Mom: Carlie's Killer Should Die

When the jury that convicted Joseph P. Smith of kidnapping, raping and murdering 11-year-old Carlie Brucia convenes later this month to consider his sentence, it should absolutely give him the death penalty, Carlie's mother says.

It can't happen soon enough, she adds.

Brucia's abduction in February 2004 from the parking lot of a Sarasota, Fla., carwash was caught on tape by a surveillance camera. The tape rocketed the case to nationwide attention at the time.

Brucia's mother, Sue Schorpen

She says it was hard being in court with Smith. "It's been a very difficult two weeks. The last year-and-a-half has been very difficult."

When Storm asked if she thinks Smith deserves the death penalty, Schorpen replied, "Of course. It's just — our judicial system doesn't move fast enough for me. He gets more — I mean, what is it, 12 years he gets for appeals? My daughter didn't even make it to 12. I've got a problem with that."

Schorpen described Carlie as "awesome. She's greatly missed. She was a sweet, well-rounded, beautiful inside-and-out little girl.

"The thing is, she was a little girl. She was 11-years-old. This shouldn't have happened. This animal should have never been on the street. If our judicial system had worked correctly, he would not have been on the street and we wouldn't be doing this interview today. I have some bitterness."

At the time of the slaying, Smith was in violation of the terms of his probation on a cocaine charge

Before that, Smith had been arrested at least 13 times since 1993, mostly on drug offenses. In one case, he was charged with kidnapping a 20-year-old woman, but was acquitted.

Smith had not been convicted of sex offenses before Carlie's death.

Carlie's killing spurred the introduction of federal and state legislation to crack down on probation violators.

That's a step in the right direction, Schorpen says. "We need so much change. There is an enormous amount of change that needs to be done. Sex offenders, I don't believe in rehabilitation for them. That's my personal belief. I don't think that they should ever be let out again.

"The judges are too lenient. Probation is too lenient. They abscond. You know, they hide. This is ridiculous. It's ridiculous.

"You know, in a small radius, people need to go on their computers, look up how many pedophiles are in their neighborhood. They're gonna be surprised. We live in a very scary world."