John Couey Murder Trial - #2 - Tampa Bay 10 Blog
Couey Trial Blog -- Day 1 Originally Posted on 2/12/2007 8:32:50 AM Last Updated on 2/12/2007 10:35:06 AM Miami, Florida - 34 media organizations -- including several national outlets -- have descended on Miami for day one of jury selection. There is main security at all the entrances to the courthouse you have to go through and specifically for this trial; there is another security checkpoint just outside the courtroom. State Attorney Brad King is here watching his team work. Ten Citrus County deputies are expected to watch over the courtroom. Court TV is here shooting all the video inside the courtroom. Journalists are sitting behind the prosecutors with laptops, feeding information and stories as they unfold. Defense attorney Dan Lewan is here now at 8:27. We are in the same courtroom Ted Bundy was convicted and sentenced to death in. All is well in Miami... it's not, however sunny Miami today... the rain has been coming down since yesterday evening. 8:40 a.m. Couey is brought in. He has a gray suit on. Defense attorney Alan Fanter helped Couey fix his coat sleeves. The murder defendant smiled as he received the assistance and seems to be in good spirits, laughing with his attorneys. 9:00 a.m. Judge enters courtroom. The defense objects to there being two television cameras being in the courtroom. Defense announces that they are not ready for trial and wants to continue the case. This is no surprise. The defense has done this before. Defense attorney Dan Lewan says prosecutors committed a discovery violation in regards to the newest guards that came forward from the Citrus County Detention Center. Lewan shows the judge stacks and stacks of new discovery that came out on February 11th. He measured it at 15 inches with a legal pad and tells the judge it's impossible for the defense to go through all the information. The judge asks the defense why it is not ready. The defense is saying too much has happened with the new guard statements being taken and is saying when the court appointed them a third attorney, that attorney was not around enough to help. Lewan tells the judge, "You cannot put nine women on a pregnancy and expect a baby." Lewan says he thinks that's the situation the court has put the defense in, pushing it to trial when the attorneys are not ready. Lewan says he will file a motion today with testing and the opinions of two doctors that John Couey is mentally retarded. The judge will make that decision. If it is found that Couey is retarded, he would be ineligible for the death penalty. The defense is telling the judge they were working ever since they heard about the newest jail guard testimony. Attorney Alan Fanter says he and the defense were not just sitting around they were working on the case the entire time. Prosecutor Ric Ridgway gives the defense jail logs in court today and says the defense is 90 days too late on filing the retardation issue. He is asking the judge why the standard test which measures mental retardation wasn't given months ago. Judge denies defense motion for continuance. 9:20 a.m. Judge says the jury will be sequestered after selection. The defense is asking for sequestration from the very beginning rather than waiting for selection. Defense attorney said a local Miami station was running the audio of John Couey's confession and that's the problem he's worried about -- these jurors might already have been prejudiced just by this morning's coverage. The judge stands by his first decision to keep the sequestration after selection. While waiting for the jury, the defense walked around the courtroom looking at the setup. 9:40 a.m. The first 15 potential jurors are brought in. They will be read the indictment and then asked, one by one, what they know from pre-trial publicity about the details of the case and any hardship they may face as a result of being on a sequestered jury. Sara Dorsey, Tampa Bay's 10 News http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=49040

Couey Trial Blog -- Day 1 Last Updated on 2/12/2007 12:32:54 PM 12:00 p.m. The first group of 15 jurors was questioned throughout the morning. Each of the jurors was asked questions about pre-trial publicity, knowledge of the case, and any hardship serving on this trial could pose because it's expected to last several weeks. The majority of the dismissals were a result of hardship. Only one juror knew of John Couey's alleged confession, which Judge Richard Howard has ruled will not be allowed into the trial as evidence. One other juror knew details about Jessica Lunsford being buried alive. Howard decided to delay the lunch break to keep going. A second group of 15 was called just before noon. Sara Dorsey, Tampa Bay's 10 News http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=49040

Couey Trial Blog -- Day 2 Miami, Florida - 9:00 a.m. Defense Attorney Dan Lewan stood immediately when the morning court session began. He again today told the judge he was not happy with the four cameras in the courtroom (two television and two stills) and said it goes against the court's original order. The judge denied that. The second motion the defense threw out was to immediately sequester potential jurors rather than waiting until a jury was seated because of pre-trial publicity. The judge denied that motion and said the court has got to try and seat a jury as is first. The third motion by the defense was to continue or delay the trial based on their argument that John Couey is mentally retarded. Lewan argued the court is wasting tax payer money saying that if Couey is mentally ill he is ineligible for the death penalty. That too was denied. The defense then tried another motion to continue, that one based on what they say is a discovery violation by prosecutors regarding new evidence. Essentially several Citrus County Jail Guards say Couey gave incriminating statements to them while he was in custody. Those new witnesses were discovered in January only about a month before the trial was scheduled to start. The judge also denied that motion. 9:25 a.m. Lewan says he needs more time to prepare for the motions to suppress, which are scheduled for today, because he asked for logs from the Citrus County Jail and was at first denied then given copies but he says some pages are missing. He said he was very concerned if there are pages that were removed. The judge rules the court should not waste time so the jail guards will take the stand and testimony will proceed. 10:05 a.m. Guard Nathalia Windham is on the stand. She's testifying that during the time she had contact with John Couey in the Citrus County Jail on five or six occasions he brought up conversations about his charges. Prosecutors just questioned her trying to highlight that she was never ordered to talk to John Couey or get information from him, he simply opened up to her. Windham even told the court she warned Couey to be careful who he talked to and what he said. The defense is trying to highlight that Couey's attorneys had already invoked his right to remain silent and have a lawyer present during interrogations. Defense attorney Dan Lewan is trying to show the parallel between the jail guards and regular police. Since police no longer could question Couey in essence Lewan is hinting that jail guards should not have been talking to the defendant either. Windham said she never interrogated Couey he just talked. Testimony Continues. Sara Dorsey, Tampa Bay's 10 News http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=49130

Couey Trial Blog -- Day 3 Visions of Lake County? After 15 jurors were questioned this morning and only one was chosen to move on to the next round of questioning I began to have visions of Lake County last July running through my head. There, after the fourth day of jury selection, Judge Ric Howard shut it down saying a jury couldn't be seated. On Monday, in Miami more than 50 jurors were questioned and only 14 were chosen. You have to give the judge credit for giving this the 'ol college try. He's taking a quick break and plans to call the next 15. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good morning, blog readers. It's day three in lovely Miami. Ok, call me crazy, but the people in Miami are really nice. I got about 16 good mornings on my way into the courthouse. It is always uplifting to be in a strange city and see smiling faces. The media circus at the courthouse continues, although this court hasn't seen anything yet. A lot of the media outlets are missing still, because of the Anna Nicole Smith saga happening in South Florida. John Couey has his sketch pad and colored pencils again today. I find that to be quite strange. He's never had that in court at all in Citrus County or anywhere else for that matter and now, all of a sudden, he has them during jury selection. You can't help but wonder if there is a reason for that, considering his defense is arguing he's mentally retarded. We may never know but it makes for a “colorful” conspiracy theory. Jury selection is expected to be run of the mill today. Originally Posted on 2/14/2007 9:03:02 AM Last Updated on 2/14/2007 2:19:37 PM http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/article.aspx?s=search&storyid=49209

Couey Miami Court Blog Day Four Miami, Florida -For three out of the first four days of John Couey's trial Judge Richard Howard along with lawyers from both the state and defense have been trying to find jurors who have not been affected by pretrial publicity and could handle the hardship of serving on a jury that could last several weeks. The courtroom is freezing and yesterday Howard gave some insight on that. He said warm room makes people sleepy that there have been studies on that and that the court does not need sleepy jurors. BRRRRR is all I have to say. Couey is back at the defense table today, and yes, he has his colored pencils and sketch book. The judge told the court yesterday jury selection could take another two weeks. At this point, this is just the first round of jury selection where potential jurors are being asked about knowledge of the case and hardship. If a juror knows about John Couey's confession to guards that is being suppressed they are dismissed. However, if they only say they know about a confession lawyers have to get more specific because the judge is allowing in statements Couey allegedly made to two jail guards. If a juror knows about those statements they would not be dismissed. It's 9:02 the judge just took the bench for another exciting day of jury selection. Originally Posted on 2/15/2007 9:26:38 AM Last Updated on 2/15/2007 10:34:06 AM

Couey Miami Court Blog Day Five Potential jurors for Couey trial questioned for second time Miami, Florida- The pool of nearly 40 jurors picked to move onto the next round of jury selection in the John Couey Murder trial returned to the courthouse Friday to answer more questions about what they've been up to since they last visited the courthouse. The court started later than than expected because two potenetial jurors didn't arrive on time. Through today's inquiry the judge wants to ensure the potential jurors, who are not yet sequestered, are following orders not to watch this case on television, read about it in the newspaper or online, or talk about it with family, friends or co-workers. Four potential jurors were released because weeks of sequestering would prove to be too much of a hardship. The court worked only a half day today because a Miami drug court graduation is scheduled in the courtroom later in the afternoon. There is no court on Monday because of the Presidents' Day holiday. Originally Posted on 2/16/2007 9:13:04 AM Last Updated on 2/16/2007 12:38:36 PM http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/article.aspx?s=search&storyid=49346