While the prosecution blasted the claims that John Couey is retarded and mentally ill, defense attorney Alan Fanter held fast to these arguments in his closing statements.
He urged jurors to look past the horror of the crime itself. Consider Couey's traumatic upbringing, he said. Weigh his mental dullness and symptoms of psychosis. Why, as a society, would we put someone to death who is clearly mentally ill?
As Couey's "body aged, his mind didn't," Fanter said.
If jurors recommend a life sentence, Couey will never know freedom, he continued. "He will be told what to eat, when to sleep, when to go to the bathroom."
One way or the other, he will die in jail.
"Give him the opportunities he never had," Fanter pleaded. "Let him live."
-- Elena Lesley
Follow the latest developments in the murder trial of John Couey as compiled and reported by the staff of the St. Petersburg Times and tampabay.com.
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