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Businessman to discuss Jessica petition

Mark Lunsford will join a jewelry store owner for a news conference today to review their push for changes to laws on sexual offenders.

By JORGE SANCHEZ
Published March 31, 2005

HOMOSASSA SPRINGS - The jewelry store owner who started a petition that calls for the overhaul of laws concerning sexual offenders has scheduled a news conference today to announce the changes that he and others want made.

Joseph Dawson said Jessica Lunsford's father, Mark, will join him as they seek to create and sustain public awareness of the issue. The petition drive has gathered more than 100,000 signatures.

The petition, called "Jessica's Petition," calls for sentencing reform, electronic monitoring of adult sexual predators and the death penalty for the most extreme cases.

"We want to end the petition drive, hopefully by Monday, so we can move on to the next phase of our agenda, which is to convince the Legislature to change the sexual offender law," Dawson said.

The news conference will be at 1 p.m. at Dawson's jewelry store, Jewels and Diamonds, 8275 W Bradshaw St., Homosassa Springs.

Dawson said the death of 9-year-old Jessica was the second time a young child with whom he was familiar was killed.

"Jennifer Odom was abducted a few blocks from my house," he said. "I didn't have the financial resources then to do much about it, but now I'm speaking for these little girls so there won't be a third."

Jennifer Odom, 12, from Pasco County, was abducted and killed after she got off her school bus in 1993. Her killer has never been caught.

Jessica was taken from her bedroom on Feb. 23 or 24, and her body was found buried on the property of a neighbor's mobile home on March 19.

John Couey, 46, a registered sexual offender has been charged in the case. Authorities say he has confessed to sneaking into the child's home, abducting her, sexually assaulting her and then killing her.

While the Legislature is already proposing the Jessica Lunsford Act, calling for stricter punishment for sexual predators as well as tougher monitoring for both sexual offenders and predators, Dawson said his proposal also has merits.

The Homosassa petition calls for broadening the definition of predator to include anyone who harms a child in any way, not just sexually. The petition also calls for a 10-point rating system for offenders, ranking them anywhere from "minimal minor sexual offender" to "very serious predator."

"We're not just a lynch mob out here; these are good ideas that deserve attention," Dawson said. "For instance, putting sexual offender on a driver's license. That wouldn't cost anything at all, and it would prevent sexual predators from working at schools."

Mark Lunsford is scheduled to attend the news conference and call on people to collect more signatures during the last weekend of the petition drive.

Meantime, the School Board on Wednesday discussed improving safety in the wake of Jessica's death. Specifically, the board considered a policy that formally would bar contractors from hiring registered sex offenders to work on school sites. The move comes after school officials learned that Couey had worked construction at Homosassa Elementary School, where Jessica was a third-grader. There is no indication that Couey ever had contact with Jessica there.

Staff writer Barbara Behrendt contributed to this report.

Jorge Sanchez can be reached at 860-7313 or e-mail at sanchez@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 31, 2005, 08:03:24]