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Facts vs. unanswered questions

Analysis: Prosecutors were expected to present a chronological, to-the-point version of the February 2005 death of Jessica Lunsford. That happened. What wasn't known was how Couey's attorneys would begin the difficult task of a defense in a case where the evidence seems so overwhelming.

By MICHAEL KRUSE
Published March 2, 2007

Prosecutor Peter Magrino holds the now-famous image of Jessica Lunsford during opening statements Thursday. Live updates from the courtroom Watch video of defense Watch video of prosecution Complete coverage
	[Pool photo]

MIAMI - In the opening statements Thursday morning in the trial of John Evander Couey, prosecutors were expected to present a chronological, to-the-point version of the February 2005 death of Jessica Lunsford. That happened.

What wasn't known was how Couey's attorneys would begin the difficult task of a defense in a case where the evidence seems so overwhelming.

The answer came quickly: The defense is at least going to put up a fight.

"A half truth," public defender Daniel Lewan told jurors, "is no truth."

Jury selection was slow and dry, and during the last two-plus weeks it was easy at times to forget what the trial is about. The opening statements were snap-back reminders.

Attorneys often describe an opening as a "road map" or a guide to what each side wants jurors to hone in on. They are not arguments. They are stories.

Veteran prosecutor Ric Ridgway is known for his unemotional, straightforward style, and he took 21 minutes to tell the tale that is so widely known.

He set a scene in the Lunsfords' mobile home. And he set a scene in the mobile home across the street where Couey was staying with his sister and three other people. Then he brought the two together.

Ridgway told jurors how authorities searched the mobile home where Couey had been staying and found a mattress with blood and semen.

How the blood was Jessie's.

How the semen was Couey's.

How the little girl was later found buried in two tied-up trash bags in the yard.

Ridgway focused on some of the images that make this case so horrific.

The purple dolphin that was missing from her room and found when she was dug up.

The speaker wires that were wrapped around her wrists.

The two fingers poking through the side of the bags.

The state stuck with the facts. The facts are plenty strong. No need for made-for-TV theatrics.

Ridgway did acknowledge "unresolved questions." How did Couey get Jessie from her home to his? How long was she kept in that closet? But there's a good reason, he stressed, Couey is charged with breaking into the Lunsfords' Homosassa home, kidnapping Jessica, raping her and burying her alive.

"The one man responsible for all of these acts," he said, pointing to Couey, "is sitting right there."

Then the defense.

Lewan, typically long-winded, in this instance was anything but. His opening ran 13 minutes.

He called a trial like this a "cornerstone" of the justice system, asked jurors to use their "common sense" and reminded them that it was the state that had the burden of proof.

He could have stopped there.

But he then laid groundwork for the case's fuzzy timetable, and for other explanations of what happened to Jessica, and for potential exploration of shoddiness in the investigation. This was done without too much detail. Just enough to put it in jurors' minds.

Interestingly, Lewan, not Ridgway, was the one who brought up the "admissions" of remorse Couey made to Citrus County jail guards: How did they get them out of him? Why didn't those guards record them in a log or say anything about them for more than a year?

Lewan told jurors he was going to argue that Couey is mentally retarded and that it contributed to the "admissions." That might be important in the guilt phase of the trial. It likely will be critical in a death penalty phase if Couey is found guilty.

The state, he said, is going to focus on the who and the what. "But I want you to look at the who else," he said. "And I want you to look at the when and the why."

Lewan also raised some of the questions that have been a part of this case for two years: How was Jessica Lunsford taken without her grandparents hearing or the family's dachshund barking? How did no one in Couey's mobile home see or hear anything? How did hundreds of people search for weeks and not find her when she was so close?

Maybe those questions don't have answers.

Maybe that was his point.

Michael Kruse can be reached at mkruse@sptimes.com or 352 848-1434.

[Last modified March 1, 2007, 23:27:35]