Jury finds Buddy Smith guilty of rape

Jury finds Buddy Smith guilty of rape

By Will Richmond
GateHouse News Service
Posted Jan 16, 2009

Taunton —
A Superior Court jury has found Buddy Smith guilty of raping a mentally disabled Tiverton man.Smith, 23, of 862 Charles St., Fall River, was found guilty of rape, indecent assault and battery on a mentally retarded person, and witness intimidation. Judge Barbara A. Dortch-Okara sentenced Smith to concurrent seven- to 10-year sentences on the rape and assault charges, to be followed by five years of probation on the witness intimidation count. His jail term will be spent in a state prison. As part of the probation conditions, Smith will be required to stay away from the victim and his family, register as a sex offender and enroll in sex crime perpetrator counseling. He is also not allowed to work with the disabled, or have access to telephone chatlines or a computer. He must also wear a GPS device throughout his probation.Smith is being jailed for raping the now 25-year-old Tiverton man numerous times during a span lasting just over two years, beginning in 2004.In testimony provided by the victim — identified as J in court documents — Smith met J through a telephone chatline, and after learning vital information began picking the victim up as he would take walks around the north Tiverton neighborhood where he resided.Smith took J to various locations throughout Fall River, including relatives’ apartments, a parking lot at St. Anne’s Church and a dugout at one of the Maplewood Park baseball fields, where he, and at times acquaintances, would rape J. Smith and his acquaintances would then threaten the victim with violence, going as far as to say they would kill him and his mother if he were told anyone.An uncle of Smith’s, William Senay, of Fall River, is facing charges of rape and indecent assault on a mentally retarded person and is expected to face trial at a later date.A message left seeking comment at the office of Smith’s attorney, Kenneth Van Colen, was not returned Friday.After the verdict and sentence was announced, the victim’s aunt Lorrie Pierce, expressed relief at having the trial behind them and for the message sent through the jury’s decision.“This is for all the disabled people, from young children to adults,” Pierce said. “Disabled or not, no one has the right to abuse someone or harm you, and this set a precedent to show people like this need to be removed from society. “No one knows the trauma and horror this has caused our family, and thank god we were successful in keeping Buddy Smith out of society. That has been our goal for a long time, and today we got to see that happen.”Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter praised the jury’s decision and the efforts of the assistant district attorney handling the case.“I am very gratified for the victim and his family that they received justice for this horrendous, unconscionable crime. Their tenacity in the pursuit of justice was an indispensable part of the successful prosecution,” Sutter said. “An equally indispensable part of the successful prosecution was the advocacy of Second Assistant District Attorney Silvia Rudman. Her remarkable array of talents as a trial attorney was never more evident than during the trial of this case. We are fortunate to have her as a member of our organization.”Smith’s case was closely monitored by the Massachusetts Coalition of Families and Advocates for the Retarded. Following the verdict, the group’s Executive Director Colleen M. Lutkevich remarked on the courage of the victim for recalling the ordeal. “In order to convict, this jury had to believe that the young man with obvious intellectual disability was testifying truthfully about what had been done to him and who did it,” Lutkevich said. “They saw what I saw, an unusually small man with unusual facial features and a very stiff and repetitive way of speaking. But we listened and saw something more: an incredibly brave man. This young man, like many of our family members, tends to believe what he is told by anyone. So when Buddy Smith told him ‘If you tell, I will find you and kill you. I will bash your head in,’ this witness believed that was literal truth. And still he testified. The jury saw that he was an honest man, without guile. Sometimes he didn’t pick out Buddy Smith’s picture, ‘I was afraid’ he testified about those times. There’s nothing disabled about this man’s courage or honesty. The law enforcement officials who let the case languish because they thought a jury would not believe a person with intellectual disability — they were just proven wrong.” E-mail Will Richmond at wrichmond@heraldnews.com.