Sarasota Man Who Sexually Battered Child Gets Life In Prison: Brodsky

SARASOTA, FL — A Sarasota man who sexually battered a child on his sailboat in 2021 was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison, authorities said.

A jury convicted John Martin Smith, 48, of capital sexual battery on a child under 12 years old following a four-day trial, which ran April 3-6, according to a news release from State Attorney Ed Brodsky's office.

Smith committed the crime against a then-7-year-old family member in June 2021 while on his sailboat in Sarasota Bay, the state attorney said.

The girl was Smith's stepdaughter, according to a Sarasota Police Department news release. When she returned home from the boat the day it happened, she told her father that Smith touched her inappropriately.

During the trial, the jury heard testimony from the girl that while she was trying to sleep in the boat's cabin, she heard the floorboards creak as Smith approached her, Brodsky's office said. She also testified that he then sexually battered her in the cubby she was sleeping in.

In a video interview recorded by the Sarasota Police Department at the time, Smith told investigators he was just "moving" the girl because she "looked uncomfortable as she tried to sleep and that she must be mistaken," the state attorney's office said.

Another family member, now an adult, also testified before the jury that she was molested by Smith 20 years ago in a similar situation. The now-30-year-old woman, who lives out of state, was under the age of 12 when she was abused by Smith, who was married to her mother, police said. She had seen him since she was 16 years old.

Police began investigating the allegations against Smith on July 2, 2021, according to SPD. He was arrested July 21, 2021.

After this, he was forbidden from having contact with the girl and her then-9-year-old brother, his stepson, when the Child Protection Center and the Department of Children and Family Services intervened, police said.

A jury found him guilty of the charge on April 6 and he was sentenced to life in prison.

“The little girl in this case was incredibly brave in testifying against her abuser at trial," Ryan Felix, assistant state attorney, said. "The evidence showed Smith had done this before, but because of the jury’s verdict and the judge’s sentence, he’ll never be able to do it again.”