Man guilty in fatal home invasion
Published: Aug 09, 2012 4:06 PM EDT
Updated: Aug 09, 2012 4:06 PM EDT


 

 

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) - A man already serving a life sentence for a violent kidnapping and home invasion has been convicted of killing a Tampa Bay area woman in another robbery.
    
A Manatee County jury found 41-year-old Delmer Smith III guilty Thursday of first-degree murder. He faces a possible death sentence.
    
During a string of violent home invasions in Sarasota and Manatee counties, authorities say Smith ambushed Kathleen Briles in her driveway in August 2009, bound her in her living room and beat her to death.
    
Smith's defense attorney said the prosecution's case was circumstantial, trying to shift the blame to one of Smith's friends. That man had pawned some of the items from Briles' home but testified he was pawning the items for Smith.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)


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