AchtungBono
Refugee
An hour ago I watched transfixed as the Florida court judge sentenced John Couey to die for the murder of 9 year old Jessica Lunsford.
I listened in disbelief which then turned to horror as the judge described in graphic detail how Jessica was abducted, held captive and then buried alive.
Couey lied to Jessica, told her that he was taking her back home, told her to get into a plastic bag. He tied her wrists with wire, put her in the bag with her stuffed dolphin and then knotted over her head. He then place another bag over her head and knotted it on the bottom. After digging a hole, he placed her in it...still alive....and very slowly shoveled the dirt over the bags - leaving her alone to slowly suffocate.
What were her last thoughts as the oxygen supply slowly ran out? Was she hoping someone would find her? Was she thinking about the mother she would never be? We'll never know.
What we DO know is that two small holes were poked into the plastic bags, indicating that Jessica tried to dig herself out of what was slowly becoming her living tomb.....but all in vein.....she died alone, in the dirt, in the dark.........
I watched the face of her father, Mark Lunsford, as one by one the judge read out the facts in the case. Mark Lunsford's face gave no sign of the inner turmoil he must have been feeling while sitting only a few feet away from this piece of filth who took his daughter's innocence by raping her, and then took her life by burying her alive. Mark Lunsford to me is a hero and truly a brave man to be able to control his emotions, particularly when the judge went into the details of his daughter's horrible death.
Before sentencing Couey (and I'm disgusted even to type his name), the judge also laid out the defence claims of "midigating" circumstances - such as Couey being born prematurely, born with floppy ears, and being abused as a child....to that I say to him: FUCK YOU!! Why should you kill a 9 year old child just because you were born with floppy ears?? Why should you rape a 9 year old child because your mother was 16 when you were born??? What does any of this have to do with what you did????
Tears rolled down my cheek as the TV screen showed pictures of Jessica smiling and laughing and I felt overwhelming sadness as I saw Mark Lunsford's face. My sadness turned to outrage when the camera moved to the lawyers sitting next to this vile criminal. It totally boggled the mind that anyone could even THINK of defending this abominable excuse for a human being.
So, in closing, John Couey will be taken to a Florida jail to await execution. Unfortunately, his death will be a lot easier than the death he inflicted on Jessica.
All I can say is good riddance to very bad rubbish and I hope this will give Mark Lunsford closure and a sense that justice has been served and his daughter's death has been avenged.
Rest in peace Jessica.
+++++
From the Yahoo News website:
INVERNESS, Fla. - A convicted sex offender was sentenced Friday to death for kidnapping 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, raping her and burying her alive in his yard.
John Evander Couey looked straight ahead as Circuit Judge Ric Howard told him he should be executed for the 2005 crimes that led to new laws in many states cracking down on convicted sex offenders.
Sheriff's deputies hustled the handcuffed inmate out of the crowded courtroom.
The girl's father, Mark Lunsford, teared up as he listened to the judge read a detailed history of the case for nearly an hour. He hugged relatives after the sentence was read.
Outside court, Lunsford had a message for Couey: "Skip all these appeals. Take your punishment."
The jury that convicted Couey in March recommended 10-2 that he die for his crimes, but the decision was left to Howard.
An attorney for Couey, 49, had argued that he couldn't legally be executed because he is mentally retarded, but Howard brushed aside that claim in a strongly worded ruling earlier this month. Mentally retarded people cannot be executed under a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision.
The jury convicted Couey of taking the girl in February 2005 from her bedroom to his nearby trailer, sparking a massive search. The third-grader's body was found about three weeks after she disappeared in a grave in Couey's yard, about 150 yards from her own home.
Couey, already a convicted sex offender when he committed the crime, was arrested in Georgia and confessed to the killing. That confession was thrown out as evidence because Couey did not have a lawyer present.
Despite the confession being tossed, Couey incriminated himself other times. Jail guards and investigators testified that he repeatedly admitted details of the slaying after his arrest, insisting that he hadn't meant to kill the third-grader but panicked during an intense, nationally publicized police search.
Prosecutors also had overwhelming physical evidence, including DNA from the girl's blood and Couey's semen on a mattress in his room as well as her fingerprints in a closet where investigators said she was hidden.
Couey has a criminal record that includes 24 burglary arrests, carrying a concealed weapon and indecent exposure. He was designated a sex offender for exposing himself to a 5-year-old girl in 1991.
I listened in disbelief which then turned to horror as the judge described in graphic detail how Jessica was abducted, held captive and then buried alive.
Couey lied to Jessica, told her that he was taking her back home, told her to get into a plastic bag. He tied her wrists with wire, put her in the bag with her stuffed dolphin and then knotted over her head. He then place another bag over her head and knotted it on the bottom. After digging a hole, he placed her in it...still alive....and very slowly shoveled the dirt over the bags - leaving her alone to slowly suffocate.
What were her last thoughts as the oxygen supply slowly ran out? Was she hoping someone would find her? Was she thinking about the mother she would never be? We'll never know.
What we DO know is that two small holes were poked into the plastic bags, indicating that Jessica tried to dig herself out of what was slowly becoming her living tomb.....but all in vein.....she died alone, in the dirt, in the dark.........
I watched the face of her father, Mark Lunsford, as one by one the judge read out the facts in the case. Mark Lunsford's face gave no sign of the inner turmoil he must have been feeling while sitting only a few feet away from this piece of filth who took his daughter's innocence by raping her, and then took her life by burying her alive. Mark Lunsford to me is a hero and truly a brave man to be able to control his emotions, particularly when the judge went into the details of his daughter's horrible death.
Before sentencing Couey (and I'm disgusted even to type his name), the judge also laid out the defence claims of "midigating" circumstances - such as Couey being born prematurely, born with floppy ears, and being abused as a child....to that I say to him: FUCK YOU!! Why should you kill a 9 year old child just because you were born with floppy ears?? Why should you rape a 9 year old child because your mother was 16 when you were born??? What does any of this have to do with what you did????
Tears rolled down my cheek as the TV screen showed pictures of Jessica smiling and laughing and I felt overwhelming sadness as I saw Mark Lunsford's face. My sadness turned to outrage when the camera moved to the lawyers sitting next to this vile criminal. It totally boggled the mind that anyone could even THINK of defending this abominable excuse for a human being.
So, in closing, John Couey will be taken to a Florida jail to await execution. Unfortunately, his death will be a lot easier than the death he inflicted on Jessica.
All I can say is good riddance to very bad rubbish and I hope this will give Mark Lunsford closure and a sense that justice has been served and his daughter's death has been avenged.
Rest in peace Jessica.
+++++
From the Yahoo News website:
INVERNESS, Fla. - A convicted sex offender was sentenced Friday to death for kidnapping 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, raping her and burying her alive in his yard.
John Evander Couey looked straight ahead as Circuit Judge Ric Howard told him he should be executed for the 2005 crimes that led to new laws in many states cracking down on convicted sex offenders.
Sheriff's deputies hustled the handcuffed inmate out of the crowded courtroom.
The girl's father, Mark Lunsford, teared up as he listened to the judge read a detailed history of the case for nearly an hour. He hugged relatives after the sentence was read.
Outside court, Lunsford had a message for Couey: "Skip all these appeals. Take your punishment."
The jury that convicted Couey in March recommended 10-2 that he die for his crimes, but the decision was left to Howard.
An attorney for Couey, 49, had argued that he couldn't legally be executed because he is mentally retarded, but Howard brushed aside that claim in a strongly worded ruling earlier this month. Mentally retarded people cannot be executed under a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision.
The jury convicted Couey of taking the girl in February 2005 from her bedroom to his nearby trailer, sparking a massive search. The third-grader's body was found about three weeks after she disappeared in a grave in Couey's yard, about 150 yards from her own home.
Couey, already a convicted sex offender when he committed the crime, was arrested in Georgia and confessed to the killing. That confession was thrown out as evidence because Couey did not have a lawyer present.
Despite the confession being tossed, Couey incriminated himself other times. Jail guards and investigators testified that he repeatedly admitted details of the slaying after his arrest, insisting that he hadn't meant to kill the third-grader but panicked during an intense, nationally publicized police search.
Prosecutors also had overwhelming physical evidence, including DNA from the girl's blood and Couey's semen on a mattress in his room as well as her fingerprints in a closet where investigators said she was hidden.
Couey has a criminal record that includes 24 burglary arrests, carrying a concealed weapon and indecent exposure. He was designated a sex offender for exposing himself to a 5-year-old girl in 1991.
That is so sad, but at least her family found justice 
ray: I´m not a bigt fan of Death sentence but... I don´t know...
