"Remnant Church Members' Fate In Jury's Hands"

WKRN, Nashville/February 14, 2007

The case of a Georgia couple accused of murdering their eight-year-old son is now in the hands of jury.

The murder trial is being closely followed in Middle Tennessee as the couple charged, Joseph and Sonya Smith, are members of the Brentwood-based Remnant Fellowship Church.

Late Wednesday afternoon, the jury adjourned for the day, after a few hours of deliberating.

In closing arguments Wednesday morning, Prosecutor Eleanor Dixon stated her case against the Smiths, simply that pictures showing bruises and marks on Josef’s body are just what they seem, child abuse. She said, "That's what people who kill a child, their own...flesh and blood look like."

She reenacted how the prosecution believes the Smith's locked Josef in a wooden box telling them how the marks on his skin were the results of beatings.

The courtroom was packed with Smith sympathizers, members of the Brentwood-based Remnant Fellowship Church, that believe in corporal punishment.

The Smith’s lawyer said their son died from a skin infection telling jurors the prosecution's pictures are not what they seem. Defense attorney Manny Arora said, “You have to look past the surface, in order to come up with a just verdict.”

Arora reminded jurors that even theprosecution's experts disagreed about the exact cause of death, telling jurors that if Smith did abuse his child, it was battery, not murder.

“I’m sorry his son died but they didn't do it. They just didn't,” he said.

As the Smiths wept, the prosecution lit a birthday cake with eight candles, reminding jurors of the birthdays Josef will never have.

The Brentwood-based Remnant Fellowship Church is picking up the legal fees for Joseph and Sonya Smith.

The church said it condones discipline, not abuse and maintains the Smith's are innocent. No one else involved with the church is charged in this case.

There is no word on how long the jury will deliberate.