A FATHER'S WRATH

By PHOTOS AND TEXT BY STEPHEN J. CODDINGTON Of The Times
Published July 15, 2007

Anger. Vengeance. Justice. These abstractions tumbled through Mark Lunsford's mind. Then a concrete reality would intrude: There in the courtroom was the small man who kidnapped and raped his 9-year-old daughter, Jessica, and left her to suffocate in a garbage bag, buried alive. This week a judge will weigh evidence on whether or not the killer, John Evander Couey, is mentally retarded or has the mental capacity to face the death penalty, as the jury recommended. Couey will be sentenced next month. Lunsford has examined his own conscience. There was a time when he wanted to kill Couey himself. He knows that's wrong and has come to accept that the system of justice, while far from perfect, is all there is in a civilized world; that he should work within the system for change, a national crusade to punish sex offenders. But for a man who drove a dump truck and now has his phone calls taken by movers and shakers, whose life has been buffeted by so many events, he still believes if there is to be justice, Couey must die.

See photo essay.

[Last modified July 15, 2007, 11:41:25]