A status conference was held on Donald Smith’s appeal of his Cherish Perrywinkle conviction.

There will be a status conference on Monday at 10:00 a.m. on Donald Smith’s appeal of his conviction and death sentence in the 2013 murder of 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle.

Smith will not be there in person, only his lawyers.

Back in May, the state’s attorney’s office filed a response to a motion for a new trial against the man convicted of murdering 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle, arguing that it should be “summarily denied.”

Investigators have determined that Donald Smith kidnapped Perrywinkle by luring her into his van at a Northside Walmart store in 2013. Smith was later arrested on Interstate 95 shortly before her body was found in the creek.

In April, Smith’s lawyers filed a 78-page appeal sentenced to death after the case took five years to resolve. The appeal cited several facts during the trial that he claims invalidate his original sentence, including:

• Claims his lawyer “failed to identify, interrogate and stab a biased juror.”
• He also claims that his lawyer didn’t do well enough with things like “waiver of objections to calling 911” and “waivers of objections to digitally altered photographs.”
• Criticized a mental health expert who said Smith was “the most dangerous pedophile she’s ever met.”

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