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Mugshot of Steven Smith Associated Press

Man who killed girlfriend's baby in sex assault looking for mercy

Steven Smith may face death penalty in Ohio should intent to kill be proven.

CONDEMNED KILLER Steven Smith’s argument for mercy isn’t an easy one. Smith acknowledges he intended to rape his girlfriend’s 6-month-old daughter but says he never intended to kill the baby.

The girl, Autumn Carter, died because Smith was too drunk to realise his assault was killing her, Smith’s attorneys argued in court filings with the Ohio Parole Board, which heard the case Tuesday. And Ohio law is clear, they say: A death sentence requires an intent to kill the victim.

“The evidence suggests that Autumn’s death was a horrible accident,” Smith’s attorneys, Joseph Wilhelm and Tyson Fleming, said in a written argument prepared for the board.

They continued: “Despite the shocking nature of this crime, Steve’s death sentence should be commuted because genuine doubts exist whether he even committed a capital offence.”

Smith, 46, was never charged with rape, meaning the jury’s only choice was to convict or acquit him of aggravated murder, his attorneys say.

Aggravated murder

However, rape was included in the indictment against Smith as one of the factors making him eligible for the death penalty. Under Ohio law, an aggravated murder committed in the course of another crime — such as burglary, robbery, arson or the killing of a police officer or child — is an element that can make someone eligible for capital punishment.

The Richland County prosecutor said Smith continues to hide behind alcohol as an excuse and calls Smith’s actions “the purposeful murder of a helpless baby girl”.

Prosecutor James Mayer told the board in his written statement that the girl’s injuries were consistent with a homicide that contradicts Smith’s claim he didn’t intend to kill her.

“The horrific attack upon Autumn Carter showed much more than Smith’s stated purpose,” Mayer said.

Prosecutor didn’t know why Smith wasn’t charged with rape

Mayer said Monday he didn’t know why Smith wasn’t charged with rape, but he said it wasn’t part of a trial strategy.

The attack happened early in the morning of 29 September 1998 in the Mansfield apartment of the girl’s mother, Kaysha Frye, whom Smith had been dating about six months.

Frye was awakened after 3am by a naked Smith, who placed Autumn beside her in bed, according to records prepared for the parole board hearing. Frye realised the girl wasn’t breathing, told Smith he’d killed her and then ran to a neighbour’s house for help.

Smith, known to consume as many as 12 beers a day, had had several beers the previous evening and had a blood-alcohol content of 0.123, well above the legal limit for drivers, when he was tested almost eight hours later, at 11am, records show.

Attack lasted as long as 30 minutes

Smith had unsuccessfully tried to have sex with his girlfriend the evening before the attack, according to records. The prosecutor argued that Smith’s assault of the girl was revenge for Smith’s failure to perform with Frye.

Smith’s attorneys dispute this, saying the girlfriend was not upset with Smith.

Prosecutors presented evidence at trial that Smith’s attack lasted as long as 30 minutes, during which time Smith beat the baby girl to death.

Expert witnesses for Smith conclude he may have accidentally suffocated the girl within three to five minutes while he lay on top of her, according to Smith’s clemency petition.

“Moral repugnancy”

Smith’s attorneys have an uphill battle in their argument because of the “moral repugnancy” surrounding the claim of partial innocence, said Doug Berman, an Ohio State University law professor and death penalty expert.

“But if the lawyers for this defendant can legitimately assert that the evidence doesn’t show or support that this was an intentional killing, not only is it appropriate to bring this up at clemency, I think they’re obliged, representing their client appropriately, to stress this point,” Berman said.

If executed, Smith would become the 51st inmate put to death in Ohio since the state resumed executions in 1999. The state has enough of its lethal injection drug, pentobarbital, to execute Smith and two other inmates before the supply expires. Eight more inmates are scheduled to die from November through mid-2015.

- Andrew Welsh-Huggins

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67 Comments
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    Mute Cpm
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    Oct 4th 2011, 11:41 AM

    OK, well one rumour I heard, was that The Journal is obsessed, to the point of ridiculousness, with the iPhone.

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    Mute Tommy
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    Oct 4th 2011, 9:22 AM

    Jesus this is going to be one long day waiting….. I pray for a redesigned handset – come on Apple! Where on the net can the unveiling be watched live?

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    Mute angryzes
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    Oct 4th 2011, 9:34 AM
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    Mute vv7k7Z3c
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    Oct 4th 2011, 9:39 AM

    Hi Tommy,
    Apple doesn’t always stream its events live, but is likely to post a video of the presentation on its YouTube channel later: http://www.youtube.com/user/Apple
    Otherwise, people who are attending are bound to liveblog it if you want to follow the announcement as it happens. Engadget has its one ready to go here: http://engt.co/poVPms

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    Mute Mark McNulty
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    Oct 4th 2011, 12:18 PM

    Wish they would fix battery life and phone reception. Both are awful.

    17
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    Mute neuromancer
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    Oct 4th 2011, 9:41 AM

    I hate my white iPhone.

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    Mute Erica Cuthbertson
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    Oct 4th 2011, 6:58 PM

    Racist…

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    Mute Richard Evesson
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    Oct 4th 2011, 1:21 PM

    Isn’t it amazing how we’ve all become so obsessed with something as trivial as a phone !! But god damn you apple it’s a pretty cool phone at that

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    Mute Eddie Barrett
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    Oct 4th 2011, 9:21 AM

    Susan
    Is there some reason why this article is appearing TWICE on my iPhone 4 ?
    - Eddie

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    Mute vv7k7Z3c
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    Oct 4th 2011, 9:32 AM

    Eddie, not sure what the problem is, it looks fine in here. I’ll check with tech.

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    Mute Eddie Barrett
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    Oct 4th 2011, 9:39 AM

    What are the negatives for ? – the article is still appearing in duplicate on my iPhone – is mine the only one ?

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    Mute Brian Kelleher
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    Oct 4th 2011, 4:07 PM

    Looking fine on my Samsung Galaxy Ace :P

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    Mute Inda Kenny
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    Oct 4th 2011, 5:39 PM

    A bit of a humble brag there Eddie.

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    Mute Cpm
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    Oct 4th 2011, 12:14 PM

    I’m the same – had two iPhones, finally got sick of the company and their products so I switched to Android/Samsung, and within a day or two I knew I wouldn’t touch an iPhone again.

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    Mute jimmyobrien
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    Oct 4th 2011, 11:55 AM

    this is some marketing by Apple, its unreal the way they can get free advertising and marketing with nearly every single news/media outlet having some item on this in the last few days.

    Personally i had one for a while and i thought it was only ok, have a samsung android phone now and its so much better in many ways, expect it hasn’t got the cool factor.

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    Mute Danny D
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    Oct 4th 2011, 9:37 AM

    Picture says “The white iPhone 4 goes on sale in New York last year”. White iphone was not released until April of this year…

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    Mute Danny D
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    Oct 4th 2011, 12:38 PM

    Thanks for correcting this BTW :)

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    Mute Craig Harris
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    Oct 4th 2011, 10:52 AM

    The Iphone 4 was a terrible looking phone! I really do hope they do a complete redesign as i have been holding onto my beautiful 3GS for some time now. If they do release a 4S then im heading over to the ocmpetion as i can’t be bothered to wait another 8-9 months for a iphone 5! Come on Apple surprise us all and give us something fresh and new.

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    Mute Adam Beere
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    Oct 4th 2011, 11:20 AM

    The iPhone 3GS was the farthest thing from Apple’s familiar industrial design, the cheap plastic back felt just like something released by samsung. If you didn’t like the iPhone 4, I hope you enjoy android!

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    Mute Craig Harris
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    Oct 4th 2011, 4:09 PM

    Sorry but the 3Gs was a delicous looking phone who wants a crappy glass back that just gets scratched easily.

    The 4 looked bulky and had no sleak lines or curves. It looked like a skewed lego brick. Jonthan Ives needed a slap after designing the 4!

    A product designer i look upto has to wow us with something better than the dreay bulky looking 4.

    I won’t be going with Android as i have 3GS which does everything i need it to and it looks like a sexy phone. I’ll stick with that until they release a decent looking phone again.

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    Mute Blaine Ryan
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    Oct 4th 2011, 3:30 PM

    Think ill stick to my Galaxy S2!

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    Mute neuromancer
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    Oct 4th 2011, 11:52 AM

    Rumour or self-speculation.

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