California IN BRIEF : VENTURA : New Penalty Trial Sought for Killer

Defense lawyers have asked for a new penalty trial for convicted child-killer Gregory Scott Smith, alleging that a Ventura County Superior Court juror who recommended execution concealed her bias against him before trial. Smith, 23, of Canoga Park, is awaiting sentencing April 3 for the March 23, 1990, slaying of 8-year-old Paul Bailly of Northridge. Smith pleaded guilty to charges that he kidnaped, raped and strangled the boy, then set his body afire in Simi Valley. The juror apparently wrote on a questionnaire that her daughter was raped at age 16. But the woman told Judge Steven Z. Perren that the cases were too dissimilar to make her feel discomfort while hearing testimony about the boy’s rape and murder.