Case summary the murder of jessica lundsford essay

On March 23, 2006 a nine-year old girl in Homosassa, Florida faded after going to a Friday evening house of worship service. She was absent for almost 3 weeks before law enforcement officials found her body in a trash tote, holding a purple packed dolphin, in a grave at most 3 foot deep. Publicly released autopsy reports declared that the little woman, Jessica Lunsford, who imagined being a designer and Olympic swimmer, had managed to tear two fingertips through the rubbish bag ahead of suffocating to death.

Reviews say that a neighbor, 46-year-old John Couey (who was drug hazed) broke into the family’s unprotected mobile house at 3am and kidnapped Jessica, masking her oral cavity and telling her to keep quiet.

He held her captive for over a day and through this time the lady was the patient of lovemaking molestation and rape. The lady was advised to stay in the closet whilst he went to work and did other activities. While there is no considerable evidence to prove how much time she was captive, it is extremely possible it absolutely was as long as three days.

On the last day, Couey tied Jessica up with stereo system wire, required her into trash luggage and buried her in in his half-sister’s backyard, noticeable from Jessica’s house, just 150 meters away.

Couey’s criminal record covers for more than 3 decades and twenty-four arrests, which includes DUI, theft, larceny, fraud, drug charges, and caring a child underneath 16 (making him a sex offender in the condition of Florida). Although having been a authorized sex culprit in Citrus fruit County, he had not yet signed up his fresh address, in which he lived down the street from Jessica. He was sentenced to ten years in prison, but he was paroled in 1980 as a result of prison overcrowding.

Couey’s niece, Madie Secord, testified to purchasing a shuttle bus ticket in her identity to Savannah, Ga., in her uncle’s request after Jessica proceeded to go missing. Upon burying Jessica Lunsford with your life, Couey fled to Georgia in hopes of avoiding breakthrough discovery and felony charges. Having been arrested in Augusta to get violating devoir charges (crossing state lines without telling authorities). Couey was one of many registered love-making offenders law enforcement officials tried to get after Jessica’s disappearance. Following being taken into guardianship, he revealed to the charges after a F administered polygraph test. Yet , because theofficer’s denied him his Miranda rights, the confession has not been admissible into court. Having been charged with capital tough, burglary with battery, kidnapping and lovemaking battery on the child less than 12 years old, but he pleaded not liable.

The residents of Couey’s half siblings house had been interviewed 2 times regarding wondering on the location of Couey. They were educated that he had violated his probation simply by not reporting his fresh address. It is possible that Jessica was still alive in the house although these selection interviews occurred. However , his family claimed to never know his whereabouts. They were taken in to custody too.

In order to have a more impartial jury, the trial was relocated to Miami. Besides Couey’s croyance (which has not been admissible in court because officers disregarded his requests of attorney presence), investigators also found Jessica’s fingerprints in Couey’s wardrobe as well as her blood and his semen on his mattress. DNA analyst Roshale Gaytmenn also testified that she found the DNA profiles of Jessica and Couey in pillows that have been found in Couey’s room. The jury also viewed the stereo speaker wires that were used to hole Jessica’s arms. A fibers analyst spoken that the rapport matched wires that ran from inside Couey’s room for an antenna in the roof.

The defense claims that Couey suffered from mental retardation caused by a brain damage, lifelong substance abuse and a great abusive child years. John Couey’s troubles allegedly began the moment his natural father forced his teen mother away of a moving car the moment she was seven months pregnant with him. Couey was born prematurally a few weeks after. He claims that his mom fed him sugar water rather than formula and his stepfather beat him and tied him to a bed when as punishment for bedwetting. When his mother liberated him by his restraints, the man allegedly chased following him and slammed his head regularly in a door. As a child having been said to be self conscious, quiet and withdrawn, quite possibly as a result of his speech impediment and oversized ears, which is why he was teased.

Public opponent, Alan Fanter said Couey suffered from mental retardation and paranoid delusions brought on by childhood trauma that made him incapable of appear decision-making. This individual hasthe “mind of a child. Couey suffered from visual and auditory hallucinations that dated back to his early the child years, when he and his sister had been shuffled among different family after going out of their mother, according to forensic psychologist Dr . Robert Berland. Berland said this individual based his conclusions upon interviews with Couey’s relatives, including an aunt, his sister great cousin, but that most with the information originated from an interview with Couey in July 2006. Couey’s aunt, Virginia Kloetzer, testified within a videotaped interview that, although Couey was living with her family, he once cut up her nightgown into shreds.

“He explained, “My mind told me to obtain, ‘ stated Kloetzer, who have took Couey in if he was five and stored him for approximately four years. “I explained, ‘Next time your mind notifys you to do some thing that’s not proper, you notify it “no. ’His 50 percent sister (whom he lived in the house with), claims that she and Couey acquired shared a “small rock and roll of cocaine the night this individual abducted Jessica. However , the lady denied having any reassurance that Jessica was ever inside the trailer. Doctor Robert Berland, who used Couey’s IQ test, declared the results were several points below the medical standard intended for retardation. This individual credited his IQ to childhood mind damage and a tendency intended for sniffing stuff and gas as a teenage.

Gene Secord, Couey’s nephew, testified that Couey acquired told him, while they were in jail together 5 years ago, that Jessica’s death was “in the past and that if his sister had loved him more, the murder would not have occurred.

To earn the pardon from a loss of life sentence, attorneys for Couey, who spent most of his trial doodling in coloring books, must convince sixth Circuit Assess Richard Howard that this individual actually suffers from mental retardation, a burden that experts in the field describe as a great “uphill fight.  A Florida law, as well as a decision made in 2002 by the Supreme Court states that offenders with mental retardation can not be executed.

The court may chose between two sentences, the fatality penalty or perhaps life in prison without the possibility of parole, the only two options available relative to Florida regulation. The jury only adjourned for numerous hours beforereaching a 10-2 decision that imposes the death penalty. The jurors’ decision, which does not need to be unanimous, is an advisory sentence to Judge Rich Howard, who also makes the concluding decision. Judge Howard will listen to evidence from both sides to ascertain whether or not Couey is worth mercy, and issue a formal ruling in August twelve, 2007.

Because the 2005 murder, Mark Lunsford, Jessica’s Daddy had pressed for tighter sex culprit laws. The “Jessica Lunsford Act has already passed being a law in Florida. That calls for “prison sentences of 25 years to life for sex offenses against children underneath age doze, better registration of convicted sex offenders and a GPS notification system to track down probation violators. Fortunately, some really good came out of these kinds of a horrific crime.

That brought fresh, tougher laws and regulations for sexual offenders, and better monitoring of their actions, and maybe even a new respect for what they can be capable of. In addition , it brought more attention to kid abuse, both mental and physical, and what impact if can have about our patterns as a grownup. It manufactured us ask at what point someone should be placed accountable for his / her actions. In such a case, maybe that question is the most suitable answered simply by John Evander Couey himself. He declared that he was intoxicated by crack-cocaine when he abducted Jessica Lunsford and that he would pardon to her in heaven. If he was not aware that his actions had been wrong, why would this individual feel the need to apologize?

References

“Brain damage and awful childhood: Court hears killer’s Mitigating evidence. CourtTVNews. Mar 14, 2007. http://www.courttv.com/trials/lunsford/031307-pm_ctv.htmlCouey guilty of murdering 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford. CNN. com. March almost eight, 2007. http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/03/07/girl.slain/index.html?iref=newssearchIn evidence: Jessica Lundsford Murder Photo Gallery. CourtTVNews. http://www.courttv.com/trials/lunsford/photo_gallery/index1.html?curPhoto=1³Judge: Florida ladies killing ‘beyond words’. CNN. com. 03 23, 2005.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/03/22/lunsford.case/index.html?iref=newssearchSheriff: Proof points to sexual intercourse abuse. CNN. com. Mar 21, 2006.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/03/20/lunsford.case/index.html

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