The crusader

Jessica's dad spoke at length publicly for the first time during the trial today.

"Is Mark Lunsford going to speak? Is he coming?" members of the media buzzed as they waited for a daily press conference outside. They all huddled together to hear State Attorney Brad King give his assessment of the day's events, but there was no doubt who the main draw was.

Lunsford seized the attention, as he has before, to emphasize his legislative message.

"Jessie's Law is the beginning, not the end," he said, describing the need for more government action against pedophiles. "We'll always be one step behind sexual predators."

Once the trial is over and the media spotlight has started to fade, Lunsford said the country must stay focused on the meaning of Jessica's death -- and how it could have been prevented.

"I didn't do anything," Lunsford said, emphasizing the "I." "I couldn't have done anything without the support of the people."

-- Elena Lesley

Class dismissed

After Public Defender Daniel Lewan's hour-long cross-examination/Genetics seminar, Judge Ric Howard called an early recess.

But he promised jurors a "busy day" Tuesday and asked if anyone needed a new notebook.

Quite a few jurors, who had been taking notes diligently, nodded their heads. Maybe they are paying attention, after all.

-- Elena Lesley

Can't we take her word for it?

For nearly an hour, Public Defender Daniel Lewan has peppered expert Roshale Gaytmenn with questions, challenging the process of DNA analysis itself.

From boiling points to bleach to polymers, he has painstakingly dissected every element of DNA testing. An ironic twist, considering that many defense lawyers have actually used DNA testing to exonerate those convicted before the technology was available.

Lewan has raised an interesting point about combined fluids, however. Though Gaytmenn had testified that Couey's semen was found mixed with Jessica's blood, she admitted that she could not state for sure whether those stains were deposited at the same time.

So if "one stain was left there today and a week from now another stain was deposited on top of it you're still calling it a mixture," Lewan clarified. Gaytmenn answered in the affirmative.

-- Elena Lesley

The mattress

As DNA expert Roshale Gaytmenn described blood and semen stains on Couey's tattered mattress, jurors' expressions shifted from weariness to disgust.

Prosecutor Pete Magrino uncovered the mattress, propped upwards, for everyone in the courtroom to see. The bedding, a browned yellow, loomed behind Gaytmenn as she explained how she had determined that Couey's semen, Jessica's blood and a mixture of the two were present.

Gaytmenn said she had looked for reddish-brown stains to test for blood. She also inspected the dingy mattress cover for semen.

As she described her research, Mark Lunsford jittered uncomfortably. Angela Bryant, Jessica's estranged mother, cried quietly, several rows away.

-- Elena Lesley 

Lessons in Genetics

Jurors returned from lunch, full and looking a bit sleepy, to learn the details of DNA testing. Prosecutor Pete Magrino had a long list of informational questions for forensic expert Roshale Gaytmenn, from "what is DNA" to could you describe "linkage equilibrium?"

Before jurors can hear about the analysis of case-specific evidence, they have to learn how exactly such analysis is performed. For most, any memories of high school or college biology is a bit murky.

Which means experts have to serve as impromptu educators. Some are better than others at translating scientific jargon into layman's terms.

DNA is the hereditary material passed from generation to generation, Gaytmenn explained to jurors.

"It's what makes a cat a cat, a dog a dog and a human a human," she said, casting her statement in simpler language.

She went on to describe the DNA testing process she uses, how she prevents cross-contamination and the statistical frequency of various kinds of DNA samples, responding to Magrino's numerous questions.

Jurors' eyes began to get a bit glazed. You can only hope they're paying more attention than they did in Biology class.

-- Elena Lesley

What the fingerprints show

Much of fingerprint expert Wes Zackery's testimony focused on the infamous Domino's pizza box in Couey's bedroom closet. He said he identified prints on the box as belonging to Jessica Lunsford.

No pizza was actually found in the box. It was used to hold tools.

Zackery also said that both Jessica's and Couey's fingerprints were found on the glass tabletop in the defendant's bedroom.

These forensic findings place Jessica in Couey's room.

-- Elena Lesley

The banality of forensics

Much evidence presented at trial is surprisingly mundane.

Prosecutor Pete Magrino paraded crumpled paper bag after cardboard box after paper bag past forensic experts this morning, asking them to identify evidence and testify to its purity. At this point, jurors could only see flashes of the items in question.

But when they did, the glimpses were hardly enticing -- trash bag boxes, speaker wire, pieces of a glass tabletop -- found in such routine places as "in the closet," or "on top of the refrigerator."

Still, in the context of this crime, the everyday household items take on an Eerie quality. That's the speaker wire that bound the little girl's hands. That's the box that held trash bags she was wrapped in.

Given their uncommon significance, these particular items have been preserved and packaged, dusted and sealed. Expert Stephen Stark evaluated each piece of evidence, noting which had been swabbed or tested for fingerprints.

Then fingerprint expert Wes Zackery took the stand.

"Mr. Zackery, what does that say right there? Magrino asked, referring to a cardboard box.

"Domino's Pizza," Zackery responded.

There was nothing spectacular about the trappings of this crime.

-- Elena Lesley

A visitor

A new face appeared in the courtroom Monday. Jessica's biological mother, Angela Bryant, sat behind Archie and Ruth Lunsford.

Bryant and Mark Lunsford split a year after Jessica's birth, and Mark got custody of the infant.

Jessica's mother was not a presence in her life, and when the nine-year-old went missing, it took authorities a couple days to locate Bryant. When they found her in Ohio, they determined she was not involved in her daughter's disappearance.

In death, Jessica's mom has turned up.

(Pool photo of Bryant; click to enlarge.)

-- Elena Lesley

Jailhouse conversion?

Busted for not paying child support, Couey's former housemate Gene Secord took up residence near his old roomie in jail.

One of their favorite topics of conversation? God.

Secord testified Monday morning that he had many religious discussions with Couey and asked him "if he believed in God so much, how could he do something as he did?"

Couey responded that it was in the past, and he couldn't change the past.

-- Elena Lesley

Don't talk about nothing

Media's central role in this trial came up again Monday morning.

Gene Secord, one of Couey's housemates, alerted the state that he had watched some of Court TV's coverage of the trial -- in violation of his order of sequestration. Secord said he watched testimony from Sharon Armstrong, a surrogate mother to Jessica, and Ruth Lunsford.

He said he didn't understand he wasn't supposed to do this.

While Public Defender Daniel Lewan moved that Secord be held in contempt, Judge Ric Howard determined the exposure wouldn't taint his testimony.

But he spelled out his next instructions for Secord: "Don't talk about nothing with anybody."

-- Elena Lesley