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Lawyers ask judge to disregard statements

By TIMES WIRES
Published December 23, 2006

INVERNESS

John Couey's defense team filed a motion Friday asking a judge to suppress incriminating statements its client made to Orlando police officers who questioned him about an unrelated case shortly after his arrest in the death of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford.

Assistant Public Defender Daniel Lewan said the interrogation on March 31, 2005, violated Couey's right to an attorney and his right to remain silent, which were invoked formally in court papers filed nine days earlier.

Even though the detectives were questioning Couey about the 1985 homicide of a missing Orlando girl, the questions "could reasonably be expected to elicit an incriminating response regarding the Citrus County case," Lewan wrote in his motion.

Circuit Judge Ric Howard is expected to hear prosecutors and defense attorney's arguments on Jan. 5. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Feb. 12 in Miami.

Money approved for observation deck

The Southwest Florida Water Management District's Coastal Rivers Basin Board has approved funding for an observation deck at the Springs Coast Environmental Education Center on the Weeki Wachee River.

The basin board will cover $75,000 of the expected $110,000 cost; the remainder will be paid by the Hernando County School District, which staffs and maintains the center.

The deck had been part of the original plans for the center, but funds were not available when the center opened in 2005. The basin board contributed $780,000 toward the design and construction of the center, which includes classroom laboratories, a multipurpose room and trails with access to the river.

The center is used to help provide environmental education for Hernando schoolchildren.

Attorneys seek review of notes on Onstott

In motions filed this week, David Lee Onstott's attorneys have asked a judge to review prosecutors' notes and provide them to the defense if favorable to their client's case.

The Hillsborough Public Defender's Office is representing Onstott, 38, on charges of the first-degree murder and attempted sexual battery of 13-year-old Sarah Lunde in April 2005. In their motion, attorneys singled out two state witnesses - Lunde's brother and his teenage friend.

They said Andrew Lunde, 17 at the time, made untruthful and inconsistent statements to investigators regarding his activities and whereabouts the night his sister disappeared. He failed a polygraph, the motion stated.

[Last modified December 23, 2006, 00:26:12]