Jessie's mom

Angie Bryant isn't used to the spotlight.

While Mark Lunsford has spent the last two years advocating for child safety, meeting with VIPs like John Travolta and Charlie Crist, the mother of slain Jessica Lunsford has kept a low profile. She works as a nurse's aide in Waynesville, Ohio and takes care of her two boys, a seven-year-old and eight-month-old.

But when she appeared in the courtroom Monday, she caused a stir. And after Couey was convicted today, the tearful and somewhat dazed mother was whisked from news camera to news camera, giving her reaction to the verdict.

Everyone already knows Jessica's father. Now they want to know her mom.

Even though Angie and Mark split when Jessica was an infant (Mark received custody), the resemblance between mother and daughter is striking. Bryant has the same youthful, round face and wide set eyes that so captured America once Jessica went missing.

Angie admits that she wasn't always there for Jessica. But she said she shared regular phone conversations and visits with her daughter.

"That's all in the past," Angie said. "I was always her mother, and she'll always be my baby."

Jessica particularly liked to play dress-up, Angie recalled, and loved McDonald's. She joked that one time, when there was no McDonald's nearby, she took Jessica to Long John Silver's instead and tried to convince her it was her favorite fast-food chain.

"I think she knew it wasn't really McDonald's," Angie said, smiling a little. But she went along with it anyway.

That was just Jessica's personality. Agreeable. Happy. "She was always smiling, even when she was younger," Angie said. "She never got grumpy."

Ever since Jessica went missing, life has been tough.

"Hell," Angie said plainly.

If she didn't have her two boys to care for, she doesn't know how she'd cope.

Sitting in court, listening to the gruesome details of Jessica's rape and slaying, has been an ordeal. Angie's sister came down with her from Ohio to offer support.

"I can't sleep. I can't eat," Angie said. "I've been so nervous about what (the jurors) are going to do."

Now she knows. A conviction gives her some peace, because it means justice for Jessica. But, like Mark, Angie doubts she'll ever understand "closure."

"I don't think it's ever going to get any easier," she said.

-- Elena Lesley

They like it here

Even though Judge Ric Howard told jurors they could go home and remain in semi-sequestration, most have elected to stay fully sequestered. A few asked to go home to check on things and then come back.

Couey convicted

John Couey is guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping, burglary and sexual battery of a minor.

Couey fidgeted as the verdict was read, pressing his fingers, a few at a time, against the table, but registered no facial expression in response to the news. Mark Lunsford wiped away tears with a tissue.

Judge Ric Howard said the sentencing process will start on Tuesday, during which the jurors will determine whether they think Couey should live or die. Jurors can choose to be semi-sequestered until that time. But on Tuesday they will have to go back to full sequestration.

Couey was fingerprinted, sheepishly, in front of Judge Howard, and wiped ink off his hands with wadded paper towels.

-- Elena Lesley

Jury has a verdict

Jurors have finished their deliberations, after around four hours, and will be transported back to the courtroom.

They are expected to announce their decision in about 15 minutes.

A demonstrator

A young woman just walked up to the area where the jury is deliberating. She had a sign that reads "Give me Justice!"

It features a colorful "precious moments" picture of a little girl dressed in purple (Jessica's favorite color). When confronted by security guards, she said she was exercising her first amendment rights.

"Let people see what it does to girls," she told them, mentioning that her sister had been raped.

At the suggestion of guards, she had to take her one-woman protest outside.

Guards have now moved the security barrier around 20' away from courtroom 4-2.

-- Elena Lesley

A look inside

Jurors are currently deliberating in Courtroom 4-2, which is directly across the hall from 4-1, where the trial was held. It's a slightly smaller venue, but has the same dark wood paneling and a similar decorative backdrop. The numerous pieces of evidence, covered in crumpled brown paper, have all been moved to the new room for jurors to inspect (with rubber gloves).

They each have an instructional packet to mull over as well.

"Members of the jury, I thank you for your attention during this trial," it reads. "Please pay attention to the instructions I am about to give you."

The packet lists the charges against Couey -- Murder in the First Degree, Burglary of a Dwelling with Battery, Kidnapping and Sexual Battery on a Child under 12 Years of Age -- as well as lesser crimes he could be charged with.

"If you decide that the main accusation has not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt, you will next need to decide if the defendant is guilty of any lesser included crime," it reads.

Their options are, as follows:

Count I: Murder in the First Degree, Murder in the Second Degree, Felony Murder in the Third Degree or Manslaughter.

Count II: Burglary of a Dwelling with a Battery, Burglary of a Dwelling, Burglary of a Structure or Trespass to a Structure.

Count III: Kidnapping or False Imprisonment.

Count IV: Sexual Battery on a Child Under the Age of 12, Sexual Battery of a Child over the Age of 12 or Battery.

Of course, the jury could also vote Not Guilty on any or all of the above counts.

-- Elena Lesley

Supplies

The jury has requested 12 notebooks, 12 pens and 12 copies of the jury instructions.

Deliberation

Judge Ric Howard has extensively laid out deliberation procedures and the definitions of various crimes for the jury.

Jurors have been excused from the courtroom at 11:36am to begin their deliberations. They will actually be held in a courtoom across the hall from 4-1, not 4-1 itself, as was discussed yesterday. The three alternate jurors are being held separately and are still barred from discussing the case amongst themselves.

A dramatic finale

Rebutting closing statements from the defense, Prosecutor Pete Magrino charged that Public Defender Daniel Lewan's arguments were pure speculation.

He urged jurors to "keep their eye on the ball" and not go after "any low and outside curve ball" thrown by the defense.

Magrino grappled with Jessica's stained dolphin and described how she was taken from her home and asked for just one thing: the stuffed dolphin her dad had given her at the State Fair.

Searing the iconic "pink hat" photo of Jessica into jurors' minds, Magrino presented it to them one last time. He then placed the print, and Jessica's dolphin, in black trash bags.

-- Elena Lesley

Unanswered questions

In his closing statements, Public Defender Daniel Lewan pointed to inconsistencies in the state's case and remaining questions surrounding Jessica Lunsford's murder.

Pressured by their role on the national stage, law enforcement officials set out "on a one-dimensional quest to get John Couey," Lewan said. The fallout from their single-minded hunt: questions. "Questions that aren't answered by this trial," Lewan continued.

The state has relied heavily on physical evidence -- DNA samples and fingerprints -- to make its case against Couey. Yet a number of fingerprints and other DNA samples on evidentiary objects were never tested.

"Let's talk about the four other people in that trailer and their complicity in this case," Lewan said. The trailer's walls were paper thin. How could they not have known she was there? he asked.

There is no evidence Couey entered the Lunsford house and took Jessica. There were no screams. No struggle.

"All we know is that Jessica was gone and the dolphin was with her," Lewan said. How do we know she didn't go out on her own? What kept her at Couey's house?

"Was it a locked closet door? A locked bedroom door?" asked Lewan, pointing out that no such locks were found. "Why didn't she just walk home? Why didn't she at least cry out?"

Lewan asked jurors how Couey could have possibly buried Jessica given the number of police in the area. He also told them they should evaluate the credibility of witnesses presented by the prosecution. All statements presented by jail guards "come from media exposure and their own imaginations," Lewan said.

"These are the questions that make you doubt," Lewan said. "And if that doubt is reasonable, you must consider them in your verdict."

-- Elena Lesley