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Joseph P. Smith

It took five hours for a jury to convict Joseph P. Smith of the rape and murder of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia. It only took seconds to watch the video of him leading her out of sight of the camera's view.
Today his attorney will begin an attempt to convince the jury that this father of two deserves to live, rather than to receive the death sentence.
"The jury knows about the crime. Now I want you to find out some things about the person," Tebrugge said in his office just before Thanksgiving. "It's the concept of redemption. That the person has redeeming qualities that should be considered even in light of a horrific crime."....
While Tebrugge has not revealed the specific nature of his mitigation strategy, Smith's past drug use will play a large role in his quest to show that Smith is not a cold-blooded killer, but a disturbed individual under the influence of a substance that ruled over him for years. Full Story
Drugs. Yes, why not blame this one drugs? After all, he was doing drugs while he watched an 11 year old girl walk down the street. He was doing drugs when he decided to take that little girl and act out heinous desires.
Because, he choose to do the drugs. A bad decision to live a life filled with drugs is not an excuse to commit deviant acts. Being high doesn't make you less accountable. And it does not show that you have redeeming qualities. He choose to do the drugs. And if in his drug induced state- he choose to kidnap, torture, rape and murder a child- he is at fault. No one pushed the drugs down him.
The fact that he is a father, makes this only more horrifying. As a parent he should be better than this. He should cherish not only his children's lives- but all children's lives.
I find nothing redeeming in him.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I hate to criticize because I like your blog BUT....last time I checked blogger had a spell check function. Use it for gods sake. There is a difference between "choose" and "chose"
1/12/05
Lilo said…
Thanks, however blogger's spell check is just that, a spell check. It doesn't catch my mistake if its it's the correct spelling of the wrong word. I should most likely double check my posts myself, but I don't always do that.
1/12/05
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