John Couey
| John Couey | |
|---|---|
FL DOC mugshot
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|
| Born |
John Evander Couey September 19, 1958 Florida, United States |
| Died | September 30, 2009 (aged 51) Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. |
| Occupation | Truck driver |
| Criminal penalty | Death sentence |
| Criminal status | Deceased (prior to execution date) |
| Conviction(s) | First degree murder, burglary with assault or battery upon any person, kidnapping, sexual battery on a child less than 12 years old |
John Evander Couey (September 19, 1958 – September 30, 2009) was an American sex offender convicted of kidnapping, sexually battering, and murdering nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford in February 2005, in Florida. Lunsford's disappearance and Couey's subsequent confession and trial received extensive media coverage. Due to Couey's actions, Jessica's Law was enacted in Florida, and the U.S. Congress created the Jessica Lunsford Act. A jury recommended that Couey receive the death penalty, and on August 24, 2007, he was sentenced to death. Couey died on September 30, 2009 from cancer before his sentence could be carried out.
Couey had an extensive criminal record that included 24 arrests for burglary, carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, and indecent exposure. During a house burglary in 1978, Couey was accused of grabbing a girl in her bedroom, placing his hand over her mouth, and kissing her. Couey was sentenced to 10 years in prison but was paroled in 1980. In 1991, he was arrested in Kissimmee on a charge of fondling a five-year-old child. Because of more lenient laws at that time, Couey was released early.
On February 24, 2005, the family of Jessica Lunsford discovered she was missing from the home she shared with her father and grandparents. Couey later was accused of entering her house through an unlocked door at about 3 a.m. He awoke her, told her "Don't yell or nothing" and told her to follow him out of the house.
In a videotaped and recorded deposition which was later thrown out by his Florida trial court (see below), he admitted to sexually battering Lunsford in his bedroom. The admission stated she was kept in his bed that evening, where he raped her again in the morning. It further stated Couey put her in his closet and ordered her to remain there, which she did as he reported for work at "Billy's Truck Lot". Lastly, the admission recounted that three days after he abducted her, Couey bound the child's wrists together with speaker wire, placed her in a garbage bag, placed the bag containing her inside another garbage bag and buried her alive in a shallow grave, where she suffocated to death. Because Couey had asked for an attorney before being interrogated but was not given one, his trial court threw out this statement as being obtained in violation of Couey's Sixth Amendment right to counsel and right to due process under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment.
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