John Evander Couey Case

John Evander Couey was born to a 16 year old mother and he was her second child. Couey was abused at home and in school from an early age. Couey's stepfather once smashed his head into the wall for wetting the bed and another time, he nearly drowned him to 'teach him a lesson'. Eventually Couey was placed in a stable environment. He seemed to flourish. Underneath though, something was changing. Family members recall he was about 8 the first time he tried to sexually assault someone. Instead of calling the cops, the solution was to send him someplace else. At age 19, Couey had his first major incident with the law. He had broken into a house and attempted to rape a small girl. She broke loose and got her mother. He admitted he had problems and

He also indicated where the girl could be found. On Sunday, March 20, Couey was taken to the Citrus County jail in Lecanto, Florida, and put on suicide watch. Couey went to court and pleaded not guilty. The state stated that it would be pushing for the death penalty in this case. Couey was returned to the county jail and held there without bail On April 1, 2005, a grand jury charged John Couey with first-degree murder, kidnapping, sexual battery, and burglary. On August 11, a Miami jury voted 10 to 2 that Couey's charges were worthy of the death sentence and, in conformance with Florida law, on August 24 a Florida circuit court judge heard arguments for and against Couey's death sentence. The judge sentenced Couey to to die for the brutal 2005 rape and murder of nine year old Jessica Lunsford. On September 30, 2009, John Evander Couey died in prison of natural causes. I also agree with the results of this case. There was sufficient evidence along with Couey's confession that confirms his guilt. This man was fairly tried in court and sentenced to prison as he deserved to be. I believe this case is rather famous because the crime was committed in the same town that the girl lived in, and also because this case was covered by so much media it quickly became national news making it nearly impossible to find impartial jurors to judge the