SARASOTA — Accused rapist and home invader Delmer Smith III is getting closer to his next day in court — at least on the charge that got him caught.
Court records show he is scheduled to be arraigned Friday morning on an aggravated battery charge at the Sarasota County Judicial Center.
But he won’t be there, the public defender’s office said Monday.
Jailed clients do not appear at arraignments, said Larry Eger, public defender for the 12th Judicial Circuit.
Court records show Smith has pleaded not guilty to the battery charge that stems from an Aug. 14 bar fight in Venice.
Eger said his office will likely represent Smith on four home invasion charges in which he is accused of brutally attacking victims in Sarasota County. During one attack, a woman was raped. In addition to those attacks, Smith also is a suspect in several other home invasions in Manatee and Sarasota.
Smith, a convicted bank robber who was released from federal prison in September 2008, has been in the Pinellas County jail since Sept. 11 after he was arrested for violating his federal probation because of the bar fight arrest.
During a search of his belongings, police found a handgun and items that had been stolen during some of the home invasions, according to reports.
Arraignment dates for the four home invasion cases had not been set on Monday.
“We won’t have an arraignment date until he is released to us from federal custody,” said Assistant State Attorney Earl Varn, who will prosecute Smith’s home invasion cases with Assistant State Attorney Elizabeth Scanlan. He said he did not know how long that would take.
“As soon as they resolve his probation violation, we’ll have a better idea,” Varn said. That means Smith might be stuck in the Pinellas County jail for a while.
The FBI had Smith’s DNA since March 2008 after receiving it from the federal Bureau of Prisons. But because of a backlog of some 295,000 cases, the FBI did not enter it into its databases until last month when local officials made a request after Smith emerged as a possible suspect in the home invasions. Sarasota investigators had matched DNA recovered from the scenes of four Sarasota home invasions.
The first attack that Sarasota investigators linked to Smith happened Feb. 22, and subsequent assaults in which he is charged occurred March 7, March 14 and May 26. According to reports, detectives determined Smith’s DNA was found at each of the scenes.
Smith also is considered the prime suspect in two home invasions being investigated by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office. They occurred on March 13 in northwest Bradenton and on March 31 in East Manatee. DNA was not recovered in either case, however.
“We’re doing everything we can to try and get this guy,” said sheriff’s spokesman Dave Bristow. “Obviously we’re looking at witnesses, property and any physical evidence to tie him to our crimes. We’ve had the victims look at all the inventory.”
They’ve also conducted lineups with them, he said.
“We don’t have enough to charge him at this time, but that may change,” Bristow said.
