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Onstott Admits Not Registering As Sex Offender

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By THOMAS W. KRAUSE and VALERIE KALFRIN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 21, 2007

TAMPA - David Lee Onstott, who is awaiting trial on charges he killed a 13-year-old Ruskin girl, pleaded guilty Thursday to a felony charge of failing to register as a sex offender, prosecutors said.

Onstott, 39, has not yet been sentenced but faces up to five years in prison on the third-degree felony, said Assistant State Attorney Megan Newcomb. He was scheduled to be tried on this charge Monday.

Onstott is a registered sex offender because of a 1995 rape conviction. He has been in custody since 2005, when he was indicted in the strangulation of Sarah Michelle Lunde. Onstott had an on-again, off-again relationship with the teenager's mother.

After Onstott's arrest, he made incriminating statements to detectives. A judge, however, ruled those statements will not be heard in court. Onstott had asked for an attorney and was not provided one. The murder trial is on hold while prosecutors appeal the judge's decision.

Prosecutors have no known physical evidence linking Onstott to the crime.

On Thursday, Assistant Public Defender John Skye asked Circuit Judge Ronald Ficarrotta to withhold sentencing on the charge of failing to register as a sex offender until the murder case is resolved, Newcomb said.

Ficarrotta scheduled a tentative sentencing for Dec. 3, the same date he wants updates on Onstott's other outstanding cases, Newcomb said.

Regardless of the strength or weakness in the murder case, the failure-to-register charge may prove to be Onstott's downfall.

David Parry, a defense lawyer not affiliated with the case, said Onstott has already served about 2 1/2 years in jail since his arrest. If he is sentenced in December to the five-year prison term, he would not have much time left on his sentence.

Once that sentence is concluded, prosecutors can file to commit Onstott under the Jimmy Ryce Act. According to that act, a jury can send a repeat sex offender to a secure treatment facility. The only ways he could be released would be if a doctor said he was no longer a danger, if another jury released him or if he was released under an agreement with prosecutors.

Parry said, if prosecutors were successful committing Onstott through the Jimmy Ryce Act, he could be put away forever.

Parry said prosecutors eventually would have to try him on the murder charge. When the appeal in that case is completed, the defense could request a trial right away under Onstott's right to a speedy trial.

'Theoretically, the state could not just put this murder case off forever,' Parry said.

Onstott also is facing trial on an escape charge he incurred after deputies at Orient Road Jail found a metal shank in his cell and a 7-inch-long channel dug in the mortar.

Judge Ficarrotta initially ruled that statements Onstott made to a detective in that case could be used in court because the detective read Onstott his Miranda rights.

On Wednesday, however, the judge changed his mind. Onstott, the judge said, had asked for a lawyer when he was first arrested. Months later, when he was charged with escape, he was still in custody and could not be questioned without a lawyer.

Prosecutors also are appealing that decision.

Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813)259-7698 or tkrause@tampatrib.com. Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin

@tampatrib.com.

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