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March 15, 2007
Jury Recommends Death For Couey
Topics: NewsMIAMI - The 12 jurors re-entered the courtroom through a rear door.
After about an hour and 10 minutes of deliberation, they had come to a decision.
As they filed in, none looked up at the small man in the oversized gray suit. Last week, they had found John Evander Couey guilty of burglary, kidnapping, sexual abuse of a child and murder in the first degree.
Wednesday evening, in a 10-2 vote, they recommended to the judge that Couey die for that crime.
The clerk read their decision aloud; Couey stared at her, listening to every word. It was, perhaps, the first time he had looked so attentive.
One by one, the jurors began to take quick glances toward Couey.
He remained expressionless.
Halfway across the state in Homosassa - the town Jessica Marie "Jessie" Lunsford called home, the town where she attended the third grade, the town where she was buried alive behind Couey's mobile home - emotions swayed.
People were happy with the jury's decision but remained distrustful of the inherent delays of the legal system.
Tony Principe, a member of Jessie's church congregation, said he felt good when the news came, but he knows he will have a long wait for justice.
"He took a life and should give his, but it'll never bring her back," Principe said. "In the old days, when I was young, if a man took a life, his was taken and it didn't take 10 to 13 years."
Outside the courthouse in Miami, Mark Lunsford, Jessie's father, said he felt relieved but angry.
He commended the jury.
"They had tough decisions to make," Lunsford said. "This was justice for Jessie, but not just Jessie."
For those who knew about Couey, this is justice, Lunsford said. For those abused by others, he said, justice remains elusive.
Although the execution of killers helps, Lunsford said, he knows children suffer terrible deaths.
"It doesn't even out," he said.
More Hearings Remain
The trial was moved to Miami to ensure an impartial jury.
Next week, Judge Ric Howard will gather the lawyers back in Citrus County to set dates for three more hearings.
At one hearing, lawyers will present more evidence to help him decide whether he will honor the jury's recommendation or disregard it. The judge must set yet another hearing, in which he will announce his decision.
A third hearing is needed because the defense still argues that Couey is mentally retarded. Florida law prohibits executing the retarded.
Through much of the trial, Couey seemed distant and spent several hours scratching in coloring books with pencils.
Citrus County residents said all along they doubted Couey's claims of a mental handicap.
George Kanaris owns Emily's Restaurant in Homosassa Springs, where Couey worked as a dishwasher for 2 1/2 years in the early 1990s.
"You want to see the real John Couey?" Kanaris asked rhetorically. "Give him a case of beer. You won't see him coloring in coloring books."
During Couey's employment, he negotiated pay like a man who was not retarded, Kanaris said.
Jessie's family pastor, LaVerle Coats, said he had mixed feelings on the jury's recommendation for death.
"Death?" Coats said. "He gets a private cell, and we have two executions a year with a death-row population of hundreds. Justice says he ought to get death, but was it justice? I don't know. Twenty years [on death row] isn't justice. Life in prison might be worse. If he's in [the general prison] population, some say he might not last a month."
Crime Premeditated, State Says
On Wednesday afternoon, as the Miami portion of Couey's proceedings came to an end, Assistant State Attorney Ric Ridgway gave the jurors his final thoughts on why they should recommend Couey's execution.
The crime, he said, was especially cold and premeditated.
"This was not a crime of passion or impulse," he said.
With every shovel full of dirt Couey took out of that hole, he thought about what he was doing, Ridgway said.
While putting Jessie inside two plastic garbage bags, he thought about what he was doing, Ridgway said.
With every shovel full of dirt Couey put back into the hole, on top of Jessie, he thought about what he was doing, Ridgway said.
As Couey raked leaves over the dirt to cover the disturbed earth, he thought about what he was doing, Ridgway said.
"If this is not the case that calls for the death penalty, what case does?" Ridgway told the jury. "If this is not the person who deserves the death penalty, who does? And if you do not vote for the death penalty now, when will you? This is the case. This is the man who deserves it."
Assistant Public Defender Alan Fanter argued differently.
"He didn't choose to be a pedophile; he didn't choose to be abused," Fanter told the jury. "Revenge is not justice in our system."
A couple of hours later, with the jury's work done, Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy offered a warning for parents:
"There are other John Coueys out there."
Reporter Anthony McCartney contributed to this report. Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tampatrib.com.
Posted by admin at March 15, 2007 8:40 AM
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