By John Springer
Court TV
SARASOTA, Fla. — A jury convicted auto mechanic Joseph Smith Thursday of the rape and murder of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia, whose shocking abduction last year was caught on tape and broadcast worldwide. Smith, who now faces the death penalty, nodded slightly but displayed no emotion as the court clerk read the verdicts. Susan Schorpen, Carlie's mother, broke down in tears when the verdicts were announced after nearly five hours of deliberations. Schorpen said she will not find any closure until Smith is condemned to death, which could come following a hearing later this month. "I lost one of the most precious things to me in my life because of an animal. A disgusting perverted animal," Schorpen said. "I can never hold her again. I can never speak to her again. I am so broken ... He is going to get more years on appeal than my daughter got in her life."
Carlie's biological father, Joseph Brucia, nodded his head and sighed heavily after each of three guilty verdicts were read. Both he and Schorpen, who are not married, thanked prosecutors. "It's a good verdict," said Sarasota County Sheriff William Balkwill, his voice choked with emotion. Prosecutors called 34 witnesses during six days of testimony, which began Nov. 7 in this Gulf Coast community south of Tampa. Three witnesses said that Smith, 39, resembled the man captured in grainy security-camera images approaching Carlie in the parking lot of Evie's Car Wash. Carlie, who was in the sixth grade, was taking a shortcut through the car wash as she made her way home from a slumber party at a friend's house. The stocky, dark-haired man in the photos wore a mechanic's uniform and had what appeared to be tattoos running down both arms, just as Smith does. Smith's brother John testified that the defendant confided to him at a jailhouse meeting and in phone calls that he had intercourse and oral sex with Carlie, that he thought she was older, and that he got "carried away" during "rough sex" and strangled her. Medical examiner Russell Vega concluded after examining the body that Carlie was strangled from behind with a ligature of some sort, perhaps a shoelace. No ligature was ever found; prosecutors believe Smith discarded the ligature along with some of Carlie's clothes and her pink backpack in four Dumpsters. An FBI cryptologist testified that Smith told his brother as much in a coded letter that was intercepted and deciphered. Defense lawyer Adam Tebrugge stunned the courtroom Wednesday when he announced that the defense was waiving its right to deliver a closing argument. Tebrugge explained outside of court that he felt he had accomplished what he wanted during his cross-examination of prosecution witnesses and his questioning of about six defense witnesses on Wednesday. The defense contended that police focused their investigation almost exclusively on Smith and all but ignored other potential suspects who resembled the man seen on the surveillance video. Tebrugge suggested that DNA evidence linking a semen stain on Carlie's shirt to Smith could have been the result of contamination or could have been contributed by Smith's brother. Jurors were not permitted to discuss their findings because their work is not done. The same panel will reconvene Nov. 28 to hear more testimony before deciding whether to recommend that Smith be executed.  | | Susan Schorpen, Carlie's mother, cries during the verdict. |
In the death-penalty phase of the trial, jurors will weigh aggravating factors against mitigating factors to decide whether to recommend that Smith be executed. Aggravating factors in this case might include the pain Carlie suffered, her age and Smith's criminal record; mitigating factors might include Smith's history of emotional and mental problems and evidence that he may have been high on cocaine during the crime. Schorpen said she plans to testify at the penalty hearing, but declined to comment on what she will say. Asked whether the convictions helped her emotionally, Schorpen said, "A bit." Asked if she thinks she'll ever feel closure, she said, "When he's dead."
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