A lawyer for suspect Joseph P. Smith argued that media coverage may have influenced the grand jury.
By Associated Press
Published March 13, 2004
SARASOTA - A judge refused Friday to dismiss charges against the man indicted in the abduction, rape and slaying of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia.
A defense attorney for Joseph P. Smith then entered not guilty pleas to charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and capital sexual battery.
Smith was not present, waiving his right to appear at the court hearing involving the Feb. 1 kidnapping, rape and strangulation of Carlie, who was abducted as she walked home from a friend's house. Her body was found in underbrush near a church five days later.
A car wash surveillance camera captured images of the sixth-grader being led away by a man Sarasota County sheriff's detectives say is Smith, 37. The images were broadcast nationally on television news.
Smith is being held without bail.
In asking for the case to be dismissed, Assistant Public Defender Adam Tebrugge said grand jurors' deliberations leading to the indictment of the unemployed auto mechanic might have been tainted by intense media coverage.
Prosecutor Debra Johnes Riva said Tebrugge offered no evidence that the grand jury was tainted.
"How often is there a videotape of an abduction of a child where the defendant is portrayed and identified by friends and family?" Riva asked. "When you put all the evidence together in this case, it is overwhelming."
Sarasota Circuit Judge Andrew Owens denied Tebrugge's motion.
Tebrugge said it was too early to say whether he will seek a change of venue, but said his client has been vilified in Sarasota.
"The general tone of the publicity is he's a bad person: He has a criminal record, he's done these crimes before," he said.
Smith, the married father of three young daughters who has a long history of drug offenses and parole violations, served 60 days in jail for attacking a woman on a Sarasota street in 1993 and breaking her nose with a motorcycle helmet. He was acquitted of trying to kidnap a Bradenton woman in 1997.
Prosecutors have said they intend to seek the death penalty in the case.
