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Lunsfords File Notice To Sue Citrus Sheriff

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By Josh Poltilove and Thomas Krause of The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 21, 2008

Updated: 02/21/2008 08:46 pm

TAMPA The parents of murdered 9-year-old Jessica Marie "Jessie" Lunsford have filed a notice to sue the Citrus County Sheriff's Office.

The notice alleges negligence by the sheriff's office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Citrus County Commission during the investigation into Jessie's disappearance.

Negligence by the sheriff's office and the FDLE "directly and indirectly led to the death of Jessica Lunsford," according to the notice.

Mark Lunsford, the girl's father, declined to comment about the notice. He deferred questions to his attorneys this morning.

"I wished I could but they don't want me to say anything right now," he told The Tampa Tribune.

Speaking to the media this afternoon from his mother's house, he said he can't talk about the notice because all his focus needs to be placed on Jessie's Ride, an annual motorcycle ride from New Port Richey to Citrus County. The fundraiser takes place Saturday to raise money for the Jessica Marie Lunsford Foundation and Jessie's Place, a child advocacy center planned for Citrus County.

Lunsford and Angela Wright, Jessie's biological mother, said they will discuss the pending lawsuit at a press conference tentatively scheduled for Tuesday in Jacksonville.

Lunsford's attorney, Mark Gelman, said the evidence they're in possession of today, based on witness statements and trial evidence, shows there was negligence on behalf of the sheriff's office regarding the search for Jessie.

"There's absolutely no evidence against that," Gelman said.

He also said filing the intent to sue was a difficult decision for Mark Lunsford because he has formed a relationship with people at the sheriff's office.

"Mark really wants to set the record straight and wants the truth to be known about what happened," Gelman said.

Lunsford wants the truth known not just about the search for Jessie but about standard operating procedures for all law enforcement officers when children are missing, Gelman said.

At today's press conference, Lunsford said people need to keep providing funding for child advocacy centers. Asked whether any money from a possible lawsuit would go to fund such a center, he repeated several times, "Advocacy centers need funding." He would not answer the question directly.

Lunsford and his former wife filed papers in probate court Monday that set up an estate for Jessie. Gelman said that is standard practice when someone is seeking a wrongful death settlement.

At a news conference this afternoon, Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy called the lawsuit "baseless" and expressed shock that it was filed.

"There is only one person in this world who should be held accountable for Jessie's death, and that is John Couey," he said. "Jessica was dead before we hit the street."

Last year, a jury convicted Couey of Jessica's murder and recommended his execution. Couey sits on Florida's death row.

In 2005, when arrested for Jessie's abduction and murder, Couey told investigators that he molested her and held her in his closet for several days.

With investigators scouring the area, looking for the missing third-grader, Couey grew afraid to let her go, he said, according to a transcript of the conversation with authorities.

He said he made a decision.

Couey said he forced her to have intercourse, then he asked her to step into two plastic trash bags. He dug a 4-foot grave outside his trailer home.

"She was alive," Couey told detectives in a bland tone. "I buried her alive. … It's stupid, but she, she suffered."

While the trial progressed, Dawsy and Citrus County prosecutors said they doubted Couey's story that Jessie was alive for days after the abduction. They said they think she died on the night of her disappearance.

There was no evidence of the food Couey said he fed her and no evidence that she lived in his closet for an extended period, the sheriff said.

While officials and volunteers searched for Jessie, Mark Lunsford was under surveillance and investigation. In an interview with the Tribune this past year, Lunsford said undercover officers tailed him for several days.

Dawsy said he is disappointed by the parents' action. But, he said, he still may attend a charity event on Jessie's behalf on Saturday.

"It is for Jessie, not the Lunsfords," he said.

Pete Magrino, one of the prosecutors who tried Couey, said the announcement of a possible lawsuit was "rather disheartening.''

George Kanaris, who owns Emily's Restaurant in Homosassa Springs, where Couey worked as a dishwasher for 2 1/2 years in the early 1990s, said he wasn't expecting to see a lawsuit.

"It does surprise me," he said. "We in Citrus County are like a family. But like all families, money is the great divider."

He said Lunsford and his former wife should do whatever they think they have to do, but that he knows Citrus county deputies are hardworking people who care about their jobs.

"I stand by our sheriff's office and our sheriff and the deputies who go to work every day," Kanaris said. "This is America. You can sue for whatever you want. Everybody has to do what they think is right."

Lunsford said today he recently returned from Colorado, where he testified in an attempt to strengthen child safety laws. He says he spends much of his time in that capacity.

"Every time I testify somewhere, I re-live that month," he said. "I do it for the kids."

Asked how he feels approaching the anniversary of Jessie's death, he stood silent, his eyes reddened, as he thought.

"It's a hard thing for a parent to go through," he said. "It doesn't matter how you lose your child."

Reporter Josh Poltilove contributed to this report. Editor Howard Altman contributed to this report. Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tampatrib.com.

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