Donald James Smith is a Florida death row inmate convicted of the 2013 kidnapping, sexual battery, and murder of eight-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle in Jacksonville. A registered sex offender with a criminal record stretching back roughly forty years, Smith lured the child’s family with an offer to buy them clothes at a Walmart, then walked out of the store with the girl and killed her that same night. A Duval County jury convicted him after nineteen minutes of deliberation in February 2018, and he was formally sentenced to death that May. His case is still active: the Florida Supreme Court heard arguments on his latest bid for a new trial in December 2025 and has not yet ruled.
What Happened to Cherish Perrywinkle
On the evening of June 21, 2013, Smith approached Cherish Perrywinkle, her mother Rayne, and other family members at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville. He offered to buy the family clothes at a nearby Walmart Supercenter and drove them there in his van.1ABC News. Emotions High, Grisly Details Surrounding 2013 Slaying of Florida Girl Inside the store, he offered to take Cherish to the in-store McDonald’s for food. Surveillance video captured him walking out of the Walmart with her at about 10:44 p.m. That was the last time her mother saw her alive.2Supreme Court of Florida. Smith v. State, No. SC18-822
Rayne Perrywinkle called police when Smith and her daughter did not come back. The next morning, officers found Cherish’s body in a creek behind a church, hidden under debris. The medical examiner determined she had been raped and strangled, with evidence indicating she was conscious during the assault and had suffered blunt force trauma to the back of her head.1ABC News. Emotions High, Grisly Details Surrounding 2013 Slaying of Florida Girl Police stopped Smith behind the wheel of his white 1998 Dodge van. He was soaking wet, and the van still contained items Rayne had bought earlier at the Dollar General. Witnesses had reported seeing the van near the creek where the body was found.2Supreme Court of Florida. Smith v. State, No. SC18-822
A Four-Decade Record of Sex Crimes
Smith had been cycling through the criminal justice system since 1974, when at age seventeen he was arrested for siphoning gas and driving a stolen car. A former prosecutor said his criminal history report ran nineteen pages.3News4Jax. Child Murder Suspect Has Long Criminal History
The sex-crime portion of his record was the most alarming:
- In 1977, he was arrested for a lewd and lascivious act in the presence of a minor. He served a year in the Duval County jail, was placed on probation, and was adjudicated a “mentally disordered sex offender.”3News4Jax. Child Murder Suspect Has Long Criminal History
- In 1992, he was convicted of attempted kidnapping after trying to lure two teenage girls into his van and served five and a half years in prison.
- In 1999, the state flagged him as a likely repeat offender and psychiatrists recommended civil commitment as a sexually violent predator. He was sent to a civil commitment facility near Tampa.
- In 2002, a court dismissed the civil commitment case and Smith was released.
- In 2009, he was arrested for posing as a Department of Children and Families worker to make an obscene phone call to a young child. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges and served fourteen months.3News4Jax. Child Murder Suspect Has Long Criminal History
How the System Missed Him
Smith was released from jail about three weeks before he abducted Cherish. He was a registered sex offender at the time, but he had never been classified as a sexual predator under Florida law because he had not been convicted of a qualifying “sexually violent offense.”3News4Jax. Child Murder Suspect Has Long Criminal History A separate 2006 evaluation by the Florida Department of Children and Families had also concluded he did not meet the criteria for civil commitment. At a later evidentiary hearing, forensic psychologist Dr. Heather Holmes called that finding “abhorrent” and “a mistake,” testifying that the evaluation’s own descriptive text contradicted its conclusion.4News4Jax. Day 2 of Evidentiary Hearing for Donald Smith
The Trial and Death Sentence
Smith was charged in Duval County with first-degree murder, kidnapping, and sexual battery of a person under twelve. The case was assigned to Senior Circuit Judge Mallory Cooper. Trial was delayed for years, in part by a Florida moratorium on the death penalty while the state supreme court reviewed the constitutionality of the state’s sentencing procedures.5Jacksonville.com. Donald Smith Trial Faces Likely Delays
The prosecution’s case was overwhelming. A crime laboratory analyst testified that Smith’s DNA was found on and inside Cherish’s body, with odds of it belonging to someone else placed at one in 35 quintillion. Walmart surveillance footage showed him leading her out of the store, and the state played covert jailhouse recordings in which Smith described a young teenager as being in his “target area.”6WOKV. Prosecutor Closing Donald Smith Trial The defense called no witnesses in the guilt phase and waived closing argument. On February 14, 2018, the jury deliberated for nineteen minutes and returned unanimous guilty verdicts on all counts.2Supreme Court of Florida. Smith v. State, No. SC18-822
The penalty phase was a fight over whether anything in Smith’s history could mitigate the crime. Dr. Joseph Wu, a neuropsychiatrist, presented brain scans and testified that Smith had suffered traumatic brain injuries at ages nine and twenty, producing what he called a “catastrophic failure in impulse control.”7Oxygen. Doctor: Cherish Perrywinkle’s Killer Suffered Traumatic Brain Injuries Psychologist Joseph Sesta testified that Smith’s brain did not function normally but was clear that Smith understood what he was doing and knew it was wrong.8WJCT News. Psychologist: Donald Smith Does Not Have a Normal Human Brain Clinical psychologist Dr. Heather Holmes, also called by the defense, told the jury she found nothing mitigating about Smith. She diagnosed him with antisocial personality disorder and pedophilic disorder and, under cross-examination, described him as the most dangerous pedophile she had ever met. Holmes also disclosed that Smith had expressed no remorse and blamed the eight-year-old for “putting him in that position.”4News4Jax. Day 2 of Evidentiary Hearing for Donald Smith
The jury unanimously recommended death, finding six aggravating factors, including that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel; that it was cold, calculated, and premeditated; that the victim was under twelve; and that Smith had a prior violent felony conviction.2Supreme Court of Florida. Smith v. State, No. SC18-822 On May 2, 2018, Judge Cooper formally imposed the death sentence, telling Smith he had “not only forfeited your right to live among us, you have forfeited your right to life at all.”9Jacksonville.com. Judge Formally Sentences Donald Smith to Death
Where the Case Stands Now
Smith’s conviction and sentence went automatically to the Florida Supreme Court. On April 22, 2021, that court unanimously affirmed both, calling the evidence of guilt “overwhelming.”10FindLaw. Smith v. State, No. SC18-822 Rehearing was denied in June 2021, and the United States Supreme Court declined to take the case in January 2022.11Florida Courts ACIS. Smith v. State, Case No. SC18-0822
Smith then filed a 78-page motion to vacate his death sentence, alleging six grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel. His new attorneys argued, among other things, that trial counsel had made a critical error by calling Dr. Holmes in the penalty phase, since her testimony proved devastating. Trial attorney Julie Schlax testified for three hours at a January 2024 evidentiary hearing, defending her decisions, including a choice not to cross-examine Rayne Perrywinkle that she said Smith himself had directed. Holmes testified that Schlax had been fully informed about what her penalty-phase testimony would include before deciding to call her.12Jacksonville.com. Donald Smith Seeks Relief in Abduction Death of Cherish Perrywinkle The trial court denied the motion.13Action News Jax. Judge Denies Motion by Convicted Child Killer for New Trial
Smith appealed that denial and filed a separate habeas corpus petition. On December 10, 2025, the Florida Supreme Court heard oral arguments in both matters, docketed as SC2024-0873 and SC2024-1549. His appellate attorney argued that calling Holmes had introduced prejudicial testimony the jury had never previously heard. The state responded that Schlax faced an “impossible task” because Smith’s history offered no viable mitigating factors, and that calling Holmes was a strategic choice meant to highlight the state’s earlier failure to civilly commit him.14News4Jax. Florida Supreme Court Hears Arguments as Man Convicted of Killing Cherish Perrywinkle Asks for New Trial As of late 2025, the court has not ruled, and no execution date has been set.
Cherish’s Law and the Aftermath
The murder drew a public outcry in Jacksonville and across Florida. Hundreds attended a public funeral for Cherish at the Paxon Revival Center Church on June 28, 2013.15WJCT News. Remembering Cherish Perrywinkle In September 2013, State Representative Janet Adkins convened a hearing at Jacksonville City Hall on Florida’s sex offender laws, with witnesses from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Department of Children and Families, and the Department of Corrections. An online petition for “Cherish’s Law,” which called for longer prison sentences for repeat sexual offenders, gathered more than 2,200 signatures.16WJCT News. Hearing on Sex Offender Laws Planned as Momentum Builds for Cherish’s Law Smith remains on Florida’s death row while the state supreme court considers his latest appeal.