Dammit...dammit...dammit...the cops screwed this one up!!!

[Sooner in Tampa]

This dude had better not get off because some a$$hole cops wouldn't play by the f*&king rules. :mad:


Although John Evander Couey told investigators he killed Jessica Lunsford and they captured the chilling confession on tape, a jury will not hear the recording.


“He said no less than eight times in 46 seconds” that he wanted a lawyer, Circuit Ric Judge Howard said, adding detective Gary Atchison and former detective Scott Grace also failed to tell an FBI polygraph expert of Couey’s request.

This dude deserves the chair...and don't wet the sponge.


She was found kneeling and clutching a stuffed animal, hands tied with speaker wire and fingers poking through the garbage bags in which she was buried alive in February 2005.

Story (http://tboblogs.com/index.php/newswire/comments/couey_confession_tossed/)

[Vaevictis]

Meh, this is why I think the appropriate remedy for misconduct on the police's part is civil and criminal penalties instead of exclusion. :/

(rather, I think judges should have a range of responses *including* exclusion, but that they should have other options in the form of penalties on the police. I think exclusion as the only remedy is a blight.)

[Okla-homey]

I bet he gets convicted anyway. The good news is the confession led them to the body which they might not have found otherwise. This won't be a big a deal over the course of the trial I bet.

[Veritas]

If he doesn't I hope someone with a Barrett 50 sees fit to rectify the situation.

[royalfan5]

I hope the officer suffers some conseqences from this. If you make a mistake that potentially allows a murderer back out on society, you shouldn't get to keep your job.

[jeremy885]

I bet he gets convicted anyway. The good news is the confession led them to the body which they might not have found otherwise. This won't be a big a deal over the course of the trial I bet.

If that was the case, the finding of the body would have been thrown out.

Here's what the DA said.

"Prosecutor Ric Ridgway said he wouldn't appeal the decision, but defended the deputies.

"If they'd have gotten him a lawyer and he'd never have talked, and she turned out to have been alive somewhere and wasn't found in time because of that, they would've been vilified here too. They were in a no-win situation," he said.

Lewan had also asked the discovery of Jessica's body be inadmissible in court because Couey told authorities where to find her.

A consent search at the mobile home where Couey was living turned up a bloody mattress, which tested positive for Jessica's DNA the day excavation began following the confession. Disturbed ground near a shovel in the yard was also suspicious enough to investigate after officers had already singled Couey out as a person of interest, Ridgway said.

"With (DNA results) they would've gotten a search warrant for the home," Ridgway said."

Sounds like the guy was nailed anyways, but good god, if he asks for a lawyer, then give him a lawyer. There's no excuse for that kind of mistake.

[MamaMia]

If that victim was one of the young ladies in my family, that monster would not walk out of any building a free man without getting a bullet between his eyes.

Like my Uncle Pauly always says, "Its much easier to whack someone on the outside."

[Okla-homey]

If that was the case, the finding of the body would have been thrown out.

Here's what the DA said.

"Prosecutor Ric Ridgway said he wouldn't appeal the decision, but defended the deputies.

"If they'd have gotten him a lawyer and he'd never have talked, and she turned out to have been alive somewhere and wasn't found in time because of that, they would've been vilified here too. They were in a no-win situation," he said.

Lewan had also asked the discovery of Jessica's body be inadmissible in court because Couey told authorities where to find her.

A consent search at the mobile home where Couey was living turned up a bloody mattress, which tested positive for Jessica's DNA the day excavation began following the confession. Disturbed ground near a shovel in the yard was also suspicious enough to investigate after officers had already singled Couey out as a person of interest, Ridgway said.

"With (DNA results) they would've gotten a search warrant for the home," Ridgway said."

Sounds like the guy was nailed anyways, but good god, if he asks for a lawyer, then give him a lawyer. There's no excuse for that kind of mistake.

Granted, but speaking just as a parent, I would want them to have a body to bury. Without one, its hard to reach closure and they never would have known for sure their baby wasn't alive somewhere and hurting.

[Sooner in Tampa]

Granted, but speaking just as a parent, I would want them to have a body to bury. Without one, its hard to reach closure and they never would have known for sure their baby wasn't alive somewhere and hurting.I cannot even begin to fathom what I would do if this had happened to one of my babies. :(
He dad is super strong--he has been a pillar of strength through the deal.

[frankensooner]

It is a big deal if the confession led to the discovery of the body as that is considered fruit of the posionous tree and would exclude all of the evidence therein discovered. However, the bloody mattress will do him in and lead to his sorry butt's conviction. (of course my Crim Pro edumaction was 16 years ago and the rules could have possibly changed) ;)