public Defender Steven Schaefer's questions painted John Smith as a lying, three-time felon and drug user who wanted reward money when he helped police find Carlie's body.

Schaefer argued that John Smith went to the church where Carlie's body was found after telling police his brother had not told him anything about Carlie's disappearance.

Also, it was John Smith who brought up the idea of Carlie being dead, not Joseph Smith, Schaefer said.

John Smith testified he never received a reward but that Joseph Smith had told him to try to get the reward and use it to start a trust fund for Joseph Smith's three children.

He also told jurors he searched for Carlie's body himself on the church grounds where it eventually was found because he "was curious to see if anything he said was accurate."

Defense attorneys further portrayed John Smith as a suspect while cross-examining Sarasota County Sheriff's Office Detective Toby Davis.

"You never considered the possibility that John Smith took you to the body because John Smith left the body?" Tebrugge asked the detective.

That "would not have made sense, so in my world it would not have been a possibility," Davis said.

John Smith testified that his brother confessed the first day he and his mother met with Joseph Smith.

The conversation with his mother and brother included graphic details.

John Smith Has Criminal Record

Assistant State Attorney Debra Johnes Riva had asked the court to allow her to treat John Smith as an adverse witness, saying constant police involvement has been needed to locate him and get him to court.

John Smith has had his share of trouble with the law.

He was arrested in April and charged with armed burglary and cocaine possession.

He is scheduled to go to trial on the charges early next year.

John Smith told jurors he was not promised anything in return for his testimony.