Court had recessed for the day in the Jessica Lunsford murder trial, and it appears to have been a productive day. The day opened with the statements from the prosecution and the defense, this is where each side maps out the case that they will present to the jury.
The prosecution talked about how they found Jessica buried in two plastic bags with her fingers sticking through the plastic. The body had been found just under the surface of the ground, the fingers poking through the bag point to the fact that she was alive when she was buried. She was buried in two bags, one that had been tied with her feet in first and the knot at the head, and the second over that with the knot at her feet. Her hands were tied with a speaker wire that was traced back to an antenna that John Couey had made for his sisters trailer. Jessica's blood found on Couey's mattress, which was mixed with his semen, and sexual trauma on her body consistent with being sexually assaulted are some of the key evidence against Couey. The prosecutor called the day Jessica disappeared the last normal day for her family.
The tactic of the defense team seems to be to acknowledge the nature of the crime and the acts that are being charged against their client, while asking the jurors to use reason. This goes along with the theory that the defense team is not going to attempt to show that Coeuy is innocent, but rather to save his life. This is a case that can be very emotional, you are talking about burying a little girl alive, and if the defense is going to have any success in saving Couey's life it is going to be by getting the jury to focus on the facts, and then attempt to prove the facts show that Coey is retarded. This seems to be the core of the defense strategy, claiming that Couey was mentally retarded, abused by the police and overwhelmed by the media and the attention that the case generated.
In a case like this there is always going to be emotional testimony involved, and in trial today a number of Jessica's family members testified on the stand to the events of the last day. Sharon Armstrong, a friend of the Lunsford family, took the stand and talked about what an easy child Jessica was and how she had been teaching Jessica sign language.
Jessica's father took the stand and talked about the last day that they shared together, the last day he would spend with his little girl. In an interview Saint Petersburg Times on Feb. 9th, he talks about how life isn't worth a damn now that she is dead. He says that people will never understand how angry he is because they can go back to their normal lives, and he can never do that. He has worked over the last couple years in close contact with another father and victims rights advocate, John Walsh, and has pushed to toughen laws against sexual criminals. Today he talks about watching TV with Jessica, the show Lost was his favorite, and about getting home and discovering that Jessica and the toy dolphin he had won her were missing. Dan Lewan only asked Lunsford a few questions about the time he got home, Lunsford and Lewan have had a contentious relationship in the past, and it could only be guessed the effort it took for a father to keep his cool being questioned in court.
After lunch the trial moves away from the emotional testimony of family members, and into evidence that was collected at the Lunsford trailer when the police arrived. Prosecutors believe that a screen with an 'L' shaped cut in it, is how Cuoey was able to gain access to the residence. Couey's sister Dorothy Dixion took the stand and talked about how she allowed the police to search the trailer, which is when they found the blood in Couey's room. She described how Couey had stayed inside the trailer when the police were swarming the area looking for Jessica. Dixion was originally charged with obstruction of justice relating to the case, but charges were later dropped. While she has emotionally denied that she knew that Jessica was in the closet, this is something that is still in doubt in a lot of peoples minds. Lewan, a defense attorney for Couey attacked her on this very point, trying to prove that she, or other members present, must have known that Jessica was in the trailer. She also tells the court that she would take Couey to his job, he worked at the school that Jessica attended as a construction worker.
Couey's niece, Dixion's daughter Madie Secord, took the stand to testify that she had bought Couey a bus ticket in her name to Savannah, Ga. Lewan asked her questions about the search of the yard and if she allowed the search and if she would have allowed a search of her home. She answered that she had allowed the search of her yard and would have allowed a search of the home as well if she had been asked.
Officer Love, and officer with the Savannah police department, was the first to interview Couey after Couey had been found at the homeless shelter. Couey in this interview denies that he had anything to do with Jessica's disappearance, at one point saying that he did not have her in his pocket. A tape of this interview was shown to the court, this is of course not the tape on which Coeuy confesses to killing Jessica because that will not be admitted into evidence.
Jessica's father Mark Lunsford attended the trial with his trade mark long hair and wrap around dark glasses. He was wearing a navy blue suit and had prepared for the hard wood benchs by bringing in a red pillow in a plastic bag. Sharon Armstrong, who tutored Jessica in math and had a close relationship with the family had such an emotional reaction to Couey being brought into the room that she had to be taken out for a moment. Armstrong was like a mother to Jessica, and had taken her to youth bible camps.
In a case like this there is always going to be emotional testimony involved, and in trial today a number of Jessica's family members testified on the stand to the events of the last day. Sharon Armstrong, a friend of the Lunsford family, took the stand and talked about what an easy child Jessica was and how she had been teaching Jessica sign language.
Jessica's father took the stand and talked about the last day that they shared together, the last day he would spend with his little girl. In an interview Saint Petersburg Times on Feb. 9th, he talks about how life isn't worth a damn now that she is dead. He says that people will never understand how angry he is because they can go back to their normal lives, and he can never do that. He has worked over the last couple years in close contact with another father and victims rights advocate, John Walsh, and has pushed to toughen laws against sexual criminals. Today he talks about watching TV with Jessica, the show Lost was his favorite, and about getting home and discovering that Jessica and the toy dolphin he had won her were missing. Dan Lewan only asked Lunsford a few questions about the time he got home, Lunsford and Lewan have had a contentious relationship in the past, and it could only be guessed the effort it took for a father to keep his cool being questioned in court.
After lunch the trial moves away from the emotional testimony of family members, and into evidence that was collected at the Lunsford trailer when the police arrived. Prosecutors believe that a screen with an 'L' shaped cut in it, is how Cuoey was able to gain access to the residence. Couey's sister Dorothy Dixion took the stand and talked about how she allowed the police to search the trailer, which is when they found the blood in Couey's room. She described how Couey had stayed inside the trailer when the police were swarming the area looking for Jessica. Dixion was originally charged with obstruction of justice relating to the case, but charges were later dropped. While she has emotionally denied that she knew that Jessica was in the closet, this is something that is still in doubt in a lot of peoples minds. Lewan, a defense attorney for Couey attacked her on this very point, trying to prove that she, or other members present, must have known that Jessica was in the trailer. She also tells the court that she would take Couey to his job, he worked at the school that Jessica attended as a construction worker.
Couey's niece, Dixion's daughter Madie Secord, took the stand to testify that she had bought Couey a bus ticket in her name to Savannah, Ga. Lewan asked her questions about the search of the yard and if she allowed the search and if she would have allowed a search of her home. She answered that she had allowed the search of her yard and would have allowed a search of the home as well if she had been asked.
Officer Love, and officer with the Savannah police department, was the first to interview Couey after Couey had been found at the homeless shelter. Couey in this interview denies that he had anything to do with Jessica's disappearance, at one point saying that he did not have her in his pocket. A tape of this interview was shown to the court, this is of course not the tape on which Coeuy confesses to killing Jessica because that will not be admitted into evidence.
Jessica's father Mark Lunsford attended the trial with his trade mark long hair and wrap around dark glasses. He was wearing a navy blue suit and had prepared for the hard wood benchs by bringing in a red pillow in a plastic bag. Sharon Armstrong, who tutored Jessica in math and had a close relationship with the family had such an emotional reaction to Couey being brought into the room that she had to be taken out for a moment. Armstrong was like a mother to Jessica, and had taken her to youth bible camps.
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