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Jury recommends death for convicted murderer
By CHASE SQUIRES © St. Petersburg Times, published May 5, 2001 DADE CITY -- Lawrence Joey Smith should die for gunning down a 17-year-old Land O'Lakes boy two years ago along a dark stretch of State Road 54, a jury ruled Friday.
Prosecutors said Smith shot the two after the boys lost another man's money in a botched drug deal. Tuttle survived a .40-caliber bullet to the brain, but Crawford died on the spot after Smith fired one shot into his arm, knocking him to the ground, then stood over him and fired a second shot into his head. Unlike Thursday's verdict, which sparked emotional reactions from Crawford's and Smith's families, Friday's recommendation was greeted with silence. Smith, animated and smiling through most of the trial -- even winking at spectators in the gallery Friday morning -- leaned back in his chair when the recommendation came shortly after 5 p.m. He was handcuffed and led from the courtroom without a sound. Crawford's mother, Patty Brink, said she welcomed the closure. "As his mother, I'm relieved," she said. "He won't do this to someone else's child." Brink and her daughter, Lisa Crawford, said it was important that they learned details of Crawford's last night. They said they were frustrated the teen had been portrayed as a drug dealer as the case awaited trial. Investigators say Tuttle and Crawford agreed to broker a $1,200 LSD deal for Faunce Levon Pearce, 39. Their friends betrayed them and stole the cash, sending the boys back to an enraged Pearce empty-handed. According to authorities, Pearce held the boys at gunpoint, then summoned Smith and two other men as armed support. He drove the teens along SR 54, where they were ordered out of the car, one-by-one, and Smith shot them in the head. But Brink said her son wasn't active in the drug scene. He just happened to go along with Tuttle that night and got in over his head. Her lanky son, an average student who dreamed of becoming an architect, was kind and polite, Brink said. During the trial, a witness testified Crawford's last words were: "Don't. Please, don't." His mother found that typical of her well-mannered son. "Even when he was being killed, he said "please,' " she said. Smith created a stir Friday morning when he got up, unnoticed, from the defense table and strolled into the gallery to get a hug from his girlfriend. He was hauled back to his seat by bailiff Jim Dome. Later, Smith announced he wanted to take the stand in the sentencing phase. An hour later, he changed his mind. He said he was confused and felt pressured by his attorneys, who didn't want him to speak. "It's my life on the line," he told Circuit Judge Maynard Swanson. "I don't know, man." Smith's mother, Mary, told jurors he was a loving child whose life was derailed at age 10 when his father died of a heart attack and a surrogate father died six months later. "He wasn't the same happy-go-lucky child," Mrs. Smith said. "He said he was never going to love anyone again because they just died and left him." Appointed defense attorney Scott Robbins told jurors Smith was under Pearce's control when the shootings occurred. Robbins asked the jury for mercy and said life in prison would be harsh enough. Prosecutor Phil Van Allen urged the jury to demand death. "Rob Crawford said, "Please, don't. Please, don't,' " Van Allen said. "And in response to that request, Joey Smith shot Rob Crawford." Swanson is scheduled to review the results of a presentencing investigation and hear from the victims' families on July 13. Pearce is scheduled to go to trial July 16.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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