Couey Trial Blog -- Day 2

Miami, Florida - 9:00 a.m. Defense Attorney Dan Lewan stood immediately when the morning court session began. He again today told the judge he was not happy with the four cameras in the courtroom (two television and two stills) and said it goes against the court's original order. The judge denied that.

The second motion the defense threw out was to immediately sequester potential jurors rather than waiting until a jury was seated because of pre-trial publicity. The judge denied that motion and said the court has got to try and seat a jury as is first.

The third motion by the defense was to continue or delay the trial based on their argument that John Couey is mentally retarded. Lewan argued the court is wasting tax payer money saying that if Couey is mentally ill he is ineligible for the death penalty. That too was denied. The defense then tried another motion to continue, that one based on what they say is a discovery violation by prosecutors regarding new evidence. Essentially several Citrus County Jail Guards say Couey gave incriminating statements to them while he was in custody. Those new witnesses were discovered in January only about a month before the trial was scheduled to start. The judge also denied that motion.

9:25 a.m. Lewan says he needs more time to prepare for the motions to suppress, which are scheduled for today, because he asked for logs from the Citrus County Jail and was at first denied then given copies but he says some pages are missing. He said he was very concerned if there are pages that were removed. The judge rules the court should not waste time so the jail guards will take the stand and testimony will proceed.

10:05 a.m. Guard Nathalia Windham is on the stand. She's testifying that during the time she had contact with John Couey in the Citrus County Jail on five or six occasions he brought up conversations about his charges. Prosecutors just questioned her trying to highlight that she was never ordered to talk to John Couey or get information from him, he simply opened up to her. Windham even told the court she warned Couey to be careful who he talked to and what he said.

The defense is trying to highlight that Couey's attorneys had already invoked his right to remain silent and have a lawyer present during interrogations. Defense attorney Dan Lewan is trying to show the parallel between the jail guards and regular police. Since police no longer could question Couey in essence Lewan is hinting that jail guards should not have been talking to the defendant either. Windham said she never interrogated Couey he just talked.

Testimony Continues.