Carlie Suspect Pleads Innocent

A judge has refused to dismiss charges against the man accused of kidnapping and killing an 11-year-old girl.

The abduction of Carlie Brucia was captured by a car wash security camera.

An attorney for Joseph Smith on Friday entered innocent pleas to charges of first-degree murder, rape and kidnapping.

Smith wasn't there. He had waived his right to appear at court hearings.

His public defender asked for the case to be dismissed — saying grand jurors who indicted him may have been tainted by the intense media coverage.

But a prosecutor said the defense offered no proof of that.

Carlie Brucia was abducted as she walked home from a friend's home. A car wash surveillance camera captured images of the girl being led away by a dark-haired man Sarasota County Sheriff's detectives say is Smith.

Smith, the married father of three young daughters who has a long history of drug offenses, was once acquitted of trying to kidnap a Bradenton woman in 1997. He is being held without bond.

Prosecutors have said they intend to seek the death penalty against Smith.