Parade Of Witnesses In Brucia Case

Witnesses testifying on behalf of a man convicted of raping and murdering a Florida girl Tuesday described him as a loving father and a drug addict who wanted to kick the habit.

Joseph Smith's attorneys are trying to persuade jurors to recommend a life sentence instead of the death penalty for killing eleven-year-old Carlie Brucia. A judge will make the final decision.

As testimony for the day began wrapping up this afternoon, 13 witnesses had taken the stand to testify to Smith's character.

The same jury convicted Smith two weeks ago of convicting, raping and murdering Brucia. So far, the defense has presented a group of 13 witnesses to testify on Smith's behalf — they say that he is a decent person who had physical and emotional problems, and therefore doesn't deserve to be executed, CBS News affiliate WTSP in Tampa, Fl., reports.

Smith's "spiritual advisor" was among those speaking on his behalf.

A former baby sitter for the children of Joseph Smith described him "as a good father" who loved his children and took care of them very well.

"He would always thank me for baby sitting them," said the girl, identified only by her initials.

Carlie's case drew national attention last year after a car wash surveillance camera caught her abduction on tape.

It was unclear whether a second juvenile, described earlier in the day by Circuit Judge Andrew D. Owens as a niece of Smith, would testify.

The defense witnesses include the mother of a woman Smith dated. She says Smith treated her grandchildren as if they were his own.

A former probation officer says Smith had expressed a desire to kick his drug habit, though he never enrolled in a drug treatment program.

Assistant Public Defender Assistant Adam Tebrugge said he understood a ruling by Owens to identify the juveniles by initial only and not allow photographs of their faces, but would have preferred that they girls not be identified at all.

He said he was undecided on whether to allow both of the juveniles to testify to Smith's character.

Earlier, Carlie was described as a thoughtful, bubbly girl, an A-student who liked to sing off-key to make her mother laugh and had a fondness for shoes.

Her parents and a teacher told the jurors who will help decide whether her killer should be executed.

"I lost the love of my life," Susan Schorpen, the 11-year-old girl's mother, said Monday while fighting back tears and taking deep breaths from the witness stand. "I cry for her at all hours of the day. I cry for her at night. I'm broken. I will never heal."

Outside the courthouse, she said, "I'd like him dead today."

Jurors convicted Joseph Smith, a former auto mechanic, on Nov.17 of kidnapping, sexual battery and first-degree murder. Carlie's murder received worldwide attention because her Feb. 1, 2004, abduction as she walked home from a friend's house was captured by a car wash

A former teacher, Susan Van Alstine, described Carlie as an "excellent student" who once got other students to sign a goodbye note of gratitude for her. Carlie's father, Joseph Brucia, recounted visits to an amusement park and shoe-shopping trips when his daughter visited him in Long Island, N.Y., during Christmas and the summer.

"When Carlie was taken from our family, it hurt us to the core," Brucia said. "Many times, I didn't want to go on and was close to taking my own life."

Jurors must consider aggravating circumstances that would justify a recommendation of death by lethal injection and mitigating circumstances that would persuade jurors to recommend life in prison without parole. Their vote does not have to be unanimous.

Smith's desire to avoid arrest for the abduction and sexual battery of the girl was one of six "aggravators" that justify a recommendation of death, prosecutor Debra Riva told jurors Monday as she opened the trial's penalty phase.

Smith wanted "to eliminate Carlie as a witness," Riva said. "The defendant did not have to kill the girl."