Couey arrives on death row

STARKE -- John Couey arrived on death row Monday afternoon, three days after he received the death penalty for the murder of Jessica Lunsford.

His new home while awaiting execution is the Florida State Prison in Starke, where he joins 36 other death row inmates. The majority — 345 of 381 — are kept at nearby Union Correctional Institution in Raiford.

State prison officials said they are taking no special security precautions, even though legal experts believe the 49-year-old could be in danger because of his notorious crime.

"We don't foresee a threat at this time," said Gretel Plessinger, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections.

Death row inmates spend approximately 23 hours of their days alone in a 6-foot-by-9-foot cell, mixing for an hour during recreation three times a week. Plessinger said security on the "yard" during recreation is tight.

Jessica's father, Mark, said Friday he wouldn't mind if Couey died at the hands of another inmate, saying “I would be buying a lot of cigarettes for someone.”

Couey’s neighbors include four fellow convicted murderers:

• James Duckett, a police officer, sentenced in June 1988 for raping and murdering a 11-year-old girl while on duty in Lake County;
• Steven Hayward, sentenced in June 2007 for fatally shooting a newspaper carrier in St. Lucie County;
• Jesse Guardado, sentenced in October 2005 for killing a 75-year-old community activist in Walton County for drug money;
• William Davis, sentenced in August 2006 for fatally stabbing a mother and her 16-year-old daughter in their Duval County home using three kitchen knifes.

--John Frank, Times staff writer

Jessica's other grandma

Sharon Armstrong doesn't like the iconic picture of Jessica Lunsford in her pink hat.

"To me, it means separation," she said of the photo, which was disseminated throughout the state -- and country -- when Jessica disappeared. "I never saw her wear that pink hat."

Instead, Armstrong keeps more personal pictures of Jessica by her computer, and one of the little girl's dolls.

For Armstrong, who described herself as a "second grandma" to Jessica, the last two years have been tough. It was Armstrong who drove Jessica home from youth group the night she was kidnapped. She helped her with her math homework; the two loved scrap booking together.

"It's difficult because for two years I've been waiting for this day," she said. "It's not closure, but at least it's the end of this part."

Now she can spend more time thinking about how much she loved Jessica, Armstrong said, instead of worrying about the next court date.

Still, she will be restless until Couey dies.

"I'd like to see it over with," she said. "I'm grieving while he's breathing, eating, watching TV."

If Couey truly accepted God, as he claims to, she said, he would waive appeals and confront his ultimate punisher.

"God made a place for him and he's going there."

-- Elena Lesley

The mobile memorial

Jeanna Gullett of Inverness expresses her preference for Couey's fate following the sentencing of John Couey. [Stephen J. Coddington | Times]

Phyllis Colucci takes Jessica Lunsford with her wherever she goes. To the supermarket. To the beauty parlor. On vacation.

"It keeps her memory alive," said Colucci, who always carries a small stuffed bear with Jessica's picture attached. "It's like she gets to do these things."

Colucci, 67, turned out for Couey's sentencing Friday carrying a white bear -- larger than the one she usually totes around -- and the "pink hat" picture of Jessica. "For all she had to BEAR," the picture reads.

The Inverness resident first started carrying a bear 15 years ago after a young girl in Ohio was raped and murdered. After Jessica was murdered in 2005, she added a second bear to the traveling memorial.

"I'm a grandma and a great grandma," Colucci said. "That could have been one of my babies."

A picture of Jessica was pinned to the right of her shirt's collar. One of her granddaughter and grandchild was attached to the left.

But that wasn't the end of the display. Colucci's daughter, Jeanna Gullett, held up a poster outside the courtroom after Couey's sentence was announced. It read "no needle" -- next to a syringe taped to the poster -- and showed Couey being buried in black garbage bags.

"The needle's too good for him," Colucci said, adding that she hoped Couey would be executed soon.

"He gets to sit and color and (Jessica) can't do that," she said. "Let's get this done quickly so he doesn't get to color for very much longer."

-- Elena Lesley

Be a man -- don't appeal

Mark Lunsford and Sheriff Jeff Dawsy told media that they hoped John Couey would take responsibility for his actions, that he'd "stand up and be a man."

But they added that they doubt he'll do that.

Dawsy approached Couey after the sentence was handed down and advised the killer to waive his appeals, "to expedite his meeting with the maker."

Lunsford agreed, saying Couey should "skip all those appeals. Take your punishment and be done with it." Experts have estimated that the appeals for this complicated case could take longer than the average 12 years.

Since Jessica Lunford's murder, Couey has blamed everyone but himself -- his sister, the sheriff's department, the system, Lunsford said.

He added: "Didn't nobody else do this but him."

-- Elena Lesley

"He's an animal"

As Judge Ric Howard explained his rationale for sentencing John Couey to death, he described Couey's murder of Jessica Lunsford as "determined albeit savage."

In a press conference following the hearing, Sheriff Jeff Dawsy took Howard's words a step further.

"John Couey is an animal," he said, after journalists coaxed him to give his opinion of the convicted killer. What he did "was worse than a savage."

He added that he had confronted Couey after the sentence was announced and looked into his eyes.

"It was cold," he said. "Nothing there."

-- Elena Lesley