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Onstott Won't Face Death

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By THOMAS W. KRAUSE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 29, 2008

Updated: 05/29/2008 12:23 am

TAMPA - The Bay area was stunned by the slaying of first one young girl, then another, then another during a 14-month span: Carlie Brucia, Jessie Lunsford and Sarah Lunde.

In two of the cases, a murderer now sits on death row. But the man accused in the April 2005 slaying of 13-year-old Sarah just learned he won't be joining them.

Hillsborough County prosecutors filed notice Friday that they will not seek the death penalty against David Lee Onstott, a sometime boyfriend of Sarah's mother who was placed by a witness at the family's mobile home the night Sarah disappeared.

Attorneys involved in the case aren't talking about the withdrawal. Onstott's lawyer, Assistant Public Defender John Skye, only said the decision is good for his client.

But problems had been mounting for the prosecution, including a lack of DNA or any of the physical evidence that helped seal the other two cases, and a court's rejection of statements Onstott made to law officers because they did not get him an attorney.

Removing the death penalty as an option might be a way to bolster a weak case, said David Parry, a defense lawyer not affiliated with the case.

Prosecutors might be thinking that jurors would hold the evidence to a higher standard if the death penalty were a possibility, Parry said. Jurors, he said, might be more willing to convict if they do not think it will result in execution.

Onstott, 39, faces a possible sentence of life in prison if he is convicted on a first-degree murder charge. His trial is scheduled for Aug. 11 in Tampa.

On April 9, 2005, Sarah Michelle Lunde had returned from a church trip. She briefly spoke with her brother and his friend, who went out to get food. Two days later, her mother reported Sarah missing.

Her body was found in a muddy pond near her Ruskin home, anchored with concrete blocks.

Investigators immediately focused on Onstott, in part because of his relationship to Sarah's mother and a statement by Sarah's brother that Onstott was at their mobile home the night she disappeared.

Questioning Without A Lawyer

Over several days, Hillsborough County sheriff's detectives interrogated Onstott, who had signed forms agreeing to speak to them without a lawyer present. Then on April 14, 2005, Onstott told a detective he would not sign any more forms without speaking with an attorney.

The detective left the room but another soon entered, and Onstott made a statement. The detectives continued to interview him over the next two days without a lawyer.

Circuit Judge Ronald Ficarrotta ruled that Onstott's statements could not be used, saying the first detective had an obligation to tell the second detective that Onstott had asked for a lawyer.

Last month, the 2nd District Court of Appeal backed up Ficarrotta on that ruling.

What prosecutors have left to use at trial includes statements from Sarah's brother and spontaneous comments Onstott made to a jail nurse and a jail deputy.

Those statements have not been released publicly.

Death Sentences For 2

Sarah was the last in the grim trio of young girls slain across the Tampa Bay area in just more than a year.

On Feb. 1, 2004, a surveillance camera outside a Sarasota carwash captured the figure of a burly man snatching 11-year-old Carlie Brucia. Her body was found four days later in a churchyard.

Joseph P. Smith was identified as the man in the video. DNA from semen on the back of Carlie's shirt and tape-recorded jailhouse conversations in which Smith confessed to his brother helped solidify a conviction.

On March 15, 2006, a judge sentenced Smith to life in prison for Carlie's abduction and rape. He sentenced Smith to death for her murder.

A year later, on Feb. 24, 2005, Mark Lunsford opened the door to his daughter's empty bedroom. The Citrus County Sheriff's Office conducted a massive search over several days. Ultimately, neighbor John Evander Couey, a registered sex offender, became a suspect.

Couey admitted to investigators that he abducted 9-year-old Jessica Marie "Jessie" Lunsford, took her back to his trailer and raped her. When he was through, he dug a hole on the side of the home, placed Jessie into two trash bags and buried her alive.

Not unlike the Onstott case, investigators in Couey's case were chastised by a judge for ignoring Couey's request for a lawyer. His statement was thrown out.

Regardless, DNA found on Couey's mattress matched him and Jessie. Her fingerprints were found in his closet. Her body was found in his yard.

On Aug. 24, 2007, a judge sentenced Couey to death.

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

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