The case for the death penalty

Prosecutors listed five factors in a court filing that asks a Citrus judge to impose the death penalty.

In legal-speak, these are called “aggravating factors.” A list is prescribed in state law and established in previous high-court rulings. Prosecutors must prove at least one element and show how it outweighs the contrary “mitigating factors.”

Chief Assistant State Attorney Ric Ridgway says these five apply to the Jessica Lunsford murder:

• Committed while engaged in a sexual battery or kidnapping
• Committed for purpose of avoiding arrest
• Especially heinous, atrocious or cruel
• Victim was less than 12 years old
• Cold, calculated and premeditated killing

“Even if only one of the five aggravating circumstances had been proven, that factor could far outweigh the mitigation present in this case,” Ridgway wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “The jury recommended the court impose a sentence of death upon the defendant. That recommendation is entitled to great weight.”

--John Frank, Times staff writer