Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege

SARASOTA, Fla. — A former mechanic and father of three girls has been found guilty of kidnapping, raping and killing 11-year-old Carlie Brucia, whose abduction was caught on a security-camera video.

A jury reached its verdict Thursday in the murder trial of Joseph P. Smith. The penalty phase is set to start Nov. 28. He faces the death penalty or life in prison.

Smith, 39, nodded but showed no surprise or other visible reaction when the verdict was handed down Thursday.

Carlie's relatives hugged and wept after the decision was read.

Her mother, Susan Schorpen, said outside the courthouse that she won't rest until Smith is dead, "when he meets his maker."

"I lost one of the most precious things to me in my life because of an animal, a disgusting, perverted animal," Schorpen said. "The fact that I can never hold her again, never see her again ... I am broken."

She said the laws regarding repeat offenders and probation violators need to change. Smith has a long criminal history and was in violation of his probation on a cocaine charge when he kidnapped and killed Carlie. But a judge declined to put him in jail after he failed to pay $411 in fines and court costs, saying Florida does not have a "debtor's prison."