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Child Killer's Death Sentence Overturned:  A divided Florida Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of a man who made national news for the kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia.  Jim Saunders of the Orlando Weekly reports that Joseph Smith was caught on surveillance video grabbing the girl at a carwash on February 1, 2004.  Police released the video to the media requesting help in identifying the kidnapper, and several people contacted detectives to report that Smith was the man in the video.  Following his arrest, Smith told his brother where he had left the girl's body.  At trial, the jury reviewed overwhelming evidence, including Smith's DNA on the victim's clothes, and unanimously convicted him of capital murder. The same jury later voted 10-2 recommending a death sentence.  At that time, Florida did not require a unanimous jury, and Smith was sentenced to death.  Over the next 13 years, Smith's conviction and death sentence were upheld on appeal and his numerous claims of trial error were rejected on habeas corpus.  In 2017, Smith petitioned Florida's highest court, citing the U.S. Supreme Court's decision that year in Hurst v. Florida, which held that the state's requirements for jury findings in capital cases were unconstitutional.  The Florida Supreme Court upheld Smith's claim based upon Hurst and its own subsequent ruling which required that the jury must be unanimous to recommend a death sentence.  Smith will now receive a new sentencing trial.

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"Smith will now receive a new sentencing trial."

~ Please tell me that he is still eligible for the Death penalty.

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