Couey Murder Trial Verdict Expected Today

By THOMAS W. KRAUSE The Tampa Tribune

Published: Mar 7, 2007

MIAMI - After an emotional day of testimony that brought several jurors to tears, prosecutors and defense attorneys rested their cases Tuesday in the murder trial of John Evander Couey.

Court will resume this morning for closing arguments and jury deliberations.

A verdict is expected today.

On Tuesday morning, Steven Cogswell, a medical examiner, told the jury that 9-year-old Jessica Marie "Jessie" Lunsford suffocated after she was placed inside two plastic garbage bags. Her decaying body was pulled from a shallow grave outside Couey's mobile home.

As Cogswell offered straightforward testimony about body decomposition and the injuries caused by rape, jurors shuddered.

Mark Lunsford, Jessie's father, sat still and listened attentively. A tear rolled down his cheek.

One juror, a big guy who works as a hospital administrator, wore a tan V-neck sweater with no shirt underneath. A gold chain rested in some sparse chest hair.

When the medical examiner described the decomposition process and the state of Jessie's body, the man shifted in his seat.

He took a large hand - a fat gold ring on one finger - and rubbed his face. He pressed on the bridge of his nose, then closed his eyes.

Assistant State Attorney Pete Magrino showed the jury a picture of Jessie lying on the coroner's table. The big guy turned his head. Slowly, he turned it back. His hand covered his mouth.

The medical examiner's discussion continued; the big man wept. He wasn't alone. Several other jurors dabbed their eyes with tissues.

All the while, Couey played with a pencil on a sketch pad and didn't look up.

After the medical examiner, two Citrus County sheriff's detectives and three jail guards testified. While Couey was incarcerated and awaiting trial, all said, he liked to talk.

Detectives Gary Atchison and Daniel Holder said Couey volunteered information as they collected hair samples from him. Both testified that Couey said he would see Jessie in heaven someday and would apologize to her.

Defense lawyers suggested the collection of hair samples was a ruse and the detectives were there to improperly interrogate Couey.

Also Tuesday, jurors heard from several jail guards who said Couey admitted to the crime.

John Read testified that Couey admitted to going to the Lunsford house in a burglary attempt and, on an impulse, abducted Jessie. Couey said he had sex with her, Read testified.

Assistant State Attorney Ric Ridgway asked Read whether Couey described the sex.

"No," Read said. "I didn't want to know that kind of detail."

Outside his mobile home, Couey dug a hole and buried Jessie, Read testified.

"Did he indicate if she was alive when he started putting dirt over her?" Ridgway asked.

"She was alive," Read testified.

Defense attorneys called only one witness, forensic psychologist Robert Berland.

Berland testified that Couey is mildly retarded with an IQ of 64. That gives Couey the intellect of a sixth-grader, Berland testified.

He also has a form of psychosis, Berland said.

Couey was alone in his cell, with only the guards for companionship. Berland said the psychosis, the retardation and the isolation "propelled" Couey into saying things he would not normally say.

Under cross-examination, Ridgway asked Berland whether he thought Couey might have given a "false confession."

"I have absolutely nothing I can point to that suggests it is a false confession," Berland said. "I cannot say, yea or nay, based on psychological behavior."

If the jury returns a guilty verdict, the trial will enter a second phase in which it will decide whether Couey should spend the rest of his life in prison or die by lethal injection.

Outside the courthouse, Mark Lunsford said the trial has been difficult for him but that he keeps Jessie in his heart.

"I can walk away from here with the same image of my daughter as I did when I came in here," he said. "There's nothing in that courtroom that can change that for me."

Reporter Anthony McCartney contributed to this report. Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at tkrause @tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7698.