We, the
comrades of Unit 1012, will honor and remember 8-year-old Cherish Lily
Perrywinkle who died on June 22, 2013.
We, the
comrades of Unit 1012: The VFFDP, will make her one of The
82 murdered children of Unit 1012, where we will not forget her. Let us
remember how she lived and not how she died. We will always support her family
members. Please go to this previous blog post
to learn more about her.
 |
|
Cherish Perrywinkle, 8, was abducted on
06/21/13 and later raped and killed. Police have arrested Donald J. Smith, 56,
in her murder. Smith is a registered sex offender who was just released from
jail on May 31, 2013.
|
INTERNET
SOURCE: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2015-05-12/story/donald-smiths-mother-will-testify-advance-cherish-perrywinkle-murder
Donald
Smith's mother will testify in advance of Cherish Perrywinkle murder trial
Tue, May 12, 2015 @ 12:33
pm | updated Tue, May 12, 2015 @ 6:00 pm
A trial date for Donald James Smith
has not yet been set for the abduction, rape and killing of 8-year-old Cherish
Perrywinkle. But in two months, the first witness to testify in Smith’s case will
be his own mother.
Tuesday Circuit Judge Mallory Cooper
agreed to let Patricia Moore, Smith’s mother, testify July 2. Prosecutors said
Moore needs to testify now because she’s 76 years old and might not be alive or
physically able to testify by the time Smith goes on trial.
If Moore is unable to testify when
Smith’s actual trial begins, a videotape of the testimony will be shown to
jurors. If she is able to testify, the July 2 testimony will be treated as a
pretrial deposition, said Assistant State Attorney Mark Caliel.
Moore will likely testify to her son’s
criminal history and also discuss his actions during the time Cherish
Perrywinkle went missing.
Defense attorney Julie Schlax
objected, saying there was no reason to take this step when Moore had a good
chance of being able to testify whenever the trial occurs. But Caliel countered
it is best to get Moore’s testimony now just to be safe, and Cooper agreed.
Cooper said she’d like to try to set a
trial date when Moore testifies July 2. But it’s also possible the case could
get bogged down in questions of whether Smith, 58, is mentally competent enough
to face the death penalty or to face trial at all.
Cooper is expected to retire at the
end of 2015 and will likely seek to have the trial occur before she departs so
a new judge doesn’t have to take the case over. But several other death-penalty
cases have ground to a halt over questions of intellectual disability.
The case previously got delayed over
questions of Smith’s representation. The office of Public Defender Matt Shirk
represented Smith but said it should be removed because of a conflict of
interest representing both Smith and Randall Deviney, who claimed to have
information on another killing involving Smith.
Cooper refused to release Shirk’s
office from the case, but in February the 1st District Court of Appeal in
Tallahassee overruled her and ordered the public defender removed.
Schlax and Charles Fletcher, who are
private attorneys, are now representing Smith and they are being paid by the
state with taxpayer money.
Smith is charged with first-degree
murder, kidnapping and sexual battery. He is a registered sex offender who was
released from prison three weeks before Cherish was killed.
He is accused of befriending Cherish,
her mother, Rayne Perrywinkle, and siblings at a Dollar General store in June
2013 and convincing them to go to Wal-Mart on Lem Turner Road in his van after
offering to buy them clothes and food.
Perrywinkle told police that Smith
offered to buy the family hamburgers at the McDonald’s inside the Wal-Mart.
Cherish went with him to get the food, and they did not return.
Cherish’s body was found near a creek
off Broward Road the next morning.
Larry Hannan: (904) 359-4470
No comments:
Post a Comment