­The Mississippi Court of Appeals has overturned Carl DeAnthony Smith’s conviction for two counts of sexual battery involving a child under the age of 14. The court upheld Smith’s conviction for 10 counts of possession of child pornography.

After a trial in Warren County Circuit Court in December 2023, Smith was found guilty of all charges. Ninth District Circuit Judge Toni Walker Terrett sentenced Smith to serve two concurrent terms of life imprisonment in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) for the two sexual battery convictions. For the 10 convictions of possession of child pornography, Smith was sentenced to serve 10 concurrent terms of forty years in MDOC’s custody. The circuit court ordered that Smith’s 40-year sentences for child pornography run consecutively to his sentences of life imprisonment for sexual battery. In addition, the circuit court fined Smith $1,000 for each count of sexual battery and $50,000 for each count of possession of child pornography.

The case began around midnight on January 31, 2023, when officers from the Vicksburg Police Department responded to a call about a shooting victim at a McDonald’s parking lot in Vicksburg. Upon arriving at the crime scene, the officers determined that a bullet had struck and killed a 13-year-old passenger inside Smith’s vehicle. An officer interviewed Smith as a witness to the child’s death. Smith explained that he was the child’s godfather and that the child’s mother often allowed them to go various places alone together, even late at night. The officer asked for Smith’s permission to search his cell phone for any evidence that might be relevant to the investigation into the child’s death.

After obtaining Smith’s written consent, the officer searched Smith’s cell phone, during which evidence of child pornography was discovered. The officer halted his search of the cell phone, and a search warrant was obtained. An investigator with specialized training performed a forensic extraction of the data on Smith’s phone. The data extracted from the cell phone included sexually explicit material downloaded from the internet as well as videos of a sexual nature that depicted the 13-year-old passenger who had died inside Smith’s vehicle.

Following the cell phone extraction, an officer once again questioned Smith. Questioning centered around Smith as a suspect in a crime and not a witness. Based on the cell phone data, Smith was asked if he had sexual relations with the child. Smith initially denied engaging in a sexual relationship with the child, but later admitted having had two instances of sexual contact with the victim approximately two years earlier. The specific nature of the sexual contact was not clarified.

The court found that Smith’s admission of  “sexual relations” was too vague and did not meet the statutory elements required for a sexual battery conviction. Since the victim was deceased and could not testify, and the interview had not addressed the required elements of the sexual battery charge, the court ruled these charges were reversed.

Smith also argued that he should be granted a new trial on the charges of possession of child pornography, because these charges should have been brought to trial separately from the sexual battery charges. The court found no error in trying the charges together; however, the court did remand the case for reconsideration of the sentencing for possession of child pornography since the charges for sexual battery have now been dismissed.