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Video: Special Report | Sheriff’s Reaction
By SAMARA SODOS and JIM TUNSTALL
News Channel 8 & The Tampa Tribune
INVERNESS - Although John Evander Couey told investigators he killed Jessica Lunsford and they captured the chilling confession on tape, a jury will not hear the recording.
A judge in Citrus County decided today that investigators compromised that evidence when they ignored Couey’s repeated requests to talk with an attorney.
“He said no less than eight times in 46 seconds” that he wanted a lawyer, Circuit Ric Judge Howard said, adding detective Gary Atchison and former detective Scott Grace also failed to tell an FBI polygraph expert of Couey’s request.
Howard said there were two possibilities: “They forgot or ... they didn’t want (the agent) to know.”
“The inescapible conclusion is they chose to ignore it,” he said. “Such police misconduct ... is a professional violation of a bedrock of criminal law.”
Physical evidence obtained as a result of Couey’s confession, including the discovery of 9-year-old Lunsford’s body, will be allowed in court.
Judge Ric Howard
The interview in question occurred in Georgia, where Couey was detained. Those statements, the judge said, are off limits.
Couey, 47, was interviewed again in Florida, and those statements will be admissible, the judge said.
Prosecutors say Couey talked also about Jessica Lunsford in the Florida interview.
She was found kneeling and clutching a stuffed animal, hands tied with speaker wire and fingers poking through the garbage bags in which she was buried alive in February 2005.
Because the ruling admits evidence linking Couey and Lunsford, investigators said it should be enough to convict Couey of first-degree murder, sexual battery of a child under 12 and kidnapping. He faces the death penalty.
Jury selection is expected to start July 10.
Stay with TBO.com for developments.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Chris Chmura in Tampa contributed to this report.
Citrus County Screwed this case up from the start.They will be luckly if this guy doesn’t walk free.They all should be fired.
There are people who are upset with the judge but he made the right ruling for several reasons. He followed the rights of someone being held for questioning by the police and there wasn’t much he could do. It is better to make the right ruling now than to make the wrong ruling and have the whole case overturned later on appeals after a lengthy, expensive capital murder trial. Couey belongs under the jail until the final verdict and it looks like he will still be convicted. This sick man is no criminal mastermind and he left behind too much evidence showing he is the one responsible for such a horrendous crime.
Sometimes, unpopular rulings are made but it is better that these rulings are made to protect our rights afforded to us by the Constitution. We have many freedoms and I don’t want to live in a society where “storm troopers” can do whatever they want to get a confession. We must protect our rights. The confession may be gone but justice will be served in this case.
I think before anyone demands the head of these officers involved in the first interview, they need to remember one important fact.
They were more then likely operating on the hope Jessica was still alive somewhere and time was critical. I am sure this fact was the driving motivation for their continuing to talk with him even after he asked for an attorney. The judge, as previously stated, made the correct ruling in suppressing the interview.
I certainly have no fault with their action for trying to save Jessica’s life, or the judge for making the correct ruling. Just remember, nobody at the time knew if she was alive and hope would have had the detectives believing she was alive. Just something to think about before throwing these detectives under the bus, they were doing the right thing just like this judge did in his ruling.
This Horrific man will still be convicted, If by some one in a million chance he walks, Mr Lunsford among MANY other people will be waiting to welcome that filth back into society...prison would be much safer for a man who’s name still brings rage and tears to my eyes
As a mom of 3 girls I think he deserves the same fate he dealt out to that beautiful little girl...I agree with others here that the police were hoping to save a life NOT find her gone already!
I also am relieved that the judge allowed the evidence to stand. I was always under the impression that any evidence found under these circumstances weren’t allowed admissible. We should all thank our lucky stars that the judge didn’t see things that way and let this monster free due to a technicality! Although I don’t think that he could run far enough fast enough...Karma would catch up quick with his face all over the USA.
Let’s hope the physical evidence wasn’t screwed up the way the confession was or this guy walks....and this comes from a former (out of state) police officer of 21 years.....There is no excuse and I don’t care who attempts to justify it, 40 years of legal precedence demands these officers be disciplined......
I know that I’m not complaining. I
believe the judge made the correct
ruling. I believe Couey will be convicted, anyway.
Parker- Your right, my mistake. You still missed the point. Of this I’m not mistaken.
At the time of the questioning there was a chance that the little girl could be still found alive. If in fact the police had found her alive as they were doing their best to save her life!! Well I would imagine that all of these complaints about the behavior of the police would be silenced. If she could have been saved, it would be worth not having his confession to use in court against him. I would have done the same if I would have been in their shoes trying to save that little girl. And if all you complainers out there would try wearing those police officer’s shoes for a while, I think you would see things different. So what if the confession is thrown out? If she’d been found alive because of their errors in questioning, why they would be heroes for saving her life. I’m sure they were more concerned with saving her life than frying the scumbag. He will not survive a year in jail with the other inmates anyway.
Dominick Alesandrini,
Hate to break it to you Aristotle, its “espousing,” not espouting. Thanks for playing.
Had the police found Jessie alive based on this confession, would that make you feel any better about the way this was handled? These men and women in law enforcement are doing jobs everyday that most people couldn’t handle for even one day. While the error is regretable, we must remember the circumstances and pressures under which these officers were at the time of the confession, hoping to find Jessie still alive. The judge followed the letter of the law and did what he had to do. Hopefully justice will be served and John Couey will get exactly what he deserves…
I believe an eye for an eye Couey should die the same exact why he killed Jessie. I can beleieve things are thrown out because of screw ups butin all reality he knew where she was buried and he killed her.
My heart goes to Mark and the Lunsford family
To Jessie’s family and friends, I am sorry that you have to go through this. I thank Mr Lunsford for doing what he has to push for laws to protect my daughter and other children from monsters, like the monster who took Jessie away from him. The police did what they could to find Jessie alive. The monster was in GA at a bar. I don’t recall him being remorseful. He was smiling, smoking and drinking. Jessie was already dead and by chance he was caught. The police did not know that when they questioned him. I would hope that they would do everything in their power to find my daughter. It breaks my heart what Jessie went thru. I hope when this is all done that other monsters will think twice before hurting a child. I hope that Jessie and Carlie will be remembered for who they were not how they left us. I hope that Jessie and Carlie will be satisfied with the decisions and verdicts.
Denny Crane ... well put. This ongoing incompetence by these “so called” “professionals” (police) has GOT to stop. The law they broke is probably one of the first and foremost rules in the police officers handbook.
NO EXUSES ... fire them!! Or at least put them back on the street chasing crackheads and jaywalkers.
They are not worthy and should not be allowed to work in such an important segment of police work that they currently do.
They continually jeopardize the prosecuting attorney’s case by this less than rookie mistake, over and over again.
I want the man to suffer in prison the rest of his life. However, no matter if you’re the crackhead, jaywalker or murderer, due process is due process ... period.
Miranda v. Arizona 384U.S. 436 (1966)...has been in effect for 40 years with minor modifications to it. The basis of it has never changed. Once a defendant is detained and interrogated his rights have to be read. This guy asked 8 times in 42 seconds for an attorney, ON TAPE.
If this is the type of law enforcement that Florida produces than it may be time to leave.
If these officers aren’t issuing parking tickets for the rest of their career’s, they should be.
Again, we have people attacking this judge for properly doing his job. This
is the year 2006. We don’t just get
a rope. Blah Blah Blah? The police
MAY have made an error? Stephen
Colbert should read these message
boards for material.
Once again, the police bung it up. I’m glad that the judge threw out the confession. Since the police ignored proper protocal it’s better off not even in there. This guy stood in front of a court years ago for molestation charges and begged the judge for help. The courts put him back on the streets. This time there is such a ton of evidence against him....her fingerprints, her DNA in his trailer....not to mention her BODY in his YARD! Everyone is hoping that the best Couey will get is life in prison where he will hopefully be abused and attacked daily. Good move by the judge here....best to remove any stupid screw-ups by law enforcement that could possibly cause this guy to walk.
GIVE HIM THE CHAIR ON LIVE TV FOR THE WHOLE WORLD TO SEE. HE IS A NASTY OLD MAN.
I cannot believe how ignorant some of these responses are. I find it hard to believe that people do not know that when someone asks for a lawyer, all questioning must IMMEDIATLY stop. This was decided by the United States Supreme Court in Miranda vs. Arizona on July 13, 1966. There is no exception whatsoever. Any rookie police office knows this. The problem here is sloppy, incompitent, ignorant police work. Shame on these detectives, I am sure they knew better. This is not a bad call by the judge, to rule otherwise would be against the principles of the United States Constitution. These officers should be the subject of an investigation as to why they strayed so far away from the most basic police work. And before someone writes and accuses me of wanting Couey to go free, I just hope the detectives misconduct does not allow this to happen. This man is a monster and should be punished as such.
At the time of the questioning that was thrown out, I understand that there was a possibility the girl might still be alive, therefore the heavy handed tactics.
I cannot believe the irresponsibility of the police who investigated this case. What were they thinking? Apparently that they have free reign. Well they do not, nor should they. In countries where the police can do what ever they want people die or rot in prisons whose greatest crime was speaking out or looking the wrong way. Do we want that here? NO! That is why the Constitution was created, to protect all of us, even scum. That is why the judge had to throw out the evidence, because sooner or later it would be. Better to throw it out now then later. The police were not investigating at that time a minor crime but the disappearance of a child, who was found later to be raped and buried alive. A horrendous act! The People want, deserve, and need conviction of such criminals. Therefore, the police need to follow the law of the land so as not to let the guilty go free on some technicality that they provide. Shame, shame on the police!!!
Yes, this is America, everyone deserves fair treatment and Couey has rights. Yes, the detectives MAY have made an error. Yes, we have a judicial system with laws to follow. BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. In my opinion, Judge Richard Howard is a spineless coward. I am one of those “good ol’ boys” that was mentioned in previous posts. What Couey deserves is just exactly what he gave Jessica. Brutality, pain, fear, suffering, terror, and a slow death. Her rights were taken away by a sick pervert that should have never been on the streets anyway. He told them every detail. He told them where she was buried. The thing that I regret is that they did not use the same hole to bury his sorry carcass. Jessica did not deserve any of that, HE deserves ALL of that. Sure, okay, give him life in prison. Let the inmates deal with a baby killer the way that they always do. Couey will die faster that way than he will on Florida’s “death row” and won’t cost the taxpayers nearly as much money.
Leave it to the police, who are our ‘protection’ to screw up on something like this. No matter what, Couey will get his justice. Either thru the court system, or thru the inmate system. He won’t be safe in prison. They will have to keep him in solitary for his own safety. But that won’t last long as Florida has their own way to ‘allow’ things to happen. Florida has such a wonderful penal system.
I don’t know what else this judge could have done. There are years of legal precedence supporting this ruling. To
ignore the obvious avoidance of this defendant’s rights would have given
the defense a strong argument for appeal.(Yes, even guilty people have
rights) As it is, the prosecution probably has enough to earn a conviction. I hope so. We’re either
a nation of laws or we’re not. I
really don’t think that is such a high horse. I hope the guy is convicted after a fair trial and properly punished.
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Posted by DAVID REAM, DALLAS TEXAS on 07/03 at 09:28 AM
I am so glad im no longer a resident of the state of Fla, This is the exact reason why I moved to dallas to get away from all the previously convicted child molesters that are released and re-offending and killing innocent children. If thats not enough the police completely screw up the case they are now investigating. Good job fla keep up the good work!