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motaman
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Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say
#11159698 - 09/30/09 07:51 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say
(CNN) -- A Florida death-row inmate convicted of abducting and murdering 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford in 2005 has died, prison officials said Wednesday.
John Couey had been sentenced to death for killing 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford in Florida in 2005.
John Evander Couey, 51, died at 11:15 a.m. ET of natural causes, a Florida Department of Corrections spokeswoman told CNN. He had been taken to a Jacksonville, Florida, hospital from Florida State Prison in Starke, Florida.
Because of privacy laws, no further information could be released by the Department of Corrections.
A source close to the case told CNN that Couey's death was not unexpected and he had been ill for some time.
"I never dreamed it would happen like this," Jessica's father, Mark Lunsford, told CNN. He said he never thought he would live long enough to see Couey put to death because of the lengthy appeals process.
He said he was sad when he heard the news of Couey's death. "To me, death is sad," he said. "But her death, Jessie's death, has been redeemed ... I'm relieved. I'm glad it's over with."
Couey was sentenced to die in August 2007 for abducting and raping Lunsford, then killing her by burying her alive. The girl was snatched from her bed in her family's Homosassa, Florida, home the evening of February 23, 2005, by Couey, a registered sex offender. Her body was found three weeks later, buried at the home of Couey's half-sister, who lived within sight of the Lunsford home.
The girl's body was wrapped in plastic garbage bags, and her hands were bound with speaker wire. She was clutching a stuffed dolphin -- a toy won for her at a state fair by her father, and which Couey allowed her to bring with her when she was abducted.
"I am not shedding any tears," the girl's grandmother, Ruth Lunsford, said on Wednesday. "I don't feel sorry for him. I think God said, 'John Couey, it's time to go.' "
"I don't feel sorry for him that he had to suffer," she said. "He didn't have any mercy on my granddaughter when he murdered her. I'm glad we didn't have to wait years and years for his appeals and execution, and the taxpayers no longer have to pay for him. I'm glad that God took a hand in it."
Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy, who led the investigation into the girl's death, told reporters he wished Couey could have faced the death sentence handed down by the jury.
"I know he didn't suffer the way Jessie did when he killed her," Dawsy said. "I'm sorry I won't get to look him in the eyes as he died, but I'm relieved to know he'll never hurt another child again."
Authorities believe Lunsford was kept for several days before she was killed. Her blood was found on a mattress in the home where Couey was living, her fingerprints also were discovered at the location. During the search for the girl, as authorities and hundreds of volunteers combed Citrus County, north of Tampa, police twice visited that home.
"Couey's timeline after he kidnapped Jessica Lunsford leaves open the possibility that she was alive, and in the house, at the time of the first and possibly the second interview," according to a prosecution memo in the case.
In sentencing Couey, Judge Ric Howard noted Couey became fearful of police dogs being used in the area in the search for the girl. He told Lunsford he was planning to take her home, but did not want her to be seen, and so persuaded her to get into a trash bag. He then knotted another trash bag over her head, placed her in a hole and shoveled dirt on top of her.
Jurors convicted Couey of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery on a child under 12 in March 2007.
Howard, at Couey's sentencing, brought many in the courtroom to tears as he discussed how the girl died slowly as her oxygen ran out. A medical examiner testified she could have been alive as much as five minutes, or even longer, before she lost consciousness, Howard said.
"He caused a slow, suffering, conscious death," Howard said of Couey. "Her only source of comfort during this horrific experience was her purple dolphin." Another horrific detail the judge noted: The girl was able to poke several fingers through the innermost trash bag covering her before she died.
The judge also noted that Couey made "crude, vulgar and repulsive" comments to police after his arrest regarding his sexual assault of the girl, and the judge quoted Couey as saying the media was blowing the case out of proportion -- "This kind of thing happens every day."
Lunsford's slaying sparked national outrage and led to stricter Florida laws regarding registration and supervision of released sexual predators, following a push led largely by her father, Mark Lunsford.
Although Lunsford's death was one of several that contributed to the passage of a federal child-protection law dealing with sex offender registration and other matters related to child sex offenses, Mark Lunsford said at the time of Couey's sentencing the law does not go far enough.
On Wednesday, Mark Lunsford told CNN he is a Christian and he believes he will see his daughter again.
In a jailhouse phone call before his sentencing, Couey told a woman described as his aunt he expected the death penalty.
"I kick myself in the butt a hundred times a day," he said. "Stupidity ... Just trying to figure out, I'm just asking myself, 'Why was you so stupid?' "
"Well, none of us are perfect," the woman said, "and the drugs didn't help any."
"No, that was a big problem," Couey said. "Drugs, alcohol."
Speaking after Couey's sentencing, Mark Lunsford referenced Couey's earlier comments in which he said that when he got to heaven, he would apologize to his victim.
"I have bad news," Mark Lunsford said. "I don't think you're going to make it there." He called on Couey to drop his appeals. "You want to do something for her, give your life for the one you took."
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/30/florida.couey.dead/
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cerebral gortex
Prying open my third eye.
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Re: Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say [Re: motaman]
#11159793 - 09/30/09 08:03 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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good riddance..
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the bizzle
the joke that no one spoke
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Re: Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say [Re: motaman]
#11159795 - 09/30/09 08:03 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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God decided to kill him.
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SleepyF0x
I bleed nicotine...
Registered: 09/23/07
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Re: Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say [Re: motaman]
#11159822 - 09/30/09 08:06 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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lock your fucking doors people.
-------------------- Everybody's a ninja...
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Chubba
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Re: Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say [Re: motaman]
#11159824 - 09/30/09 08:06 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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There should be legalised torture for guys like this, 24/7 for the rest of their life.
What a piece of shit.
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doom876
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Re: Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say [Re: Chubba]
#11159845 - 09/30/09 08:09 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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We shouldn't have even payed to house the fuck. We should take people like this and skin them, hanging their screaming bodies from buildings to make examples.
-------------------- Fight for a large loving government that can take care of its people, kill our criminals, and preform the huge industrial tasks our corporate overlords refuse(wanna greenwash me some more Exon?) Not this weak travesty that let millions starve and sucks corporate cock while failing at every turn.
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motaman
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Re: Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say [Re: motaman]
#11159877 - 09/30/09 08:13 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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It doesn't say in this news article, but other sources say he died from anal cancer. Go figure.
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UnholyChild666
I'M GOD
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Re: Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say [Re: cerebral gortex]
#11159895 - 09/30/09 08:14 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
cerebral gortex said: good riddance..
Quote:
Chubba said: There should be legalised torture for guys like this, 24/7 for the rest of their life.
Well people like him don't do well in prison in the states, not sure about elsewhere but here they get the fuck beat out of them constantly and raped too.
-------------------- "I am the Highest Power the leader of the pack" Actiavte My Dream Sequence Machine GOD of the hologram earth
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Chubba
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Re: Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say [Re: UnholyChild666]
#11159911 - 09/30/09 08:16 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Well people like him don't do well in prison in the states, not sure about elsewhere but here they get the fuck beat out of them constantly and raped too.
Over in Australia that are put in special prisons, have zero contact with any other prisoners and have very strict protection at all times... these people cost far more to the taxpayer then a regular prisoner.
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motaman
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Re: Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say [Re: UnholyChild666]
#11159913 - 09/30/09 08:17 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Well people like him don't do well in prison in the states, not sure about elsewhere but here they get the fuck beat out of them constantly and raped too.
He was on death row at Starke. He had zero contact with other inmates. Here in Florida they do their best to keep fellows like him alive until their punishment.
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Deltron3030
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Re: Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say [Re: motaman]
#11159925 - 09/30/09 08:18 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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he died in my town. i'm going to go look for his body and piss on it.
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Syle
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Re: Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say [Re: Chubba]
#11159935 - 09/30/09 08:20 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Chubba said:
Quote:
Well people like him don't do well in prison in the states, not sure about elsewhere but here they get the fuck beat out of them constantly and raped too.
Over in Australia that are put in special prisons, have zero contact with any other prisoners and have very strict protection at all times... these people cost far more to the taxpayer then a regular prisoner.
which is why they should be executed for the cost in pennies of a bullet. seriously, why do we allow sexual predators to keep breathing? they rarely mesh safely back into society and you constantly hear of repeat offenders. and generally, a sexual predators crimes escalate in the degree of violence every time they re-offend.
kill em. kill em all. we do it to dangerous animals who stray too close to our protected communities, men/women like Mr. Couey are nothing different than a dangerous and unpredictable animal.
-------------------- https://kenaisigh.bandcamp.com/ <- Just completed the 2021 RPM challenge for February - An EP in one month (5 songs or 20 minutes). Check it out!
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Chubba
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Re: Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say [Re: Syle]
#11159938 - 09/30/09 08:21 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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We don't have the death penalty in Australia
Last guy that was ever executed (hanged) in Australia ended up being innocent
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doom876
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Re: Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say [Re: motaman]
#11159948 - 09/30/09 08:22 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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But the death penalty in the US is so tame. You wait and wait, wasting our money until they put you to sleep. If you have 100% proof someone did it, or some proof and they are just a leech, we should saw them in half from between the legs, or use that Puritan punishment where they make you sit on a sharply cornered log with spikes above you so you can't escape by hopping, and your genitals become genetalburger.
-------------------- Fight for a large loving government that can take care of its people, kill our criminals, and preform the huge industrial tasks our corporate overlords refuse(wanna greenwash me some more Exon?) Not this weak travesty that let millions starve and sucks corporate cock while failing at every turn.
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motaman
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Re: Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say [Re: Deltron3030]
#11159959 - 09/30/09 08:24 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Deltron3030 said: he died in my town. i'm going to go look for his body and piss on it.
If no one claims it, he'll be buried in an inmate cemetery at Union Correctional Institution in Starke.
-------------------- http://heffter.org
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Chubba
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Re: Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say [Re: doom876]
#11159972 - 09/30/09 08:26 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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I think we should bring back extreme torture for crimes like this.
Someone posted a thread about the worst torture methods ever, the Brazen Bull took the cake.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazen_bull
If anyone is willing to risk that... oh god, watch out.
I believe detterants DO work if they are so goddamn extreme and brutal... lethal injection is painless.
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meatcakeman
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Re: Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say [Re: motaman]
#11159975 - 09/30/09 08:26 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
motaman said:
Quote:
Deltron3030 said: he died in my town. i'm going to go look for his body and piss on it.
Quote:
If no one claims it, he'll be buried in an inmate cemetery at Union Correctional Institution in Starke.
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/2351836/posts
Let's claim it and shit on his chest.
-------------------- 大开眼界
Hasta siempre, comandante.
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SleepyF0x
I bleed nicotine...
Registered: 09/23/07
Posts: 4,140
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Re: Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say [Re: Chubba]
#11160002 - 09/30/09 08:30 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
I believe detterants DO work if they are so goddamn extreme and brutal... lethal injection is painless.
actually i read an article that claimed the lethal injection process actually causes a lot of pain. it's actually like 3 drugs if i recall, the first one paralyses, and the other 2 do something else like stop the heart. but they've ran tests to see if they felt pain, which they did, but just couldn't express it.
for what it's worth...
edit. article here: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7269
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Chubba
Vape hungry
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Re: Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say [Re: SleepyF0x]
#11160020 - 09/30/09 08:33 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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It's not extreme pain though such as old school torture methods.
I would be happier to see the worst criminals hang or get the chair then lethal injection.
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Rocker232
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Re: Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say [Re: Chubba]
#11160026 - 09/30/09 08:33 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Chubba said: There should be legalised torture for guys like this, 24/7 for the rest of their life.
What a piece of shit.
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