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Lunsford Prepares To Sue Sheriff's Office

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By THOMAS W. KRAUSE and JOSH POLTILOVE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 22, 2008

HOMOSASSA - The parents of murdered 9-year-old Jessica Marie "Jessie" Lunsford filed notice that they intend to sue the Citrus County Sheriff's Office.

The notice alleges that negligence by the sheriff's office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Citrus County Commission "directly and indirectly led to the death of Jessica Lunsford."

Mark Lunsford, the girl's father, declined to comment about his allegations of negligence Thursday morning, deferring questions to his attorneys.

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

Speaking to the media Thursday afternoon from the front yard of his mother's home, he said all his focus needs to be placed on Jessie's Ride, an annual motorcycle run from New Port Richey to Citrus County. The event this Saturday raises money for the Jessica Marie Lunsford Foundation and Jessie's Place, a child advocacy center planned for Citrus County.

Government agencies must be provided six months' notice before a lawsuit is filed. The sheriff's office received the notice Wednesday. Lunsford said details about a possible lawsuit will be discussed at a news conference tentatively scheduled for Tuesday in Jacksonville.

Asked how he feels approaching the third 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."

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

He also said filing the intent to sue was a difficult decision for 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 hopes the legal action will expose information about the search for Jessie and about standard procedures for all law enforcement agencies when children are missing, Gelman said.

At his mother's home Thursday, Lunsford said that 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, Angela Wright, filed papers in probate court Monday to set up an estate for Jessie. Gelman said that is standard practice when someone is anticipating a wrongful death settlement.

At a news conference Thursday, Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy called the suggestion of negligence "baseless" and expressed shock at the idea of a lawsuit.

"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 Jessie's murder and recommended his execution.

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, according to a transcript of his conversation with authorities.

Couey said he made a decision.

He said he forced Jessie to have intercourse and then 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. "I buried her alive."

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 last year, Lunsford said undercover officers tailed him for several days.

He took at least two lie detector tests, which were inconclusive.

Dawsy said he is disappointed by Lunsford and Wright's action but that he still may attend the charity motorcycle event 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."

"It's unfortunate that in today's day and age," he said, "that someone would turn around and file a lawsuit against law enforcement for doing the job they did."

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 news of the possible legal action surprised him.

"We in Citrus County are like a family," he said. "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 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."

Editor Howard Altman and News Channel 8 reporter Samara Sodos contributed to this report. Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tampatrib.com.

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