Within four minutes of a frantic 911 call placed by Joseph Smith Sr. and Sonya Smith in October 2003 as their kid lay dying of a fast-acting infection and septic shock, the police accused Joseph and Sonya Smith of being “abusers.”
This occurred as their son lay dying. The media frenzy started right around the time that the seeds of “child abuse” were sowed throughout the investigation that followed the unfortunate death of little Josef Smith.
Since 2003, the media has been feeding off of the spectacular spin that has been put on this narrative of loving parents and the sad turns their lives took in the fall of 2003.
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Table of Contents
Joseph And Sonya Smith: Who Are They?
The Smiths were a young African American couple who lived in Mableton, which is an unincorporated suburb of Atlanta, Georgia.
In the year 2002, the Smiths found the allure of the Weigh Down Workshop to be too much to resist, so they signed up for the program.
They were drawn to the claims of the Weigh Down Diet like moths to a flame, which was burning brilliantly in Franklin, Tennessee. The claims of the Weigh Down Diet resonated with them, and the sales pitch of getting closer to God for lasting weight loss and family healing attracted them.
They joined the Remnant religion in 2003 in the traditional manner, which consisted of first submitting themselves wholeheartedly to the authority of Gwen Shamblin and her hierarchy of shepherding control, then following it up with a water baptism in the warehouse of the Weigh Down Workshop.
The community of the Remnant Fellowship in Franklin, Tennessee, welcomed another family of “scattered saints” who were seeking safety in the Remnant harbor.
These new recruits were referred to as new members of the fellowship. The earnestness and warmth with which the Smiths have always approached their work contributed to the band’s meteoric rise to fame.
The pair started “God’s Diet,” which they called hearing the gospel of Remnant, and then they joined a local Remnant chapter in Atlanta.
They had been told that they needed to lose weight, and they were told that they needed to lose it.
They readily surrendered their lives to this new religious community, and it quickly became the focal point of their existence.
They were counseled by the shepherds of their Remnant community that if they were serious about transforming their lives and bringing glory to God, then they needed to submit themselves completely to the leadership of the church.
They served as models of unwavering obedience to the directives of their masters.
Joseph And Sonya Smith: Punishment And Current Location
The testimony and evidence presented against Joseph and Sonya Smith led the jury to reach their verdict of guilty on eleven counts related to Josef’s death: one count of felony murder, one count of involuntary manslaughter, four counts of cruelty to children, three counts of aggravated assault, one count of false imprisonment, and one count of reckless conduct (1).
Both defendants were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in March of 2007, with an additional 30 years for each. In October 2008, the court denied the couple’s request for a new trial on the grounds that their previous attorney had performed inadequately.
The Smiths filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of Georgia in November 2010, but, the appeal was denied the following month. The Smiths were found guilty of the charges against them.
After this petition, another one was submitted in February of 2011, however it was rejected in June of the same year.
At the moment, Sonya is being held at the Arrendale State Prison in Raoul, while Joseph is doing his time at the Macon State Prison in Oglethorpe.
Both of these facilities belong to the state of California. According to the most recent information available, in 2013 they were active participants in the activities of the Remnant Fellowship Church.
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More Details On Remnant Fellowship Church
In 1986, Shamblin presented her weight loss approach for the first time, and she called it the Weigh Down Workshop.
By the middle of the 1990s, a number of churches all around the country had taken part in the program, in spite of the skepticism and concerns expressed by various other dietitians.
The program has developed to incorporate faith as a tool for overcoming compulsive overeating, and it is now closely associated with churches. 1997 saw the publication of the book that would go on to become known as “The Weigh Down Diet,” which would go on to sell 1.7 million copies.
And in the year 1999, Shamblin established the Remnant Fellowship Church in Franklin, Tennessee. Despite the fact that she has passed away, the church is operational at the present day.
According to the documentary series The Way Down, members of Remnant Fellowship and those who followed the Weigh Down approach equated being slim with being holy, adhered to a strict Christian doctrine that prohibited divorce, and tried to keep women in subordinate roles to men.
Additionally, the church supported harsh forms of child discipline, such as the use of physical punishment to young children.
The authorities conducted a search warrant at the church in 2003 after two members of the congregation, Joseph Smith and Sonya Smith, were charged with the murder of their son, who was eight years old.
The murder charge prompted the authorities to investigate any possible connections between the teachings of the church and the actions of the Smiths. The pair is currently serving out their time in prison, which consists of a life sentence plus thirty years.
Joseph And Sonya Smith Used Glue Sticks On His Son
The circumstances surrounding the boy’s passing have shed light on the disciplinary practices advocated by the religion, which is sometimes referred to be a cult.
Both law enforcement and the media have paid a disproportionate amount of attention to the usage of long glue sticks.
According to a story from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution from the year 2003, Josef’s mother reportedly informed authorities in Cobb County, Georgia that she had hit Josef with a “2- or 3-foot-long whiplike glue stick.”
According to former Cobb County Detective David Schweizer, who spoke with A&E True Crime about the investigation, he found a perfect match between a glue stick and fresh marks found on Josef’s body.
According to an article by The Tennessean in 2004, the website of Remnant Fellowship advocated for the disciplining of children, which included “conventional spankings.”
Former members of the church also claimed that the religion allowed beating children with glue sticks. According to one individual who had previously been a part of the congregation, the newspaper stated in 2007 that “there were glue sticks protruding out of diaper bags in the [church] aisles.”
When Josef was seven years old, Sonya Smith expressed her gratitude to church leader Tedd Anger for his “amazing” counsel in a conversation that was captured on recording and played for Shamblin.
She said that she had “done precisely what Tedd told me to do,” which was to “spank him in the back of his thighs,” and then she had “locked him up for three days in his empty room with nothing but a Bible.”
That had a significant impact on Josef’s conduct, which led her to comment that “it’s like looking at a different child.”
In response to the question, Shamblin said, “That’s a miracle.” “You have a youngster who is transitioning from being completely strange to being under control. So, praise God.”
Joseph And Sonya Smith: Previous Acts Of Abuse
Laura Boone, then 14 years old and working as a babysitter at the time, lodged a complaint of child abuse regarding Josef without even knowing his name.
This occurred six months before Josef passed away. She realized it was him when she saw his face on the television screen during a news broadcast on his passing.
According to Boone, whose own family does not belong to Remnant Fellowship, the reason she began babysitting for the church’s families was because her neighbors were members of the congregation.
While the children’s parents attended church functions, Boone and her friends would frequently babysit a big group of children together.
According to Boone, she first met Josef in April 2003 at a church function that was attended by the Smith family. She claims that she found Josef screaming in a corner and immediately contacted Joseph Smith, Josef’s father, for advice on what she should do. “[His father] slammed his fist into his hand, and he told him to give it to him hard,” The memory of Boone “I was taken aback. I answered, ‘no.'”
According to what Boone recalls, after that, Josef’s father brought him into the next room to chastise him. “I don’t know what he was doing—hitting, spanking, whatever—but we could all hear that occurring, and [Josef] weeping,” she said. “I don’t know what he was doing.”
According to her account, Boone and her mother made the report of child abuse the next day at the Department of Children’s Services in the state of Tennessee. “Neither the father’s nor the child’s name were familiar to me. I was aware that they were from Atlanta, but there was not enough information for DCS to do a thorough investigation into the matter.
Boone referred to Josef as “quite rowdy,” and said that the ideal way to deal with Josef’s behavioral difficulties would have been to consult with professionals.
Gina Wilson, a former member of the church who has had multiple interactions with the Smiths, is of the same opinion. But according to her account, the church considered Josef to be “demon-possessed” because he had allegedly threatened to harm his family.
“[The Smiths] needed professional help, and they were not allowed to get that,” Wilson tells A&E True Crime, “because in Remnant, you are not allowed to go outside the church to get any kind of counseling or help.”
Wilson is referring to the fact that members of the Remnant church are not permitted to seek assistance from sources other than the church itself. At any rate, throughout that period of time.”
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