Resolute father pushes 'Jessica's Law'

Four states have stricter laws against child sex offenders

By TONY RIZZO
The Kansas City Star

Mark Lunsford is a quiet man by nature.

But the terrible crime committed against his 9-year-old daughter, Jessica, has given him a voice that is hard to ignore. He has done in Florida, Alabama, Louisiana and Arizona, Lunsford came to Kansas to push for longer sentences and stricter monitoring of criminals who commit sex crimes against children.

The measures, known as 'Jessica's Law,' have passed in those four states, and some Kansas officials hope Lunsford will spur similar action in Kansas.

On Tuesday, Lunsford spoke to a 29-member task force that Kline assembled to study and propose changes to the state's child sex laws and sex offender registration requirements.

The man charged with kidnapping, sexually assaulting and killing Jessica earlier this year in Florida was a career criminal who flouted that state's sex offender registration law.

Snatched from her bed in the night, Jessica was kept hostage several days before being placed alive in a plastic trash bag and buried clutching a stuffed dolphin her father had given her, according to allegations in the case.

John Couey is charged with capital murder in her death. As a previously convicted sex offender, he was required to register with authorities.

But he registered at an address different from where he lived - with relatives across the street from the Lunsfords. He also worked at Jessica's school.

Within weeks of her murder, and the killing of another Florida child by another registered sex offender, lawmakers in Florida unanimously passed the Jessica Lunsford Act, which Gov. Jeb Bush signed into law in May.

Kansas Rep. Patricia Kilpatrick of Overland Park, a member of Kline's task force who has drafted a bill that would incorporate some of the same features, invited Mark Lunsford to Kansas.

She and Kline said Wednesday that they hope Kansas adopts its own version of Jessica's Law.

Missouri adopted a law this past summer mandating the use of electronic tracking to monitor certain sex offenders.

Mark Lunsford plans to return to Kansas to testify on the proposal when the Legislature is in session.
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On the Web

Information about the Jessica Marie Lunsford Foundation can be found at www.jmlfoundation.com .

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