I've been slightly nauseous all week. I don't think it was anything I ate. I don't think it was a virus. I think it was the news out of Sarasota.
Few things frighten me more than the thought of one of my daughters being abducted by a sexual predator. I know that it is not much worse than losing them to a drunk driver, a lightning bolt or an undertow, but still, watching the surveillance video of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia being lead off by what we now know to be the wicked, vile, Joseph P. Smith, has literally made me sick all week.
As the week wore on, the news got no better. When I learned of a suspect in custody, I saw nothing to celebrate. If you find the suspect, and he doesn't have the girl with him, it is rarely good news. The day after Smith was declared a suspect, the news got worse.
"The suspect is not cooperating."
There is no more telling clue that the abducted child is dead.
It broke my heart to watch the girl's parents grasping at the infinitesimal hope that their child was alive. And even though I knew it was inevitable, the news that they found her body on Friday hit me like a sucker punch below the belt.
Police say Smith told a cellmate that he had kidnapped and killed Carlie. Such tips are not always reliable. Cellmates conjure up false confessions all the time. However, in this case, according to early reports, the witness also said Smith boasted of dumping her body behind a local church, and that information allowed police to find Carlie's body behind the Central Church of Christ, near the carwash where she was abducted.
That is about as damning as a jail cell confession gets. Add that to the videotape, and the reported evidence that Carlie spent time in the suspect's piece of shit car, and you have a man who is guilty, guilty, guilty. Innocent until proven guilty? A figment of the law's imagination. Let me know when the lynch mob is forming. Give me six hours notice and I will be there. I have the miles in the bank. I know how to tie a rope. I'm here to help.
What kind of monster can do such a thing? Remarkably, in Smith, a man who has three daughters himself. That just blows me away. How does a man who has daughters of his own do this to someone else's daughter?
It is unfortunate that Smith wasn't put away years ago. He was arrested at least 13 times since 1993. Convicted of many lesser crimes, he was acquitted of kidnapping and false imprisonment charges in 1998, when a jury rejected a woman's claims that he told her he "would cut her" if she screamed, and believed Smith, who claimed he had grabbed the woman because he thought she was about to harm herself by jumping in front of traffic.
Smith's story reminds me a bit of Alejandro Avila, who killed 5-year-old Samantha Runnion in 2002. Avila had been acquitted on charges of molesting two young girls the previous year. This left him free to molest again, leaving no witness alive the second time.
Is it really better to have a justice system that lets ten guilty men go free rather than imprisoning one innocent man? I don't know. Is is better to jail a guy who looked guilty, but wasn't? Or is it better to bury little girls like Samantha and Carlie? Unless you are OJ Simpson, it's hard to argue that Samantha and Carlie's lives are worth less than their accusers'.
Some people deserve to die. I'm not sure I entirely buy into the eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth line of discipline in every case, but evil men deserve powerful justice. If you ruin or end lives without justification, you might deserve to die. In the case of Joseph Smith, it is fairly clear that the accused deserves to die.
Should we kill murderers to teach people that it is wrong to kill? Damn straight -- just like we imprison kidnappers to teach people that you should never hold people against their will.
So let's make sure Smith gets a fair trial, and then let's kill him. Let's make it painful and frightening. It might be cruel, but it won't be unusual, because Carlie Brucia has already been through it.
To add, I think that by watching the video, it made those who watched it feel like witnesses and because we saw the video, we were somehow left feeling as if there should have been something we could have done to save Carlie. Also, in viewing it, we were made even more aware of how easy child abduction can be.
Posted by: Retro Girl | February 15, 2004 at 07:29
All the liberals fault. Of course. Might have something to do with not having financial resources to keep every animal locked up forever. Also, it did happen in Jeb Bush's state.
But more seriously, cases like this which seem to scream "Death Penalty" may be just right for a particular case, but with the nearly infinity of ways governments can screw up since they are run by imperfect humans, giving governments the death penalty is more likely to generate injustice than justice.
Tribal vengeance is something for societies where throwing battery acid in women's faces is accepted clan behavior.
Posted by: Doug | February 12, 2004 at 23:11
Let the liberals beware. There are truly human predators that continue to kill inocent little girls and others without remorse.
I think it is time we limit the appeal process for individual cases like this one and hang thier asses on national television as soon as they have been sentnced to death. Give them a 30 day appeal and save tax dollars and room in our prisons for the lessor offender.
Maybe even a show named the "Super Bowl of justice".
If we send a strong enough message similar to the one the Saudi's use when they catch someone steeling. They cut the thieves hands off.
If I were the father of these victims. I would find a way to castrate the son of a bitch and stuff the leftover in the guys mouth right before I hung him!
Think that would be a strong enough message?
I mean really do something to get the message across to these criminals.
I think that these criminals know they will get away with murder without brutal punishment for their deeds and the fact they could care less about the existing justice system. Let alone their victims.
When will people finally get fed up with these criminals? When will we see a change and expediency in the justice system?
Hey,Who let the guy off when he jumped his parole anyhow?
Those that are the responsable individuals should at the very least get chastised,loose their jobs and then be black balled from ever working in the justice system again.
Who is responsible? You never hear about those
responsible or any penalty for their irresponsible
abilities.
Where are the liberals now with there never ending solutions that do nothing for society but
ebcourage and permit this vermin to wander freely to collect thier next victim.
They are I feel ultimately responsible for trying to be lenient on these criminals, when their is not a chance of changing the criminal mind.
Once and for all, let's develop some laws that really do send a message and protect the woman and the inocents of our great country.
Rope tying class anyone?
JT
Posted by: JoeT | February 08, 2004 at 12:33