SARASOTA, Fla. -- A former mechanic convicted of raping and murdering 11-year-old Carlie Brucia, whose abduction was caught on a car wash security camera, was sentenced to death Wednesday for her murder.

The jury that convicted Joseph P. Smith in November had recommended by a vote of 10-2 that he be executed.

Smith, 39, showed no emotion Wednesday as state Circuit Judge Andrew Owens read the official sentences - death for the murder count and life in prison for kidnapping and sexual battery.

Last month, Smith had tearfully apologized during a hearing, saying: "I take responsibility of my crimes. I don't understand how this could have happened. ... Every day I think about what I did and beg God for forgiveness."

I'd like to think that God has a special place reserved in the bowels of hell for pieces of garbage such as Joseph Smith.

There is no such thing as perfect justice in a case where a little girl is raped and murdered in the most vile and despicable manner because a little girl's life was snuffed out by this vile shred of human debris. But there is some consolation in the fact that we don't have to hear Joseph Smith whine about his drug addiction, his "depression", his failed marriage, the hangnail on the big toe on his right foot or any other ridiculous excuse for him being the piece of crap that he is. The jury didn't buy his crappy excuses. They recommended death and death is what the judge gave him. Hopefully some liberal anti-punishment leftist group like the ACLU won't jump to his defense under the grounds that executing him is somehow "cruel and unusual". Failing any ground for appeal, the state can fry him in short order. Justice in this case will have been served.