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Jury still out; Smith facing rape charges in 2004 attack on beloved school teacher At press time, a Wilkes County jury is deliberating whether to find Willie Smith guilty of attacking, robbing, and raping beloved 86- year-old retired teacher Francis Duke. Judge Hal Hinesley presided over the Superior Court trial that started Monday morning and continues Wednesday afternoon. Willie Smith, 25, of Lincoln County, was charged in the October, 2004, attack that Senior Assistant District Attorney Bill Doupé called "pure meanness." The day after he was captured in Smith charged with seven counts: rape, kidnapping with bodily injury, burglary, theft by taking, aggravated assault, robbery, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. Mrs. Duke died in February 2006, but her death was unrelated to the attack. The jury's task was made easier by ADA Doupé who took the jury carefully through the evidence, most notably Smith's confession to Georgia Bureau of Investigation Agent Jimmy Talkington. Just three days after the crime, he told the GBI agent that he had entered the back door of Mrs. Duke's Tignall home, grabbed her from behind, beat her, and dragged her from room to room, tied her up and tied a plastic bag over her head. He stole $11 and her car, he confessed, making his escape. Oglethorpe County, Smith sat down with Agent Talkington to talk about a burglary and stolen goods. Talkington advised him of his rights, he said, and over a 30-minute period, Smith admitted in detail to attacking Mrs. Duke. Talkington testified that he had asked Smith if he could record Smith's statement. Smith had agreed, and a recording was made. The jury listened intently as the tape was played Tuesday afternoon in the courtroom. "I called my sister and I said I wanted to hurt somebody, maybe kill somebody," Smith started out. He went to his sister's house, which was near Mrs. Duke's home on Jones Street in Tignall. He walked past the Duke home, he said, and noticing that there was no car there, he slipped in the house. "After about 15 minutes, this lady came in. I was standing behind the door, so that's when I grab her and took her to her room. I took off her clothes, tied her hands behind her back with the lamp cord." The lamp cord broke, he said, so he looked for another rope. "In the process of doing that," he said, "I fount me a gun, and I got some money out of her pocketbook. Eleven dollars." He did not confess to raping the 86-year-old woman, but Doupé introduced witnesses and evidence from medical examinations that clearly showed not only bruises and abrasions, but physical evidence of rape. In hours of detailed testimony, Doupé led GBI forensic experts from the state crime lab through their findings that hairs found on Mrs. Duke's carpet were pubic hairs with DNA matching Smith's. Smith's court-appointed public defender, Chip Wallace, tried to assert that Smith was retarded and unable to understand what he was confessing to, but Wallace introduced no evidence or witnesses to corroborate the assertion. He gave his client the option to testify in his own defense, and Smith declined.
If Smith is found guilty, Judge Hinesley could sentence him to decades behind bars.
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