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Judge reminds potential jurors of basic tenet

Innocent until proven guilty is lost on some.

By JOHN FRANK
Published February 16, 2007

MIAMI - Jury selection Thursday in the trial of John Couey included a lesson in the golden rule of criminal justice: innocent until proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

"The presumption of innocence is serious," Circuit Judge Ric Howard said. "They don't even have to say anything in their defense. Do you understand that?"

A significant number of jurors didn't understand. They expected the 48-year-old Homosassa man to prove he was innocent in the death of Jessica Lunsford.

The problem is that the defense isn't likely to present a case at all. So Assistant Public Defender Daniel Lewan painstakingly probed this issue to expose any prejudice.

"If the defense doesn't do anything in this case, can you find John Couey not guilty?" Lewan asked each potential juror questioned on the third day of jury selection.

Six prospective jurors were dismissed because they said they couldn't be fair to an idle defense.

"I would like to hear from the defense," said juror No. 944. If they didn't say anything, "I would be surprised."

The question slowed an already delayed selection process. Only 12 of 36 candidates advanced Thursday to a second-round of questioning, which is expected to begin Feb. 26.

The three-day total now stands at 37. The judge is looking to pick the final 12-member panel from a pool of 75 to 100.

Progress is excruciatingly slow, in part because the case received so much pretrial publicity.

By contrast, a well-known death penalty trial from the Miami area is taking place two courtrooms away. In that 2001 case, a millionaire husband is accused of hiring his brother to kill his estranged wife amid a bitter divorce battle.

Jury selection started the same day as Couey's trial. But the judge in that case seated a jury by Thursday, court officials said.

Howard said he doesn't expect to have a panel for "many days down the line."

John Frank can be reached at jfrank@sptimes.com or 352 860-7312.

[Last modified February 16, 2007, 07:12:36]