The homeless man accused of sexually assaulting and killing a 54-year-old woman with Down syndrome smiled Friday as the victim's family told Senior Superior Court Judge William Fleming of the horrors they believe he unleashed on their loved one.
The brutal details of the incident, read by Assistant District Attorney Anthony Nicastro, prompted sadness from Pat Burley's family and friends. The grin that repeatedly crept across 29-year-old Corey Smith's face was enough to make at least one of them run from the courtroom in outrage.
"It's bad enough that he kidnapped her, raped her, strangled her," said Larry Hobbs, the victim's cousin. "Then he had the audacity of putting her in a trash can."
Burley's body was found in a wooded area on Hall Street four days after she went missing from her Wrightsboro Road home on Aug. 22.
Her hands and feet were bound, and paper towels were found crammed into her throat. Nearby, they found a trash can with Smith's bloody fingerprints on it. Investigators think he killed her by asphyxiation at another location, then took her to the woods in the trash can.
During an interview with police after the slaying, Nicastro said, Smith -- who is black -- became enraged at the investigator questioning him and demanded that the investigator leave and that they "bring in one with his own skin color." He is facing an assault charge stemming from that police interview.
After hearing the details of the case, Fleming denied bond.
The judge also denied bond Friday for four others charged with murder, including:
- Darian Thomas, who investigators think violently shook his 2-year-old stepson -- causing cranial bleeding and death. The boy was taken to Medical College of Georgia Hospital on Aug. 19. Thomas, 20, initially told investigators the boy ran into a wall but later admitted to striking the child, blaming it on stress caused by his time in the Army.
- Mariah Federick, 18, who is charged in the slaying of L.V. Wilson on June 28. She, along with co-defendants Andre Jackson and Marcus Tyler, is accused of robbing Wilson at his Haynie Street home, beating him over the head, stabbing him with a box cutter and slashing his throat. Nicastro said it was Federick's idea to rob the victim. Jackson and Tyler are also accused of murdering Jquanda Johnson on July 2. Nicastro said Friday that Johnson was stabbed to death by the two men because they feared she was going to talk to the police about Wilson's slaying.
- Carlton Wadley, 37, and Brett Palmer, 38, are charged with murder in the shooting death of 27-year-old Tremell Walker on Forsythe Street. The Aug. 30 slaying is believed to stem from a previous fight in which Walker hit Palmer with a golf club.
The family of Pat Burley should've taken some ideas from TRU TV " brawls in court rooms"! I've seen family members wipe the grins of these pieces of flith.
What punishment could ever satisfy the crimes committed by Smith or Thomas?
Subsidy people have learned through generations of training that the only thing of value in life is instant personal gratification.
Unintended circumstances meets government inability for correction, stay tuned for many more incidents like those listed.
I don't think he will be grinning when he ends up in jail with a bunch of big guys around him.
cparker, don't play his game. People like him find joy in making those type of posts. His buddies will join in later along with APEX's predictable post aimed at me.
Smith is the reason I don't have a problem with using torture in our system of justice. He should be tortured to the point of begging to die and then told he must live in that torture until he starves to death.
I agree with you FAIRTAX!! Obviously this "so-called person" tortured Pat Burley before she died---he needs to be tortured in the same way. I am a firm believer in giving these "people" exactly what they gave!
A subsidy person/a lifetime of welfare and free social service programs. (major contributory factor to the crime problems we face today)
Research indicates that welfare recipients deplete welfare-related income quickly and then turn to crime to supplement their income.Crime rises when US welfare recipients run short of cash at the end of the month. Cities that make monthly welfare payments see a clear monthly crime cycle.
I am sure this "little sliver of life" of life thinks he has it made now. He is mentioned as being homeless, so possibly he was living and sleeping on the street where he could regardless of the conditions. Now, he has a bed to sleep on, he has toilet and shower priveleges, he gets 3 meals a day, and most likely has a TV too, and it is all courtesy of the Richmond County taxpayers. For the next dozens of years he will have it made at the expense of the Richmond County citizens, compared to when he was homeless. No wonder this lowlife is smiling.
Well, he thinks he was treated unfairly because he is black huh?
He thinks that rape, torture, and murder are something to smile about huh?
Vermin like this should be put to death.
Brad
How absolutely horrible. I have a 16 year old with Down syndrome and I can't imagine something happening to him. If I lost him to something so tragic they would just have to lock me away in a mental hospital. And I really don't know how I could restrain myself when I saw him. This is such an evil thing to happen to anyone but it just adds another element when someone does this to a person with special needs and a special heart of love and trust. Ughh! He must be of his father...the devil!
I don't know if a death sentence would matter to him. He has shown that to him life has no value, possibly even his own.
What is a worse punishment, being put to death or spending the rest of your days confined? Something to think about.
He won't spend the rest of his days confined. Rarely are these cold blooded killers getting life. And yep, he is grinning like a cheshire cat now because he has it *made* courtesy of the taxpayers.
I doubt he is concerned about the other prisoners, he doesn't appear to care about anything.
1Cowboyfan, wake up. Life without parole means prison until they need the jail space and turn them loose.
I say, death penalty. I'd give him the needle myself and never have a moment's remorse.
Life in Ga means that you don't come-up for parole for thirty years, but you are housed in general population. LWP means just that, but you are also confined in general population. This means that life goes on. They can move around, work a detail, take advantage of programs offered. The death penalty means they are housed on DEATH ROW. Locked-down for 23 hours each day in a 6x8 cell with one hour outside, also in an open cage to walk around. It seems that the DEATH PENALTY takes around 20 years to take place with all the mandatory appeals that must take place as required by law. Something else to think about...
Yesterday, in FL, 2 men reported to a review panel things that happened to them. Both were released from prison by DNA findings that they did not commit the crimes for which they were serving. One had been locked-up for 35 years. The other for over 20 years. Just something to think about. I support the DEATH PENALTY, but think it should be carried out once it is handed-down after you have been found guilty by a jury of your peers.
Typo,my bad. Should read LWOP. (life without parole)
Justice will come when he enter the GA corrections system.
He should receive the death penalty for his crimes.
MAYBE SOMEONE BEHIND BARS WILL SLAP THAT GRIN RIGHT OFF HIS FACE
I can hear Bubba now......You're going to be my main squeeze from now on Miss Smith.
Even convicts can't stand people who rape and murder mentally disabled people. They are the lowest of the low.
I hope you are right corgi and the word gets around and he gets everything he deserves. The only bad thing is some other lowlife waste gets to dish out the punishment. I think the family should be able to determine and carryout his fate.
1CowboyFan, if he's found guilty, this shouldn't be about what is the worst punishment. It should be about making sure he's never turned loose to do this to another human being.
There's only one way to guarantee that, and it doesn't involve being kept alive.
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