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On Sept. 29, 1998, Steve Smith raped his live-in girlfriend’s 6-month-old daughter, Autumn Carter, while himself too drunk to know that he was also killing her. Though there was no sign of semen, the wounds were extensive, and ultimately convinced a jury that as the persecutors kept referring to him as, he was a “baby raper.” They declared him guilty and sentenced him to death.
His only daughter, 21-year-old Brittney, was never convinced of Steve’s guilt. She watched in sorrow as he was executed in state prison in Lucasville of Southern Ohio, sobbing and shaking in grief as Steve Smith, 46, was led in before the group of witnesses, some eager to see him die.
“I love you,” Brittney said to him, at last, as he met eyes with her, as reported by the Associated Press. He declined to say any last words and looked away from his daughter, stifling back tears at the last moment, before he was administered the dose of pentobarbital, a powerful sedative that would kill him. He was pronounced dead at 10:29 a.m.
Autumn’s mother, Kesha Frye, meanwhile, watched quietly, separated from Brittney by a wall. “I’m glad he’s dead, and I hope he burns in hell,” said Frye after the execution, and her father, Patrick Hicks, said the execution was too good for him, “Because of him, Autumn never had a chance to take her first step, she never had her first birthday or a first day at school. It’s just unfortunate that this man gets to die a peaceful death after the torture he put Autumn through.” Clearly some victims of violence don’t want justice, but revenge.
Smith’s attorney, meanwhile, said that Smith felt “great remorse for the tragic and shocking crime he committed.
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“He was well-behaved and sober while in prison, causing no problems in the institution and living each day with the guilt and grief caused by his alcohol-fueled crime. While some may trumpet his execution as appropriate revenge for his crime, Ohio is no safer having executed Steven Smith than had he lived the remained of his natural life in prison.”
The killing of those who commit infamous crimes works, perhaps, as a palliative for those victims and their families so devastated; and this at least brought some comfort to Autumn’s mother, and her father, who indeed wanted to more than kill Smith.
“I know my dad’s innocent,” said his daughter. “I do not believe he did this, and you know, he raised all my cousins, my sister before I was even born, and he never did anything [sexual].” Clearly his death has left mixed feelings on the hearts of those who witnessed it.
