Emotional day in court

Jury selection in the John Couey trial took more than two weeks. Today, the main event began. The prosecution and defense made opening statements, followed by emotional testimony from Jessica Lunsford's father and grandmother and a family friend.

Jurors saw the picture of Jessica in her pink hat and they saw Mark Lunsford look inside a bag that held the stuffed purple dolphin with which his daughter was buried.

Tampabay.com will continue to cover the trial Friday morning, beginning with more testimony from the prosecution.

Court adjourns

The first day of testimony is now over.

The prosecution called eight witnesses today, including Jessica's grandmother, Ruth, and her father, Mark.  Sharon Armstrong, a friend of the family, testified about the last time she saw Jessica.

Savannah, Ga. police officer Michael Love was the last witness called to the stand.

The trial will resume Friday at 8:30 a.m. with more testimony from the prosecution.

Second tape plays, Lunsford glares at Couey

In a second taped interview, John Couey tells police he never knew Jessica Lunsford.

The tape plays in the courtroom as Mark Lunsford watches from the first row. He is glaring at Couey who is fiddling with some papers and at times appears to be reading the transcript of the interview.

The tape stops playing. 

Couey: I've seen her on the news

The jurors are flipping through several pages of an interview that Couey gave to police in Savannah, Ga. while listening to his voice on tape for the first time. His voice is gruff but he is being polite.

He says he has heard of a girl named "Jessie" but denies any involvement in her disappearance.

"I've seen it on the news," he says, referring to media coverage of Jessica's disappearance.

The interview on tape ends.

Court resumes, Couey's recorded interview about to play

All rise. Court is back in session.

"It's like being at church," whispered Ruth Lunsford, Jessica's grandmother who is sitting in the audience.

Mrs. Lunsford testified earlier in the day that she and her husband, Archie, were home the night Jessica vanished but didn't notice she had gone missing until Mark Lunsford came home. She choked back tears as she recounted the story.

A police officer who tracked down John Couey in Savannah, Ga. is now on the witness stand.

We're about to hear Couey's voice in a recorded interview

Prosecution: Moving much faster than we ever expected

The court has broken for a brief recess.

Prosecutor Ric Ridgway told the judge the first day of testimony is "moving much faster than we ever expected."

The prosecution will call one more witness before the court adjourns for the day.

Another witness who will give "key" testimony is undergoing a medical procedure today and won't be able to testify Friday, Ridgway said.

Dixon: I'm not happy to be in court

After Dorothy Dixon testified against her brother, Couey's attorney Daniel Lewan attacked her credibility on the stand.

He got Dixon to admit that she and her brother used cocaine on the night of Feb. 23 2005 when Jessica disappeared.

"I had a $20 rock," she said, volunteering that she had been "ripped off." 

Dixon said she wasn't happy about being in court. Lewan reminded her that she was arrested and accused of lying to law enforcement about her brother's whereabouts. She bought Couey a bus ticket to Savannah, Ga. after authorities started looking for suspects.

Dixon said she never saw Jessica at her mobile home.

A sister testifies against her brother

Dorothy Dixon, John Couey's sister, is showing jurors "Johnny's room" and the rest of the layout of the mobile home where she, her boyfriend, a grandson, a daughter and her daughter's husband were staying the night that Jessica disappeared.

Couey writes, loosens his tie, tugs at his ears and occasionally looks up as his sister testifies against him. Dixon was Couey's only relative who agreed to take him in after he was abandoned by the rest of his family. She turned against him after authorities charged Couey with Jessica's murder.

Mark Lunsford is sitting in the first row.

The jurors watch and take notes. There are a few yawns after the lunch break.   

The pace has slowed since the start of the trial when the defense asked the judge to declare a mistrial, a motion that was denied by Circuit Judge Ric Howard.

Trial Resumes

All rise. Court is now in session.

Break for lunch

The court is breaking for a 90-minute lunch, longer than usual to allow for the transport of jurors to a place that is away from the courthouse.

A Citrus sheriff's deputy just finished giving testimony about the search for Jessica after her family reported her missing. He was the fourth person called to the witness stand by the prosecution.

John Couey, who is dressed in a gray suit, has been listening to the testimony, at times fidgeting. He has coloring books with him but so far he hasn't been drawing on them.