Almost Halfway There. See You Tomorrow.
Posted Feb 15, 2007 by Anthony McCartney
Updated Feb 15, 2007 at 06:42 PM
6:15 p.m.
A long day at the courthouse has just concluded
It’s ostensibly the end of the first week of the trial, with selection of new jurors all but over for the week. Tomorrow, the jurors who have already been questioned will be called back in to make sure they haven’t learned anything new about the case since they were in the witness box.
There are 37 people in the pool. At the end of three days in Tavares, there were 58, and the process imploded, forcing the trial to be moved to Miami.
So tomorrow is a bit of a make-or-break day. If a significant portion of the jury pool is found to be tainted, new tactics will have to be used.
The court wants 75 people in the pool before moving onto the next round of questioning. To get that many people, jury selection is expected to take much of next week.
Prosecutor Ric Ridgway noted before the close of court that the longer jury selection goes on, the longer it’s taking to interview people in the pool
Monday, 52 people were interviewed, he said.
Wednesday, with the court working overtime, 45 were questioned.
Today: 36 people passed through the witness box. A third of them, 12, made it to the second round.
Ridgway wants the court to go back to a vary narrow vein of questioning – asking people only what they know about the case.
Howard disagreed.
“We’re going to increase in quantity what we’re going to lose in quality,” he said.
He’s also said the trial is a marathon, not a sprint.
The court clearly has yet to hit its stride.
Thanks for reading. Court will reconvene at 9 a.m. tomorrow, and I’ll be back to give updates. Check out my Podcast wrapping up today’s proceedings, and looking forward to what you can expect tomorrow. You can hear it here, or subscribe to it at iTunes.
Not Like Boston Legal
Posted Feb 15, 2007 by Anthony McCartney
Updated Feb 15, 2007 at 06:07 PM
5:55 p.m.
The woman is a last person to be interviewed today.
She’s an attorney, and Judge Ric Howard wants to get to know her a little bit.
When he finds out she’s a corporate attorney, Howard lights up.
“You do that stuff like on Boston Legal,” he asks.
“Uh, no,” the woman says.
“Oh, like LA Law?”
No, she replies.
The exchange is funny because for three days, he’s made it a point to tell potential jurors that the Couey case won’t be like Perry Mason or other television legal shows.
Something tells me he’s watched a few T.V. lawyers in his time.
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Catch 22
Posted Feb 15, 2007 by Anthony McCartney
Updated Feb 15, 2007 at 06:03 PM
5:45 p.m.
The man walks into the courtroom carrying a copy of Catch 22.
Joseph Heller’s novel is about bomber pilots who were stuck flying their missions, whether they were crazy or sane, because of an arcane code called Catch-22. If they feared for their safety and asked to be grounded, they were sane – and forced to keep flying.
The man, Juror No. 952, has been on a jury before. It was a civil case, he tells the judge with a heavy accent.
Under questioning, he starts out speaking machine gun fast.
He works for a cruise line. He’s heard of Couey’s confession.
That’s not going to be enough to get him tossed.
Since Judge Ric Howard ruled on Tuesday that prosecutors could introduce incriminating statements Couey made to jail guards, several new jurors who have been added who would have been disqualified before.
Before Tuesday, confession was the magic word to getting dismissed. Attorneys now have to probe whether a potential juror knows of statements Couey made to detectives – which are barred from being introduced at trial – or statements he made to jailers.
Juror No. 952 cocks his head and estimates when he heard of the confession. He guesses Couey made it about three weeks ago. That would put it around the time new witnesses and evidence came out, not Couey’s initial statement to detectives.
He’s not going to be booted from service yet.
He has one more thing that might get him out. He’s in school, and his classes start at 5 p.m.
Bingo.
After running into the Couey case’s version of a Catch-22 – his confession and knowledge of it – the man has found a way out.
He’s dismissed from the jury pool.
Answer for Karen
Posted Feb 15, 2007 by Anthony McCartney
Updated Feb 15, 2007 at 05:23 PM
4:57 p.m.
Karen of Tampa asked the following question yesterday, and I wanted to see how Couey’s reactions today varied from other days:
How is John Couey reacting to hearing the indictment over and over again? Is he showing any reaction/emotion at all?
Couey rarely shows any reaction in court. That’s also true when the four count indictment is read.
Couey is charged with first degree murder, sexual battery, burglary and kidnapping. (Jessica’s name is redacted from the indictment because she was raped.)
We’ve now had the indictment read before 10 groups of jurors – a total of 141 people.
His reaction is generally the same.
He usually watches the clerk as she reads the indictment. He often fidgets in his chair, twisting back and forth. He looks down at his lap.
He rarely looks at the jurors until after the indictment is read, and then only for a few seconds. They usually don’t look at him, either, although I’ve noticed a few people cast sidelong glances at him – especially when the rape count is read.
For the most part, Couey seems more attentive while the indictment is read than he does at some other times during the proceedings. For two days this week, he spent much of his time in court coloring.
Today, the colored pencils and coloring book are still on the defense table. Couey’s picked them up, but he hasn’t been as engaged with his coloring as he was yesterday.
Just a reminder—I’m always glad to answer questions. You can either post them as a comment, or e-mail me (as Karen did) and I’ll get an answer as soon as possible.
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Lunsford Outraged By Couey Doodling
Posted Feb 15, 2007 by Samara Sodos
Updated Feb 15, 2007 at 04:38 PM
4:21 p.m.
News Channel 8 Viewer Keenan Kelly was kind enough to send well wishes and asked these questions:
Just out of curiosity, what is the general reaction of everyone watching him color in his book. From the point of view of seeing it on t.v., it clearly looks like a feeble attempt by his attorneys to paint him as a poor mentally disabled guy. No one in the viewing audience is buying it though. But whats your feel on how its being percieved in the courtroom. Is it as obvious there as well ? Also, is Jessica’s father there?
There is some outrage about Couey drawing. Some people I’ve talked to in and around the courthouse say that it’s ridiculous and not a coincidence that on the day his lawyers tried to argue he is mentally retarded, he is suddenly playing with colored pencils. Some feel it is insulting to the whole process. I spoke with Mark Lunsford today by phone. He said Couey’s coloring is a “mockery of the system.” He is not here in Miami yet and isn’t expected to be here until the court is further along into jury selection.
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Three More
Posted Feb 15, 2007 by Anthony McCartney
Updated Feb 15, 2007 at 03:45 PM
3:36 p.m.
The afternoon round of questioning has netted the jury pool three more people. We’ve now got 33 people who have survived the first round of questioning.
It’s looking like only about 30 jurors will be questioned today. The questioning today has been even more thorough, and has seen the judge and attorneys probing people’s knowledge of the legal system, as well as what they know about the case.
There will no initial questioning of jurors tomorrow. There is a drug court graduation in Courtroom 4-1, and Judge Ric Howard has said he doesn’t want to disrupt that.
It looks like attorneys will be looking for at least 40 people to fill out the jury pool next week.
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No More Jessies
Posted Feb 15, 2007 by Anthony McCartney
Updated Feb 15, 2007 at 03:37 PM
3:22 p.m.
Jessica Marie Lunsford wasn’t the first child to be abducted and killed. She won’t be the last.
Tampa police are holding a program tonight that the department hopes will find missing children faster.
The Tampa Police Department and Syniverse Technologies are sponsoring a program tonight that aims to bring Amber Alerts to all wireless subscribers who opt in.
Tampa Police Capt. Cherie Adkins and a Syniverse Technologies manager will be on hand tonight at 6:30 p.m. to explain the program.
You can click on the Syniverse link above to get more info. Or you attend tonight’s session at the Police Athletic League, located at 1924 West Diana Street in Tampa. The program starts at 6:30 p.m.
In case you’re not familiar with an Amber Alert, it’s a system that puts out messages, mainly through the media, about missing children who are in danger. You can learn more about the program and its background here.
The program is named after 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped and murdered in Texas.
http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/news/C387/P4/