Jury convicts man of fathering 11-year-old's child

By Aisling Swift (Contact)

A 59-year-old Golden Gate man took the stand Tuesday to deny that he had sex with an 11-year-old girl and fathered her child — testimony that contradicted a videotaped confession, a paternity test, and the girl’s testimony.

But a four-woman, two-man jury ignored his denials and took only 20 minutes to convict Jimmy Smith of capital sexual battery of a victim less than 12 years old. Smith, a surveyor for 28 years, stared straight ahead, emotionless, as the clerk read the verdict. The girl, now 14, smiled as she sat in the back of the courtroom.

Jurors listened as Collier County Judge Charles Carlton said the law mandated him to mete out life in prison for Smith. “The court has no choice,” Carlton told Smith. “The court cannot go lower than life imprisonment. You’re going to spend the rest of your natural life in state prison.”

As Smith, a gray-haired, bearded man with glasses, was fingerprinted, Carlton turned to jurors and said, “As you can see, the penalty for this crime is very severe.” Although Smith had no record, the law requires a life term when a victim is younger than 12.

Jurors were unaware Carlton had granted Assistant State Attorney Rob Crown permission to allow another woman to testify about being molested by Smith, but Crown opted not to because of the strong case against Smith. Crown had successfully cited the Williams Rule, which allows evidence involving other crimes to be admitted if it shows a pattern.

Jurors quickly left and two declined comment. The girl was hugged by her grandmother, who turned to Crown and thanked him. The girl, now 14, declined comment, except to say, “I’m all right.”

The girl’s name and Smith’s address are being withheld due to the nature of the crime. The girl’s paternal grandmother, Smith’s neighbor, said the teen now will live with a foster family in Jacksonville to be closer to her 2-year-old daughter, who is being cared for by her maternal grandmother.

During her testimony, the teen told jurors she’d been placed in her mother’s custody due to physical abuse by her father, a spanking that caused bruising. She’d been sexually abused by another relative, and when her mother was jailed on drug charges, she lived with her grandmother. Smith helped her with homework and they became close. After a fight with her grandmother, she moved in with Smith, her father’s friend.

At times, the girl, her face pale, rested her chin in her hands, her blond hair in cornrows with two long braids hanging on either side of her forehead. She said she initially blamed a 12-year-old she was having sex with because not many people in her life loved her as Smith did.

“I kept it a secret,” she said during questioning by Crown.

“Why did you do that?” he asked.

“I thought I was in love with him,” she said. “... I wanted to protect him. I didn’t want everything that I had taken away.”

She remembered the day she had sex with Smith, May 27, 2003, a friend’s birthday. She gave birth to her daughter in January 2004.

During cross-examination, defense attorney Donald Day repeatedly asked why she’d blame her 12-year-old boyfriend when she knew Smith was the father.

“He did it, so what’s the difference between him getting in trouble or not?” she said of having sex with the boy. “He did it.”

Day persisted. “I’m getting aggravated,” she said, rubbing her face, which was reddening. “... There was a possibility. How would I know?”

Detective Scott Peterson said the girl was brought to the Sheriff’s Office by her mother in April 2005. He used swabs to take DNA from her cheek, the baby’s, and Smith’s, which were used for a paternity test. Crown played a video showing Peterson amiably questioning Smith, telling him he knew he helped the girl with homework and raised her grade-point average.

“There really is no way to refute that you had sex with her,” Peterson said during Smith’s videotaped confession. “It doesn’t get any more rock solid than if you had a baby with her.”

Smith then admitted having sex with her “a few times” after they’d grown close, but said she’d come to his room and he was unsuccessful while trying to push her away.

When he took the stand, Smith said he never had sex with the girl, but told Peterson he did because the detective suggested they’d go easier on him. An incredulous Crown asked if he’d watched his videotaped confession, pointing out he’d said no to many questions, but didn’t deny having sex with the girl. Still, Smith maintained he’d pushed her away that night.

Day, whose only witness was Smith, built his case by cross-examining prosecution witnesses, trying to cast doubt on Peterson’s interrogation and evidence collection techniques. He also tried to tarnish the veracity of the DNA test, which Kelli P. Hayes, a former forensic technician who analyzed DNA for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said showed Smith was the father with 99.99 percent certainty. She said protocols prevented contamination.

After the verdict, Crown commended the Sheriff’s Office and the teen. “I think the young lady ... showed a lot of courage coming into the courtroom,” he said. “It’s because of the victim and the Collier County Sheriff’s Office that we were able to convict him of this crime.”

The girl’s father said of Smith: “He got what he deserved.”