3:26 p.m.

Prosecutor Ric Ridgway acknowledges John Couey has had a rough life.

“I cannot refute that his childhood was one no child should have to go through,” Ridgway tells jurors.

But he tells them that they’ve seen the real John Couey. Not the one who spends his days in court, coloring and drawing.

Not the one who’s supposedly mentally retarded.

“You saw the defendent’s adaptive function,” Ridgway says. He reminds the jury that a couple weeks ago, they watched Couey during a couple of interviews with detectives in Georgia.

“John Couey was not only able to understand the words that were being said to him,” Ridgway says. “He understood where this was going.”

He says that while the defense has put up several mental health experts, Couey wasn’t shown to be retarded until a few days before his trial was set to begin. He notes that Couey didn’t report having hallucinations until after his arrest for Jessie’s death.

He reminds the jurors of all the reasons Couey has offered for why he killed Jessie.

His sister didn’t love him enough.

The sheriff didn’t come and search his trailer.

“Maybe it’s Jessica’s fault, because she didn’t cry out,” Ridgway says, mimicking a statement Couey made to detectives.

“All the statements you’ve heard about where John Couey places the blame—nowhere, nowhere does he say it was because he was hallucinating.”

He concedes that Couey’s had it rough, that Couey has problems.

“Does the defendant have mental problems? Does he have mental issues?

“Probably.

“They’re not extreme and they’re not controlling him.”