Judge Stops Jury Selection In Lunsford Murder Trial
Man Accused Of Kidnapping, Raping, Burying Child Alive
POSTED: 12:21 pm EDT July 13, 2006
UPDATED: 12:41 pm EDT July 13, 2006


TAVARES, Fla. -- The judge in the murder trial of a man accused of killing 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford last year has stopped jury selection, because he said an impartial panel can't be found in the area.
Almost a dozen potential jurors were dismissed earlier Thursday, because they were exposed to publicity or other information about the case since the process began earlier this week.
John Couey is charged with first-degree murder, sexual battery on a child, kidnapping and burglary. He has pleaded not guilty
This was the fourth day attorneys tried to seat a jury of 12 plus four alternates.
Jury selection had already been moved to Tavares in Lake County, Fla., because of pervasive publicity on the case in Citrus County, Fla., where the crimes occurred and where Jessica's body was found.
Earlier this week, the defense asked the judge to keep the jury from seeing photographs of the girl's body.
Lunsford was found last year buried with her stuffed dolphin behind a mobile home, which was across the street from her house in Homosassa, Fla. She had been kidnapped from her bedroom weeks earlier. The day before her body was found, Couey told investigators where to look.
An autopsy found that the third-grader was alive when she was buried in garbage bags with her hands bound by speaker wire. The medical examiner ruled she died of asphyxiation.
The defense said the photos of her body are "difficult to look at" and would be prejudicial.
Meanwhile, prosecutors said previously that they were confident they have enough evidence to convict Couey.
The state's job to convict Couey was made more difficult when the judge ruled last month that his taped confession could not be used as evidence in the trial. Investigators had ignored his requests for an attorney.
But the judge did rule that prosecutors can still use the discovery of Jessica's body buried outside the mobile home where Couey had been living. He said they could also use a bloody mattress from the mobile home that has Jessica's DNA on it.
The judge had said that other incriminating statements he made later to investigators and a jail guard also can be used during the trial.
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