Posted on 03/20/2005 7:36:50 PM PST by TexKat
Here!!!
This really has gotten to be too much.
I agree however our system is flawed. If you want to depend on our flawed system to protect your children, that is your choice. My community is involved right now in a fight against a sex predator group home. They want to build this home near a little league field, soccer field and a secluded wooded walking trail and homes. Because we have a flawed system we as parents must be as vigilant as possible. Know where they are in your community. Let your children know. In the meantime we need to fight for tougher laws and make our voices heard.
Note that I said castration "and" an implanted tracking device. I wasn't proposing to rely on GPS alone, its just for keeping tabs on the neutered slimeball.
Convicted sex offender John Couey sits in the Citrus County Florida Detention Center March 22, 2005 waiting to appear before Judge Mark Yerman for arraignment for the murder of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford. Couey was charged with capitol murder, kidnapping, battery, and sexual battery on a child under 12 years old. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin )
Bail Denied for Suspect in Girl's Death
By MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press Writer
LECANTO, Fla. - The man accused of kidnapping, sexually assaulting and killing 9-year-old Jessica Marie Lunsford was denied bail Tuesday on murder and other charges, beginning a legal process that the girl's father wants to see end with a death sentence.
John Evander Couey, 46, a convicted sex offender who sheriff's officers say confessed to taking Jessica from her home and killing her, had his first court appearance on charges of capital murder, battery, kidnapping and sexual battery on a child under the age of 12.
"This is an infamous case here," Citrus County Judge Mark Yerman told Couey during the brief hearing. "The acts you are accused of and the crimes you confessed to are really beyond words."
The shackled defendant, looking tired and downtrodden, answered a few questions, telling the judge he needed an attorney and had no assets.
Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy said he will urge prosecutors to seek the death penalty.
"I just want him to die," Jessica's father, Mark Lunsford, said Monday night on CNN's "Larry King Live."
Couey was arrested last week in Georgia and brought back to Florida and booked Sunday on charges of violating probation and failing to register his change of address as required as a sex offender. The additional charges were filed Monday.
Jessica, a third grader, was last seen the night of Feb. 23 when she went to bed after attending church. Her body was found early Saturday behind a house about 150 yards from her home, more than three weeks after she disappeared from her bedroom.
Medical examiners said she was sexually assaulted and died of asphyxiation. Detectives might never know how long Jessica was held before she was killed since Couey was under the influence of drugs, officials said.
Lunsford said he felt guilty that he was not at home that night. "We have to save our children from people like this," Lunsford said. "It's time to change some of our laws."
Lunsford said he will campaign to get stricter penalties and laws regarding registering sex offenders.
"They should be tagged, they should be branded," Lunsford said of sex offenders.
Gov. Jeb Bush said earlier that he was wary about such proposals. "We should be cautious about doing something that would expand the net so wide as to not accomplish the desired effect and get into a problem," Bush said.
I heard that report last night on Fox...that Jessica may have been alive several days after she was abducted....can you imagine...her knowing that her house was within shouting distance and the whole community was looking for her....that poor baby.
Posted on Tuesday, March 22 @ 10:30:00 PST by Director
INVERNESS, Fla. (AP) - The father of 9-year-old Jessica Marie Lunsford, kidnapped and killed by a man identified as a convicted sex offender, wants the suspect to get the death penalty.
John Evander Couey, 46, was charged with capital murder, battery, kidnapping and sexual battery on a child under the age of 12, according to the Citrus County Sheriff's Office. He was to be arraigned on Tuesday.
"I just want him to die," Jessica's father, Mark Lunsford, said of Couey on CNN's "Larry King Live."
"If you commit a heinous crime against a child you should receive the death penalty," Lunsford said.
Officials said Couey confessed to kidnapping and killing Jessica. Jessica, a third grader, was last seen the night of Feb. 23 when she went to bed after attending church.
Medical examiners said she was sexually assaulted and died of asphyxiation. Jessica's body was found early Saturday behind a house about 150 yards from her home, more than three weeks after she disappeared from her bedroom.
Couey entered the Lunsford house through an unlocked door and later sexually assaulted her, police said. Detectives might never know how long Jessica was held before she was killed since Couey was under the influence of drugs, officials said.
Lunsford, Jessica's father, said he felt guilty that he was not at home that night. "We have to save our children from people like this," Lunsford said. "It's time to change some of our laws."
Lunsford said he will campaign to get stricter penalties and laws regarding registering sex offenders. Lunsford added that not everyone has a computer to look up list of offenders and the lists should be readily available for all to see.
"They should be tagged, they should be branded," Lunsford said of sex offenders.
Gov. Jeb Bush said earlier that he was wary about such proposals. "We should be cautious about doing something that would expand the net so wide as to not accomplish the desired effect and get into a problem," Bush said.
Looking at the picture of this scum makes me wonder why someone has not already ripped him to shreads.
He's a puny POS...I wouldn't have much trouble whopping his a$$....Im sure LEO's would love to oblige us...sorry they can't.
I agree completely. Just shows you how much we really care about our children when we let this issue slip out of the top news sight. The Schiavo case is, of course, horribly tragic. But this child never had the chance to grow up, get married, or have someone take up the battle for her. She endured days of terror and fright and she died scared and scarred by this horrid man.
And almost at the moment after it was discovered that she had been murdered, the cameras turned to other events and voyeurestic programming. It is as if they only keep the "excitement" alive, when the victim is alive.
There is an Act now in the House of Representatives (the Senate has passed it) so that these sex criminals' names are maintained on a Federal database, and that mandates other controls be imposed on them. See post: SENATE PASSES NATIONAL SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY LEGISLATION (November 2004)http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1366638/posts
And now, in New Brunswick NJ there is a 14 year old girl (suspectedly sexually assulted) who is being held hostage. See post on FR for this just breaking story. Another poor child!
After he pays
Ahem....there I feel much better
Kill him.
Are you saying that YOU understand God's ways, or are you atheist?
I wanna vomit. I am sure that I'm not alone.
So that's the face of evil. It looks it.
ditto.
I hear ya, dad. But I will say this........if that was my little girl, I'd find a way to get to the sumbitch and feed him his spleen.
.....and yes, I'm perfectly serious, consequences be damned. Let's see what a jury of my peers would say....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.