CARLIE BRUCIA IS KIDNAPPED AND MURDERED

On Sunday, February 1, 2004 in Sarasota, 11-year-old Carlie Brucia is abducted while on her way home from a sleepover at a friend's house. The abduction is captured by a surveillance camera at a car wash, and the nation watches in horror as a man approaches the little girl, talks to her and leads her away. The video leads to tips from the community, which lead to Joseph P. Smith, a 37-year-old convicted felon and father of three.

He is indicted on charges of first degree murder, kidnapping and capital sexual battery on February 20, 2004. The nation is outraged because of perceived flaws in the Florida criminal justice system. Smith had been arrested at least 13 times in Florida since 1993, and he had a prior kidnapping and false imprisonment charge. And just a month prior to Carlie's abduction, a state probation officer asked a circuit judge to violate Smith for a technical probation violation, and he did not.

Follow up: Smith’s jury finds him guilty and recommend 10-2 for the death penalty. On March 15, 2006 Circuit Judge Andrew Owens sentences Smith to death, citing as aggravating circumstances Smith’s previous felony convictions, the victim’s age (11) and the fact that the capital felony was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel. Smith died in prison in 2021 while awaiting resentencing.

CONVICTED SEX OFFENDER IS CHARGED WITH MURDERING JESSICA LUNSFORD

Nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford is taken from her bedroom in Citrus County sometime during the night of February 23, 2005. She is believed to have been sexually assaulted and buried alive a few days later. She died of asphyxiation, according to the medical examiner's report.

John Evander Couey, who is charged March 21, 2005 with her murder, is also charged with burglary with battery, kidnapping and sexual battery on a child less than 12 years of age. He is a convicted sex offender with a long criminal history. He is also a neighbor of Jessica's. He was on county probation at the time of the murder.

JUVENILES AND EXECUTION

By a vote of 5-4, the U.S. Supreme Court on March 1, 2005 held that the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments forbid the execution of offenders who were under the age of 18 when their crimes were committed. (Roper v. Simmons)

FLORIDA LEGISLATURE ENHANCES PENMALTIES FOR SEXUAL CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN

Governor Bush signs into law the Jessica Lunsford Act on June 9, 2005. It enhances penalties for sexual crimes against children, including making sexual predators who murder their victims eligible for the death penalty. It also increases the penalty for lewd and lascivious molestation of a child to life in prison or a split sentence of a mandatory minimum 25-year prison term, followed by lifetime supervision with electronic monitoring. For more on this law, visit Jessica Lundsford Act.