She also doubted that anyone would try to kidnap a child while in a store with surveillance cameras and lots of people around. Every time I look at him and we make eye contact, the first thing he does is look away. A Jacksonville native and proud University of North Florida alum, Francine Frazier has been with News4Jax since 2014 after spending nine years at The Florida Times-Union. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. His feet seemed unable to stop jumping. Do you know Suzie? he called out. Smith told Rayne Perrywinkle that he would take her and her daughters shopping at a Walmart. Smith is currently on death row. Smith, now 64, was accused of murdering Cherish Perrywinkle after a series of events that began when he met her mother, Rayne Perrywinkle, at a Dollar General store. The first death row prisoner to be executed in Florida in nearly four years launched a foul-mouthed attack on Governor Ron DeSantis moments before his lethal injection yesterday. 10. On Florida's Death Row for 32 years, Dillbeck, 59, died strapped to gurney at Florida State Prison after a three-drug cocktail was administered through a needle just after 6 p.m. He coaxed them into his van and promised to buy them food and clothing at Walmart. At times during sentencing hearings, Coopers voice cracked with emotion. For what seemed like an eternity, she holed up in the tube of a playground slide hoping, praying the man in the van would not see her, she said. She testified that she was disarmed by Smiths comments about his wife, whom he said would be joining them. "May God have mercy on your soul," Cooper said just moments before the culmination of nearly five years of court proceedings on the state's case against 61-year-old Donald James Smith for killing 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle. Photo: JSO. The jurors were in tears after witnessing crime scene photos of the murder as the defense tried to suppress the images. What does the new Brexit trade deal mean for the future of Northern Ireland? "And sometimes mercy is given to someone who does not deserve it.". Prison is going to kill me. Nelson tried the case with Mark Caliel and Vanessa Wheeler-Sanchez. The murder trial of Donald Smith, who is accused of raping, torturing, and killing eight-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle in 2013, was held in a Florida court The young girl was allegedly. Kuritz added that the prosecutors statement was a calculated attempt to inflame the jury, one whose impact he argued carried over into the sentencing phase of the trial because it was made during closing. 3 abortion bans in Texas leave doctors 'talking in code' to pregnant patients, Psychologist Daniel Levitin dissects Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon', Tinubu has been declared the winner of Nigeria's presidential elections, The Library of Congress will honor Joni Mitchell with the Gershwin Prize, Psychologist: Donald Smith Does Not Have A Normal Human Brain, Donald Smith Passes On Last Chance To Argue Against Death Penalty, Donald Smith Sentenced To Death For Murder Of Cherish Perrywinkle. They were obtained by First Coast News through a public records request. But he is real.. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The News4JAX I-TEAM has obtained all of the evidence against Donald Smith, who was convicted of raping and killing 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle. On that day in 1992 Smith ordered Buck into the van and she ran as fast as she could to get to her friend's house. Smith acknowledges that even if he pulls off a psychiatric defense, he wont be coming home soon. Smith, who sat motionless and expressionless during previous court proceedings, is on his way to Florida's death row. Its violence. Its going to be violent. They called no witnesses Smith wouldn't even allow Cherish's mother to be cross-examined and offered no closing arguments. A jury found Smith guilty of kidnapping, rape and murder in 15 minutes in February. Smith has flitted in and out of prison and a sex offender commitment program since the 1970s. A week later they heard more testimony to determine if should be executed or spend the rest of his days in prison. Donald Smith, 65, has been on death row since his 2018 conviction for killing Cherish Perrywinkle. In society, children are sacred. But I dont think thats wrong.. Smith said he used crack in the bathroom of the Walmart before luring Cherish out of the store. Smith was released from prison just 21 days after raping Janice in 2013 and then strangling her. Furthermore, Duval County is a large diverse county with hundreds of thousands of eligible jurors of which it is difficult to believe that twelve unbiased jurors, uninfluenced by the publicity and indifferent to, or even totally unaware of, social media posts, could not be found.. Smith tells his mom about the night he kidnapped and killed Perrywinkle from a Northside Walmart. Yes, it could have. Outcome. Days later, the judge in the case sentenced him to death. Example video title will go here for this video, JACKSONVILLE, Fla. The facts of this case are horrifying.. Smith, who has been labeled a sex offender since the 1970s, will join 51 other Duval County convicts on death row. Just as she did during his sentencing hearing, Perrywinkle on Wednesday locked eyes with her child's killer. Days later, Cherish was dead. Many again cried when they came back after two hours of deliberation following the sentencing hearing with a decision that Smith should be sentenced to death. That mistake cost him as Bucks family was able to get the tag number off his van and report it to police. Smith had promised to buy them clothes from a nearby Walmart. Donald Smith was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for the murder of a eight year old girl. Cherish Perrywinkle body would be found the next day, the eight year old had been sexually assaulted. "I know I hurt people when I was young. By the age of 13 he was participating in voyeurism and public masturbation. This week the objective is to spare his life, and much of the testimony has been about his mental health and past. 'I don't want it in my backyard': Oceanway neighbor raises concerns about proposed Chick-fil-A next to her home, Brunswick woman free of debilitating back pain after receiving spinal stimulation device, Local Weather: Storms northwest of us Thursday , mark our next wind event, Viewing Venus under a telescope in our night sky, The Monster Speaks: Secret recordings capture Donald Smith recounting rape, murder of 8-year-old Jacksonville girl, A KILLERS CHEMTRAILS: The poisonous sweep of Donald Smiths career as a predator and the bad decisions that made it possible, Judge officially sentences Donald Smith to death for crimes against Cherish Perrywinkle. TALLAHASSEE The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday rejected appeals by a death row inmate who is scheduled to be executed next week in the 1990 murder of a . The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously upheld the conviction and death sentence of Donald James Smith, who raped and murdered 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinklle after kidnapping the girl from a Jacksonville Walmart in 2013. Morbid milestone: Florida reaches 100 executions with lethal injection death of Donald Dillbeck. "Every time I look at him and we lock eyes, he looks away first. And Smiths DNA profile matched the semen from the victims vagina at one in 12 quadrillion, which is 12,000,000,000,000,000, the senior assistant attorney general wrote. Veteran journalist and Emmy Award winning anchor. Feb. 23 (UPI) -- The justices of the Supreme Court have paved the way for Florida to execute death row inmate Donald Dillbeck on Thursday, rejecting his request to intervene on the grounds. Aside from the overwhelming evidence including surveillance footage of him leaving the store with the girl his defense team essentially conceded his guilt, calling no witnesses and offering no closing argument. 2023 www.jacksonville.com. In the end, it wasnt enough to convince the jury, which weighed these mitigating factors against aggravating factors such as Smiths criminal history; the murder was related to another crime; and that Cherishs death was an attempt to conceal the crimes of kidnapping and rape; The actions were particularly heinous, callous and orchestrated; and Cherish was under 12. Who was Cherish before Donald Smith cut her life short? The prosecution, on the other hand, delivered an impassioned closing, recounting the horrific details thejurors had heard and saying the testimony and evidence could lead to only one conclusion. Nelson said they only need to prove one for the jury to recommend Smith be put to death. Smith is currently on death row after he was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murder of 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle back in June 2013. He also declined to testify himself and opted out of having his attorneys deliver a closing argument on his behalf. A week later, they heard more testimony to determine whether he should be executed or spend the rest of his life in prison. Example video title will go here for this video, ***WARNING: The content and language within the videos are graphic and can be disturbing.***. I knew he was going to hurt me.. On the day Sherish died, Smith befriended Perry Winkle and their three daughters at a dollar grocery store. Specifically, the pretrial publicity was so expansive that it saturated the community for years, provided a one-sided and continuous narrative leading to one conclusion at trial, Mr. Smiths inevitable conviction, and death sentence, the brief said. Smith boasts about the rape and murder charges he faces in the death of 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle, comparing himself to notorious offenders like Casey Anthony. How am I going to explain this?". If you need help with WJXTs or WCWJ's FCC public inspection file, call (904) 393-9801. Colino said based on his analysis of Smith's brain, Smith could not control his actions. Holmes said when Smith committed crimes, his mother enabled him, even to the point of paying off debts Smith owed to drug dealers. The case was pretty clear that Smith did it. I dont think there is a way to have justice in something like this., [Images via Jacksonville Sheriffs Office. According to court documents Donald Smith would abduct Cherish Lily Perrywinkle from a store. Noting he was already a registered sex offender, he recalls thinking, "Don, you got an 8-year-old girl in your van. Later he blamed Cherish for her death saying he had to kill her because she got in his van. "Id rather go to death row because Im going to die anyway. Thats not about sex. He instructed his attorney not to question Cherish's mother, Rayne Perrywinkle, after she testified for the prosecution. Any rational jury would have convicted Smith of kidnapping, sexual battery, and murder based on the DNA evidence and the videotape without being shown a single photograph., Your email address will not be published. Smith called out: I know you are in there you little b ---. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the request last week. To avoid extravagance, the food to prepare the meals must cost no more than $40 and must be purchased locally, according. Donald James Smith: Kidnapped, raped, and murdered 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle. Smiths trial was closely watched both in Florida and nationwide. He says he'd prefer to be sent to a mental hospital but prefers death over being housed with other inmates. More than seven years after an 8-year-old girl was abducted from a Jacksonville Walmart, raped and murdered, the Florida Supreme Court will hear arguments this week about whether a man sentenced to death in the slaying should receive a new trial. His feet, it seemed, could not stop bouncing. Florida primary execution method is lethal injection. The women on Death Row are housed at Lowell Annex in Lowell, FL. All these years later and his face and voice still haunt her. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. The News4JAX Morning Show team brings you breaking news from overnight -- local, national and international stories, as well as weather and traffic to start your day. All rights reserved. They will also argue it was a mistake for the judge to deny a request for a change of venue in light of the voracious nature of the media interest in the case. Images via Jacksonville Sheriffs Office. ", This is bigger than that," he said. I want him to be burned in hell, said Cherishs mother, Rayne Perrywinkle. He was convicted of raping and strangling the child and leaving her body in a creek.