Judge orders death for Couey

INVERNESS - A judge sentenced John Couey to death today for the 2005 kidnap, rape and murder of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford.

Citrus Circuit Judge Ric Howard's sentence followed the recommendation of a Miami jury this spring.

Defense attorneys argued in July that Couey, 49, should not be executed because he is mentally retarded. But Howard was not convinced, declaring Couey eligible for death in a recent decision.

During Friday's hearing, he recounted the history of the case, from Jessica's disappearance in Feb. 2005 to the recent Atkin's hearing to assess Couey's mental abilities. Howard classified the crime as "HAC -- heinous, atrocious and cruel," and described how Couey had boasted of his sexual exploits to a jail guard.

Couey had "made crude, vulgar and repulsive comments," he said, emphasizing each adjective, "about his sexual experiences with a nine-year-old child."

Though he admitted Couey may have "some intellectual limitations" and a troubled past, Howard said such factors couldn't mitigate the crime he had committed.

Couey "crushed the very life and breath out of Jessica Marie Lunsford," he said.

Said Mark Lunsford after the hearing: "We won. Jessie won."

-- Elena Lesley, Times staff writer

Comments

[Jon]

This guy deserves death, and to that end if this had happened to your child you would want the same. I've personally taken care of mentally retarded patients and none of them would have to capability to plan out, execute, and try to escape after this crime. You have to realize that his only chance at saving his life was to pretend to be retarded, and that makes him even more a coward than he already is. Feel nothing for him, he is an animal, a cold, calculating predator. The mercy you feel is the weapon sex offenders like Couey used to get out of jail, and if correct measures were taken, this would never have happened.

[Cheryl]

I know this will not be a popular posting, but, as the mom of a son classified MR, I have to say this.

I feel for the family, and for the child. Jessie should never had to undergo what she did, no child should. BUT, the person who committed the crime is MR, and those classified CANNOT control themselves sometimes. Because of that, the states should be providing help, but they do not after the high school years end. My own son should be in a home, yet he is not. The state is broke (again), so there is no funding. This population gets no psychological help; they are constantly bounced around. They are then on the streets with no support.

Jessie's killer SHOULD be punished; life in a mental facility would keep him from hurting anyone else. It would also probably ensure that he, himself, is hurt. A lot of abuse goes on in those "homes" The cycle continues.

He supposedly "remembers" what he did; yet I honestly don't believe he "understands" his actions. It is this reasoning that made the Supreme Court ban the death penalty. If they honestly don't understand their actions, why should they also be killed?

I live in fear that upon my death, my son will also be unsupervised, or on the streets. America should be taking care of their own, including those with mental disabilities; at the same time America should be protecting the rest of us. Sadly, our politicians spend money on everything else, mostly raises for themselves.

My heart bleeds for both families.

A mom of a disabled adult.