3-20-2008 Florida:
INVERNESS -- The father of Jessica Lunsford says he's willing to drop his lawsuit against the Citrus County Sheriff's Office if the department changes its training procedures.
Mark Lunsford told ABC Action News this morning that the proposal has been communicated to the Sheriff's Office and that everyone has agreed to sit down and talk on Monday.
In a news release late Thursday morning, the Sheriff's Office said, "Although the Sheriff's Office has not been officially notified of this change by Lunsford or his attorneys, the agency is welcoming the message."
"We're relieved that no one will have to relive the pain of this event again in a court setting," said Sheriff Jeff Dawsy, via phone from out of state.
"Of course, we are still confident in our investigation and how we handled it."
The news release goes on to say, "Allegedly, attorneys for the shock jock (Bubba the Love Sponge) and Mark Lunsford worked together to come to an agreement that would end the suit."
In February, Lunsford filed a letter of intent to sue the Citrus County Sheriff's Office, the County Commission, and the Florida department of Law Enforcement for negligence.
In a certified letter to Sheriff Jeffrey Dawsy, lawyers for Mark Lunsford spelled out his intent to sue for "harm suffered because of the reliance upon the express promise or assurance of assistance which was carried out in a negligent manner, which placed Jessica Lunsford in a foreseeable zone of risk."
The letter went on to say, "The negligence of (the) Citrus County Sheriff's Office and (the) Florida Department of Law Enforcement directly and indirectly led to the death of Jessica Lunsford."
Sheriff Dawsy denied any negligence saying, "There's only one person responsible for Jessica's death and that's John Couey...don't point the finger at us."
9-year-old Jessica Lunsford was abducted from her home in Homosassa in February 2005, then raped and murdered by 47-year-old John Couey.
Three days after he abducted her, Couey bound the girl's wrists with speaker wire, placed her in two garbage bags, and buried her alive in a shallow grave, where she suffocated.
The case gained both national and international attention.
In August, 2007 an Inverness judge sentenced Couey, a convicted sex offender, to death for kidnapping, raping, and murdering Jessica.
Following her death, Mark Lunsford pursued legislation resulting in the Jessica Lunsford Act, also known as Jessica's Law, requiring tighter restrictions on sex offenders and longer prison sentences for sex offenders. ..more.. by ABC News
Showing posts with label Lundsford Case. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lundsford Case. Show all posts
March 20, 2008
FL- Mark Lunsford may drop suit against Citrus County
February 26, 2008
FL- Jessie's Ride draws smaller pack of riders
Mark Lunsford, who may sue over his daughter's death, is cheered.
2-24-2008 Florida:
HOMOSASSA - A 9-year-old girl disappeared from her bedroom and was lost forever.
That awful fact, and the need to make sense of it, overshadowed all else Saturday, as crowds of well-wishers gathered in this Gulf Coast town to mark the third anniversary of Jessica Lunsford's kidnapping and murder.
Reconciliation seemed hard to imagine Thursday after Jessica's father, Mark Lunsford, announced he would sue Citrus County, the Sheriff's Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
He said those agencies' negligence led, directly and indirectly, to the death of his daughter. Many in Citrus County - including Sheriff Jeff Dawsy, whom Lunsford once praised for finding and arresting her killer - said the lawsuit came as a crushing surprise.
But on Saturday the two men shook hands, chatted quietly for a moment, and then asked the crowd to join them in protecting children from abuse.
"My feelings will never change," Dawsy told the St. Petersburg Times, saying he would always identify with Lunsford's loss. "I know what they went through."
True, fewer motorcyclists showed up this year for Jessie's Ride, a trek from Pasco to Citrus counties that saw more than 4,000 riders last year. On Saturday there were 487 registered participants, said Warren Hill, manager of Harley-Davidson of Crystal River.
But those who came cheered enthusiastically as Lunsford, Dawsy and others asked for support in raising funds to build Jessie's Place, a planned child advocacy center.
"It's all about pulling people together for the kids," Lunsford said. "That's the only reason we're here."
Rep. Ginnie Brown-Waite said Lunsford's efforts helped change minds in Washington and influenced passage of the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which stiffened penalties for those convicted of sexual or violent crimes against children.
John Couey, a convicted sex offender, was sentenced to death in August for the rape and murder of Jessica, who was found dead in a shallow grave three weeks after her disappearance.
There was little mention Saturday of the lawsuit, which is expected to be discussed at a Tuesday news conference. Lunsford would say only that it was necessary to fix the system and prevent future crimes.
"I have to do everything I can to get the changes we need," he told the Times.
A few in the crowd following Jessie's Ride said the lawsuit had changed their feelings toward Lunsford, and one woman was ejected from the event by police after angrily questioning him and saying "the people of Citrus County want an answer."
But others said the lawsuit shouldn't be allowed to overshadow the atrocity of Jessica's killing.
"We're here for this one reason," said Claire Miller of Port Richey as her husband, Mike, nodded in agreement. "And that's Jessie." ..more.. by Tom Marshall can be reached at tmarshall@sptimes.com or 352 848-1431.
FL- Lunsford, Attorney Air Suit's Reasoning
2-25-2008 Florida:
TAMPA - The Citrus County sheriff "doesn't know about the problems" that prevented finding 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford before it was too late, her father, Mark Lunsford, said in explaining Monday why he intends to sue the office for negligence.
Last week, Sheriff Jeff Dawsy said that Lunsford had sent him a notice of his lawsuit, which is required at least six months before a suit is filed against a government agency. Dawsy said that any claim his office was negligent is unfounded, and that he was shocked.
"I know Jeff Dawsy. I like Jeff Dawsy," Lunsford said Monday. "But he doesn't know about the problems in his office. And there are problems, problems that could have prevented a death."
Lunsford said that he and Dawsy were never friends, and what viewers saw on television about the investigation and murder trial was mostly politics.
"This is the guy who heckled me when I wanted to run for office. I've never sat and had lunch with my sheriff. He doesn't come to my house and visit with my mom and dad," Lunsford said.
A phone call seeking comment from Dawsy was not returned.
Appearing Monday on "The O'Reilly Factor" on Fox News, attorneys for Lunsford asserted that investigators went four times to John Couey's house in the days after Jessica disappeared, but did not search inside. Investigators, they say, didn't act quickly enough on suspicions about him.
Couey, a sexual offender, was ultimately convicted of the killing of Jessica "Jessie" Lunsford and sentenced to death.
Before the televised appearance Monday, attorney Mark Gelman said the sheriff's office did not execute a thorough door-to-door search in the neighborhood where the girl disappeared.
"Deputies went to Couey's house four times in the first two days after she disappeared," he said.
Gelman said sheriff's office records show witnesses reported suspicious activity at the trailer where Couey lived at 6647 Snowbird Lane, but it was ignored, he said.
One of the reports was called in by a neighbor on Feb. 25, 2005, one day after Jessica Lunsford's disappearance, Gelman said. Gelman described this report as the "smoking gun."
"Why didn't they search? I have no idea," he said. "You're reading these reports and you just have to scratch your head."
On the television show, Gelman said that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement had contacted Dawsy about the sexual offenders living in the area, which included Couey. Dawsy, Gelman said, "knew Couey was living next to the little girl."
Interesting because Couey was not registered as living anywheres near the Lundsford address, now all of a sudden attorneys are saying he was?
Detectives focused on Archie Lunsford, Jessie's grandfather, as a suspect for too long, Gelman said, and manipulated the family to implicate him.
"They lied to Mark and told him that Jessie's blood was on his father's underwear," he said. "I don't have a problem with them looking closely at the family in a case like this but the way they did it was wrong."
The underware issue is new evidence, which if true, why did they never pursue that to a charge against Mark's father?
Gelman thinks Jessica was alive for at least three days before she died. "I think she was taken on the 24th and died on the early morning of the 28th," he said.
He said that forensics, Couey's testimony, and other testimony by Couey's roommates support his belief.
Gelman and co-counsel Eric Block decided to speak publicly for the first time on "The O'Reilly Factor" because host Bill O'Reilly has dedicated coverage to Jessie's Law, which aims to better track sex offenders and keep them away from children.
Gelman said it is possible Lunsford and his ex-wife, Angela Wright, may not follow through on the notice to sue, but it's not likely.
"I don't know in the history of Florida if any intent-to-sue notice has gotten this much attention," he said. "This is not about the money; this is about truth and accountability." ..more.. by Samara Sodos of News Channel 8 and Thomas W. Krause of The Tampa Tribune
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