CHERISH PERRYWINKLE, 8, MURDERED - FLORIDA

[HairOfTheDog]

Warning: this case might make you mad and sad. It's so fucked up.


Rest in Peace, ^ Cherish Perrywinkle (8). She was described as a fun, sweet, normal little girl with a troubled family life. She was brutally murdered in June of 2013.


Rot in Hell, ^ Donald James Smith (61). He has pleaded 'not guilty', but he's guilty alright. His trial started yesterday.

[HairOfTheDog]

Background

In June 2013, Cherish was with her mother, Rayne Perrywinkle, and her siblings shopping for clothes at a Jacksonville, Florida Dollar Store.

Rayne, who was in a very contentious custody battle and apparently has some mental/emotional problems, did not have enough money to pay for it all.

That's when Smith, a convicted sex offender with a long criminal history, saw an opportunity to prey on the family.

Smith presented himself as good samaritan who wanted to help the family. He told Rayne that he was meeting his wife at a nearby Walmart and he'd drive the family there and buy them clothes.

Rayne made a very stupid and regrettable decision. She took him up on the offer, and off to Walmart they went in Smith's van.

After shopping for a couple of hours (his supposed wife never showed up), Smith offered to buy the family food at the adjacent McDonalds. He took Cherish with him.

[HairOfTheDog]

The Kidnapping

Smith didn't really take Cherish to the McDonald's.

Instead, he took her out of the store and into his van, as seen in the Walmart surveillance cam footage.

After noticing the McDonald's was closed, Rayne got nervous. She didn't have a working cell phone, so she started screaming for help.

After some time, the police were called from the store. An Amber Alert was issued. But it was too late.

[HairOfTheDog]

Brutal Murder

The next day, Cherish's body was found half-naked and shoved under a fallen tree in a marshy creek near Jacksonville.

Smith was located shortly thereafter. His clothing was wet from the waist down when he was arrested.


On Monday, State Attorney Melissa Nelson ^ described the horrible manner in which 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle was killed. Nelson said that the child’s last five hours alive were torturous.

“He gagged her, raped her, he sodomized her, then he strangled her. He gagged her with such force, her gums and nostrils bled. He strangled her with such force her eyeballs bled,” Nelson said. “Cherish did not die quickly, and she did not die easily. In fact, hers was a brutal and tortured death."

Several jurors and the testifying Medical Examiner herself cried when autopsy photos of Cherish were shown in court. The judge had to halt the trial for a bit, which prompted Smith's Defense Attorney to request a mistrial. Denied.

[HairOfTheDog]

Rayne Perrywinkle



Cherish's mom Rayne testified on Monday.

She told the jury about the sequence of events that day and her fear once she realized the supposed good samaritan had kidnapped her daughter.

Rayne did not have a working cell phone at the time, so she started screaming for help.

About 20 minutes later, 911 was called from the store. The call was played for the jury. Rayne was frantic, couldn't tell the dispatcher what 'Don' was wearing and didn't have a license plate number to provide police.

She told the dispatcher she felt like such a fool for trusting the man and asked 'why would he take my little girl?!" During her testimony she said that she feared she knew why he took her and her worst fear turned out to be true.

After Rayne's tearful testimony, Smith and his Defense Attorney dropped their plan to grill and cross-examine her.

After many years of fighting for custody of her daughters, Cherish's two younger sisters were removed from her care within a month of Cherish's murder. They were adopted by an aunt.

[HairOfTheDog]

Evidence / Defense

While Smith has pleaded "not guilty", there's a mountain of evidence against him.

Aside from Rayne Perrywinkle and other witnesses identifying Smith as the man who took Cherish, DNA from semen found in Cherish's mouth, vagina, and anus was positively matched to Smith. In addition, he was caught on tape (which the jury heard) telling a cellmate that Cherish had a pretty good butt for a white girl.

The jury won't hear about his long history of sex crimes, but I think there's enough evidence against him to secure a quick 'guilty' verdict.

Today at trial he chose not to testify on his own behalf. His Defense Attorney also stated that no defense witnesses will be called.

What's Next?

Closing arguments are expected to begin tomorrow and then the jury will begin deliberations.

If he's found guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery, Donald James Smith will either be sentenced to life in prison or given the death penalty.

References:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/medical-exa...-in-court/
http://www.oxygen.com/crime-time/gruesom...aled-court
http://www.jacksonville.com/news/2018021...mith-trial

(Edited to add content)

[HairOfTheDog]

Guilty Verdict Delivered



It took the Florida jury less than 15 minutes to deliberate and deliver a guilty verdict against Donald Smith.

The jury will now hear evidence in the trial's penalty phase as it decides whether to sentence him to death. He was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery on a child less than 12 years of age.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...aying.html

[Duchess]

If I were allowed a say in his punishment I would ask for him to be put in general population. I want him to suffer. I want him to know the same kind of terror that Cherish felt and I think that could be accomplished if he were forced to live with other inmates. Unfortunately, I think that the men who do this kind of thing are all put with their own kind behind bars specifically because of the scenario I had going on.

[sally]

It's always the same story, the guy has a long history of preying on children. He shouldn't have any history at all, he should have been put to death or sentenced to life the first time he fucked with a kid. Anyone caught with child porn needs an automatic death sentence too.

[Maggot]

I like the general population idea.

[Midwest Spy]

I see jury deliberations for this monster are underway.

Observation #1: shouldn’t take long to decide on the needle

Observation #2: he looks very well treated. No bruises on his face, no broken nose, eyes gouged out, etc.

Observation #3: I consider him the worst of the worst. Preying on children for sex and then murdering them. Doesn’t get any worse. A step above mass shooters IMO.

Victim’s parents/guardians should be able to choose his manner of death: wild animal, guillotine, drowning, whatever they’d like unless they defer to the state, who can then decide to give him a humane death.

[HairOfTheDog]

It's always the same story, the guy has a long history of preying on children.

Yep.

During his sentencing trial yesterday, a woman took the stand to tell a horrifying account of how Smith almost abducted her back in 1992.

Carrie Ann Buck was walking to a friend's house one Sunday morning when Smith, who was 36 at the time, approached her in a van.

"He told me to get the fuck in the van," she said, describing his voice as "mean." She told the jury that she hid inside a tubular slide at a playground after he chased her in his van.

Buck claim that's Smith said: "I know you're in there, you little bitch," and "I'm going to find you." "I knew he was going to hurt me," she said.

A few days after the attempted kidnapping, Smith showed up outside Buck's home and her family was able to write down his license plate number. He was arrested and served six years for the kidnapping.

He's been arrested and jailed since then too. He had only been released from jail for three weeks before he murdered Cherish. https://www.yourtango.com/2018311006/who...errywinkle

[HairOfTheDog]

I see jury deliberations for this monster are underway.

Observation #1: shouldn’t take long to decide on the needle

I think he'll probably get the death penalty too, but sometimes juries surprise me.

His Defense Attorney is arguing that he is mentally ill and "wired differently."

According to her, Smith started showing signs of sexual awareness by the age of 5, and when he was 10, he was exhibiting "voyeuristic tendencies."

She said that Smith started showing signs that he was a pedophile at age 20.

'Nobody says "I think I'll be a pedophile for the rest of my life." It's a mental disorder,' the lawyer told the court.

I hate that kind of bullshit excuse and sympathy ploy in cases like these. Even if one accepts that pedophilia is a mental disorder, not all pedophiles kill children (in this case, extremely brutally).

[sally]

Of course it's a mental disorder, one that can't be cured. They need to be put down like a rabid dog the first time they fuck with a kid and all the evidence is there.

[HairOfTheDog]

Death Penalty

The jurors took less than 15 minutes on February 14^th, 2018 to find Donald J. Smith guilty of kidnapping, raping and killing 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle in June 2013.

On February 22^nd, 2018 the jurors swiftly and unanimously agreed to recommend the death penalty.

The final sentencing is up to Circuit Judge Mallory Cooper, but she is expected to follow the jury’s recommendation.

In his final argument, prosecutor Mark Caliel recapped the events surrounding Cherish’s murder. “The death penalty is appropriate. The death penalty is just. The death penalty is what he deserves for what he did to that little girl,” he said.

Ref: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/fl...rylink=cpy

[Midwest Spy]

^ A ‘no-brainer’.

Now, her mother can choose his manner of death.