My heart breaks for Mark Lunsford….

Posted by Tammy on Jul 18, 2007 in Uncategorized | 3 comments

especially when I read stuff like this.

Dad to child killer: ‘My daughter has heard me cry’

(CNN) — Looking directly at the man who murdered his 9-year-old daughter, Mark Lunsford told John Evander Couey, “I hope you hear her cry as you try to sleep at night.”

“You will never hurt another child again,” Lunsford said in testimony Tuesday in a Florida court hearing where a judge will decide whether to give Couey the death penalty.

Jessica Lunsford, was 9 when she was abducted and killed. She disappeared in 2005 from her home in Homosassa, Florida.

His eyes fixed on Couey, Lunsford continued, “For 29 months, my daughter has heard me cry and begged God to stop the pain in my heart.”

Addressing Florida Circuit Court Judge Ric Howard, Lunsford pleaded for Couey to die for his crime. Then he turned back to the man who took his daughter. Video Watch Lunsford’s emotional testimony »

“I hope you see the tears at night when she asked you [if she could] go home. You will never hurt another child again.”

Lunsford spent much time talking about memories of Jessie Lunsford.

“I can remember when she was about 1 year old and would give me kisses and hugs and steal the raisins from my cereal,” he said.

“From bumps to bruises, from Band-Aids to bicycles, she was a tomboy with her daddy and a very nice little lady for her grandmother.”

There just isn’t punishment enough for this guy. And sadly, nothing that will take away the pain her dad will feel for the rest of his life. I have a daughter who is the same age (she was 9 when Jessie was abducted), and I just can’t look at pictures of Jessie, or read stories about her, without thinking of my daughter. I can’t imagine the pain Mark Lunsford is going through.

And to think that he’s trying to find a way around the system, by saying that he’s retarded, and didn’t know (or understand) what he was doing. Bullshit. He knew exactly what he was doing. Look what he told the cops when confronted.

Couey, a convicted sex offender, was staying nearby in a trailer with his half-sister. Couey kidnapped the girl from her bedroom and later, in a taped confession, admitted that he buried the child alive. “I went out there one night and dug a hole and put her in it. Buried her,” he said.

She was found wrapped in garbage bags, holding a stuffed toy dolphin, her hands bound with stereo wire. Jessica died from asphyxiation after being sexually assaulted, according to a medical examiner’s report.

And we’re supposed to believe that he didn’t know what he was doing, that he lacked the mental capacity to understand it. I don’t buy it, and I hope to God that the judge doesn’t either.

And I’m with Mark on this one….I hope John Couey can hear Jessica crying, every day for the rest of his (hopefully short) life.