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Familiar scene opens trial

Prosecutors say DNA, fibers and a video point to Joseph Smith. His lawyer urges skepticism.

SARASOTA - Captivated jurors watched digital images of a man grabbing Carlie Brucia in a parking lot, as testimony began Monday in the first-degree murder trial of the man accused of abducting, raping and strangling the 11-year-old girl.

Some jurors sat on the edge of their seats and some watched with fingers pressed to their lips as the images flickered on a television screen of the man taking Carlie's arm and walking her out of view of a security camera posted outside a Sarasota carwash.

There is overwhelming evidence that the man in the images was Joseph Smith, a 39-year-old former auto mechanic and father of three daughters, prosecutors said in opening statements. But the defense said other suspects weren't properly checked out.

Prosecutors told jurors they also have a semen stain taken from the back of Carlie's shirt - connected by DNA analysis to Smith - and fibers of Carlie's clothing taken from the car they said Smith used in the abduction.

"The defendant used power and control to abduct, sexually batter and kill 11-year-old Carlie," said prosecutor Debra Johnes Riva.

Riva and witnesses told jurors how investigators were led to the security camera footage as they retraced the route Carlie would have taken home from a friend's house on Feb. 1, 2004.

On Feb. 2, a bloodhound, given the scent of a pillowcase used by Carlie, picked it up at Bee Ridge Road and Lalani Boulevard. The dog followed it to Evie's Car Wash on Bee Ridge Road, but then circled round and round, unable to follow it farther, handler Wesley Waysham of DeSoto County Fire and Rescue testified. That was a sign that Carlie had left that area abruptly, as on a bicycle or in a car.

Mike Evanoff, the owner of Evie's Car Wash, testified that, seeing the investigators, he decided to check the images his cameras captured the night before.

One of the images showed a yellow station wagon passing on Bee Ridge - later identified as the vehicle Smith had borrowed from a friend that day.

Then, two minutes later on another camera, this image: "I saw a young lady being led off to the back side of the carwash by her abductor," Evanoff told jurors.

Jurors were then instructed by Circuit Judge Andrew Owens to strike the word "abductor" from the testimony.

Carlie's body was found four nights after her disappearance on the grounds of a nearby church after Smith told relatives where to find it, Riva said. From jail, Smith called his brother on a cell phone, and, as his brother led detectives to the church grounds, told him "he had rough sex with Carlie," Riva said.

"Carlie's body will tell you the rest of the story," Riva told the jury, describing how the girl's body was clad in a red shirt "pushed up over her chest ... naked from the waist down." Marks on her wrists suggested they had been restrained and that she had been strangled from behind, she said.

Smith, wearing a neatly pressed blue suit and with a fresh haircut, jotted notes on a pad, poured cups of water and sucked on candy throughout the opening day of his trial. As Riva spoke, he sat nearly motionless, looking at her or occasionally down at the defense table. But as witnesses began testifying, he kept his gaze forward, avoiding eye contact with them or the jury.

Smith, who is also charged with kidnapping and capital sexual battery, could be sentenced to death if convicted of Carlie's slaying, which rocked this community and attracted wide attention after her apparent abduction was shown on TV around the world.

His attorney, Adam Tebrugge, told jurors in his opening statement that investigators got the names of numerous suspects after the carwash images were shown, including a man who lived at the friend's house where Carlie had spent the previous night. But even though the man told investigators he had discussed sexual topics with Carlie, Smith became their primary suspect almost immediately.

"Once the (Sarasota County) Sheriff's Office and the FBI decided that Joe was the person, none of these other leads was investigated," he said.

Tebrugge also raised questions about the DNA analysis. He cited past cases in which "maverick" FBI lab employees made false reports. He added that evidence is inconclusive as to whether the clothing fibers found in the car belonged to Carlie.

Tebrugge also questioned the motives of Smith's brother, John, saying the brothers had feuded and John was angry at Joseph.

"Please keep an open mind and approach the evidence with a certain degree of skepticism," Tebrugge said.

After two weeks of screening prospective jurors, a panel of eight women and four men, plus six alternates, was chosen Friday.

--The Bradenton Herald contributed to this report.

[Last modified November 8, 2005, 02:15:36]