Killer That Inspires Jessica’s Law Dies
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — John Evander Couey, a convicted sex offender awaiting execution for kidnapping, raping and burying 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford alive, died of natural causes Wednesday.
Couey, 51, had been ill for some time and died at a Jacksonville hospital where he had been since Aug. 12, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger.
“He murdered my granddaughter. He didn’t show any mercy to my granddaughter,” she said. “God took control of it. He took him out of this world. ... I’m not crying, honey. If my legs and feet would hold up, I’d go out and shout all over Citrus County.”
Citrus County Sheriff Jeffrey Dawsey, who oversaw the investigation, said his first reaction to Couey’s death was one of disappointment.
“I really wanted the state of Florida to put John Couey to death,” Dawsey said. “I wanted to be there to look into his eyes when they administered the serum.
“I guess this is nature taking its course,” he said. “And I’m satisfied with that.”
Couey died just over a month before the Florida Supreme Court was scheduled to hear his automatic appeal. He had an IQ of 78, slightly above the level generally considered mentally disabled, but the judge rejected an argument by his lawyer that he could not be legally executed.
Couey confessed to the crime, but his confession was thrown out because he did not have a lawyer present. Jail guards and investigators testified he repeatedly admitted details of the slaying but said he hadn’t meant to kill the girl.
Couey previously had been convicted of exposing himself to a 5-year-old girl in 1991. His criminal record also included 24 burglary arrests and carrying a concealed weapon.
Why does this story interest me? I wonder if this heartless murder could have been prevented had we not many decades ago stopped even considering the idea of institutionalizing mental defectives (His I/Q was at idiot level), rather than worry about how they might feel about being locked up?
I wonder what would have happened if after his first sexual crime, we would have forced him to be chemically sterilized? He might have led a better life and Jessica would probably still be alive. I wonder how much responsibility his relatives that hid him and excused his behavior should be held against them by society.
Anyway, he now faces Divine Justice while Jessica has known peace and joy since her untimely death. I do believe others should share his guilt!
