Members of a Jones County jury wasted no time in making their decision about the guilt of a defendant facing multiple charges, including three counts of aggravated child molestation.
David Clinton Smith, 36, a resident of Haddock, was found guilty of all counts for which the jury had before them and was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences plus 50 years to serve in prison. Jones County Assistant District Attorney Cara Fiore talked about the attempt parents make to protect their children from monsters in her opening statements when the trial began Oct. 29. As the day went on, it became clear that one of those monsters was seated there in the courtroom.
Smith was represented by defense attorney Alan Wheeler, and Chief Judge Brenda Trammell presided over the trial and pronounced sentence.
Fiore gave the jury an overview of the case.
Smith was indicted April 16 for the aggravated child molestation, which began when the victim was 13 and continued for two years.
Fiore said Smith was a close friend of the family and “took the victim under his wing.”
“The family thought he was helping, but he was grooming her,” the prosecutor said. In his opening, Wheeler told the jury opening statements were not evidence. He said he believed, after hearing the evidence, their verdict would be not guilty.
State’s case
Testimony began with the victim’s grandmother, with whom she had lived since being removed from the home of her mother and stepfather by the Department of Family and Children’s Services in October of 2021.
The grandmother had her hands full with the victim and her younger brother, who suffers from cerebral palsy. The victim, who was diagnosed with diabetes, previously had three short-term placements due to mental health issues and previous suicide attempts.
“She has faced trauma since she was 5,” the witness stated.
During the grandmother’s testimony, it was brought out that the mother of the two children died from suicide in March of 2022 as the result of an abusive relationship.
It was also noted that the victim had been undergoing mental health treatment since 2022.
The clinical psychologist the victim had been seeing, Dr. Joan Lanum, was the next witness.
The doctor testified the victim had an extensive history of neglect.
“She was in and out of foster care and had many placements since she was very young,” she said.
In February, the victim told the doctor about her relationship with Smith. Lanum said she immediately informed the grandmother, who took her directly to the Jones County Sheriff’s Office.
Wheeler pressed the doctor about talking to the victim about the abuse. She responded that not only did she not talk to the victim about the abuse but cautioned the grandmother not to discuss it with her.
Victim testifies
The victim of the abuse is now 16. She was the next witness and talked about enjoying hunting, doing her nails and skate boarding.
The victim was then asked about her childhood.
“It was traumatic, but it made me who I am,” she said.
Fiore asked her about Smith, and she said they became close after she started cleaning his house. She was 13 at the time.
It was after the death of her mother, when she was at her most venerable, that Smith interjected himself into her life. She said he was the one person who listened to her and loved her.
It appeared that every facility, parent, foster parent, care giver, social worker, educator and family member in her short life, no matter how well-intentioned, had failed her.
It is difficult to describe the horrors the teenager experienced at Smith’s hands. She spoke about the sexual relationship with him as if it was a normal occurrence like doing homework.
The victim talked about the different kinds of sex they had, which took place most weekends in the upstairs of the house Smith shared with his father. She apparently spent many nights at the house, sharing her molester’s bed.
When Smith tired of their one-on-one sex, she said he used social media to invite others to join. They met a man at a motel in Milledgeville, later identified as Nattera Latroy Tucker. He was arrested in Baldwin County and is also facing aggravated child molestation charges.
The victim never questioned Smith and did all that he asked.
It was in October of 2023 that the victim broke her ankle skateboarding, and the relationship with Smith changed. She could no longer take care of his needs, and he quit answering her calls and texts.
The victim made another attempt to take her life in February and was taken to a mental health facility. While there, she said she was told if she did not deal with her issues, she would end up like her mother.
“They said I would not get better if I didn’t tell what happened,” she said.
The teenager said it was during her next visit with the psychologist, after being released from the facility, that she broke down and talked about her relationship with Smith.
Next steps
After the disclosure to the doctor, the victim was taken by her grandmother to the Jones County Sheriff’s Office. They spoke to Investigator John Simmons, who immediately set up a forensic interview for the victim at the Crescent House.
The victim spoke to Tracey Hartley there, who was the next witness. The witness explained that the Crescent House is a children’s advocacy center where forensic interviews and exams are done.
The 90-minute video of the interview with the victim was shown to the jury. The interview with the victim was consistent with her previous testimony.
JCSO Deputy Richard Langston testified to speaking to the victim after a July 16 suicide attempt, and the body cam of the interview was played in court. When asked the reason she wanted to take her life, the victim would not say. Her only comments were that, if she did, someone would go to jail for a long time.
Simmons testified to talking to the victim and her grandmother and setting up the interview at the Crescent House. The investigator said he watched the interview and then went to find the motel in Milledgeville.
He not only found the motel from the victim’s description but was able to get Smith’s check-in receipt.
Simmons said he got a search warrant for Smith’s house and found the victim’s clothes and other items that corroborated her accounts of the relationship.
A search warrant was also issued for Smith’s phone, which uncovered more evidence, including identifying Tucker.
JCSO Investigator Crystal Murphy testified to a video Smith made of the victim and Tucker. The courtroom was cleared in order to show the video to jurors.
More victims
Two women, who were also the defendant’s victims when they were 13, testified to the encounters, both of which resulted in charges against Smith. The witnesses were obviously still carrying the emotional scars inflicted by Smith, even a decade later.
At the conclusion of the testimony of the third victim, the state rested its case, and court was dismissed for the day.
The judge took the opportunity to ask the defendant if he planned to testify. The defendant declined. Wheeler said the defense had no witnesses and would also rest.
Closing
The closing arguments of the attorneys took place Wednesday morning. Both were approximately 20 minutes long, which is relatively short. Wheeler focused on reasonable doubt and attempted to point out small flaws in the timeline of witnesses. He questioned why the facility the victim was in did not disclose the relationship with Smith to law enforcement, if she had talked about it.
Fiore reminded the jury of the victim’s consistency and the evidence found to support her statements. Both attorneys went over the charges in the indictment.
After the judge again went over the charges with the jury and the verdict form, they were released to the jury room for deliberation.
Verdict
Following a restroom break, it took the jurors less than 30 minutes to elect a foreman and let the court know they had a verdict.
After the jury was seated back in the courtroom, Superior Court Clerk Pam Dixon received the verdict form from the foreman and read it to the court. She went down the list, reading each of the seven charges and the finding of guilty for each one.
Trammell thanked the members of the jury for their service and stated that the justice system would not work without them. She explained the court was about to go to the sentencing portion of the trial, and they were free to go or stay.
Not one juror budged. All 12 jurors and the two alternates remained in the jury box.
Sentencing
Wheeler asked the court to delay sentencing for at least week. He said he had an affidavit that was a mental evaluation about Smith when he was 5 that he felt pertained to his behavior.
Fiore said she would look at the evaluation now.
Trammell said she was not inclined to delay sentencing.
Wheeler asked the court for the mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years.
“My client has experienced issues of sexual misbehavior since he was 6,” the attorney said.
The state asked for maximum sentence on all counts.
“I ask for life sentences for the aggravated child molestation and the maximum sentence for everything else. He has destroyed the lives of three women,” Fiore said.
The prosecutor said what he did to the victim was unspeakable, knowing what she had gone through in her life.
“Her mother had a drug problem, and she was abused by her stepfather. The stepfather abused her mother so brutally that she took her own life,” she said. “While the victim is dealing with that, this man took advantage.”
Fiore said the victim felt Smith was the only person who cared for her.
“He used that and should spend the rest of his life in prison.”
Judge speaks
Trammell asked the defendant to stand and pronounced the sentences that included consecutive life sentences for the three aggravated child molestation counts, 20 years to be served consecutively for the charge of cruelty to children in the first degree, 30 years to be served consecutively for the charge of enticing a child for indecent purposes and 20 years each for two counts of the sexual exploitation of children. The judge said the last two counts are to run concurrently with the other sentences.
The judge spoke to Smith after the sentencing.
“I was appalled to look at that child you thought was there for your pleasure. I don’t see anything redeeming,” Trammell said.
The judge went on to say the victim was trying to forge her own way but did not have a prayer after Smith entered her life.
“I can tell you that you will be spending the rest of your life in prison. That’s where you need to be because you are a predator.”
Smith was taken away by JCSO Lt. Ed Bailey.
As the defendant left the courtroom, one of the other victims who had come back to court made her way to the 16-year-old, and they shared an embrace.
