John Couey, a 47-year-old convicted sex offender, gave a confession to the brutal rape and murder of little Jessica Lunsford, to the police. He told them where he had buried her, and they found her body. She was still barely alive when this devil buried her. She was found clutching her stuffed animal for comfort.
This deviant, evil monster had kidnapped, raped and tortured an innocent 9-year-old girl. But, during the confession, he apparently also told them that he wanted to talk to a lawyer. He had the right to ask that, and any interrogation must stop at that point. While I have not ever worked in criminal law (and have no desire to) this is a basic right of any accused. The police did not let him talk to a lawyer.
Detectives Scott Grace and Gary Atchison have testified that Couey's request for a lawyer came directly after Grace mentioned a polygraph test. They contend that they weren't sure if he wanted a lawyer immediately or for a later polygraph test, so they kept on questioning him without his talking to an attorney.
So, a judge just ruled that confession of a man charged with kidnapping, raping and killing this precious 9-year-old cannot be used against him in his trial. In the law, this is known as the “fruit of the poisonous tree.” In other words, everything that comes from (what turns out to be) an illegally obtained confession will be thrown out of court. This highest penalty is supposed to make the police be extra careful with questioning.
Defense attorney Dan Lewan asked that the discovery of Jessica's body also not be allowed to be used in court because Couey told authorities where to find her during the same confession. But the Court believed the prosecutors when they argued that investigators would have found Jessica's body anyway. Legally, that means that the discovery of her body can still be used as evidence. The argument that evidence would have been found another way (other than the confession) takes it out the “fruit of the poisonous tree” penalty discussed above.
Our rights to an attorney in a criminal questioning have come at a high cost: the innocent victims of crimes who are victimized all over again as their murderers and rapists may walk free due to the “rights of the accused.”
Sometimes, like in this case, I do long for the days of West — when the worst offenders were wanted: “Dead or Alive.”
But all our Constitutional freedoms are due to those God-fearing Founding Fathers and the deaths and injuries of countless soldiers on many battlefields. May God bless our fighting men and women.
