Donald Smith was granted another hearing on claims that original trial attorneys mishandled the case.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The man convicted in the murder of an eight-year old girl appeared in a Duval County courtroom Monday morning after a judge granted a new hearing.
Eight-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle went missing from the Walmart on Lem Turner Road in June 2013. Donald Smith is currently serving a death sentence after he was convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing Cherish. However, Smith was granted a hearing on claims that his original trial attorneys mishandled the case.
Rayne Perrywinkle watched as her daughters’ killer Donald Smith entered the court room Monday morning.
One of Smith’s former lawyers, Julie Schlax, spent the most time on the stand during the first day of the hearing Monday, taking questions on jury selection and why she didn’t advised Smith to take a plea deal instead of going to trail.
“We certainly knew, as Mr. Smith did, that we were not going to be successful in the guilt phase,” Julie Schlax lawyer, original defense attorney, said.
“But rather than expressing remorse and trying to take responsibility, his decision was go to trial?” Smith’s defense asked.
“Yes,” Schlax answered.
Smith’s defense argued that the original jury members weren’t thoroughly vetted. This is because during jury selection, one candidate in a questionnaire had answered ‘yes’ when asked if she formed her own opinion about Smith’s guilt, but then she crossed the answer and put no.
“It looked like a simple mistake,” Charles Fletcher, an original defense attorney, said. “We never did ask.”
During the initial trial, Schlax and Flether did not cross examine of Cherish Perrywinkle’s mother, which Smith’s defense argued was a missed an opportunity to challenge her credibility. However Schlax claims it was Smith who made that request.
“This was definitely a case that if we were going to be successful, we were going to have to get hopefully one or more jurors to believe in Mr. Smith, me fighting with Mrs. Perrywinkle was not going to move in that direction at all,” Schlax said.
Another argument is whether a forensic psychologist should have been called upon during the original trial by the defense, because she made damaging statements that hurt the defense’s case. That forensic psychologist will be called upon Tuesday when Donald Smith returns to court.
