Ahem....there I feel much better
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.
Ahem....there I feel much better