The lawyer for the man charged with abducting and killing the Sarasota girl says media publicity tainted the indictment.
By Associated Press
Published February 25, 2004
SARASOTA - The attorney for the man indicted in the slaying of an 11-year-old girl whose abduction was videotaped has requested that a new grand jury be impaneled to review the case. He said the first grand jury's indictment was tainted by intensive media coverage.
Assistant Public Defender Adam Tebrugge, whose request for a gag order was turned down earlier, said grand jury members who indicted auto mechanic Joseph P. Smith in Carlie Brucia's slaying were "subjected to this invidious publicity and therefore cannot perform their duties impartially."
Smith, 37, was indicted on Feb. 20 on a first-degree murder charge in the death of Carlie, whose Feb. 1 abduction was videotaped by a car wash surveillance camera - footage that was shown repeatedly on television news nationally. Carlie's body was found five days later beneath a pile of brush near a church 3 miles from Evie's Car Wash. Prosecutors have also charged Smith with kidnapping and capital sexual battery.
"Almost all of the media coverage has portrayed Joseph Smith as guilty of the murder and kidnapping," Tebrugge wrote in Friday's filing. "Very little or none has urged the public to wait until all of the facts are discovered or to give Joseph Smith the presumption of innocence to which he is constitutionally entitled."
If the challenge is sustained by Circuit Judge Andrew D. Owens Jr., the grand jury could be discharged and another impaneled. While Owens declined Tebrugge's gag order request, he approved a 60-day delay in releasing evidence to the press.
Prosecutor Debra Johnes Riva declined comment.
Tebrugge has said his client will plead not guilty at his arraignment scheduled for March 12.
