US Supreme Court declines to take up Donald Smith’s appeal in murder of Cherish Perrywinkle

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take up an appeal in a high-profile case involving an 8-year-old Jacksonville girl who was abducted from a Walmart and raped and murdered.

Death row inmate Donald James Smith took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court last year after the Florida Supreme Court unanimously upheld his conviction and sentence in the 2013 murder of Cherish Perrywinkle.

An attorney for Smith asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the case because of alleged improper arguments by a prosecutor during Smith’s trial.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the request last week. As is common, justice did not explain their reasons.

RELATED: I-TEAM obtains newly-released evidence against Donald Smith

The murder drew huge amounts of news coverage and public attention in Jacksonville, with a jury in 2018 finding Smith guilty and a judge sending him to death row.

Smith, now 65, is an inmate at Union Correctional Institution, according to the Florida Department of Corrections website.