Prosecutors in Florida announced Monday they will not seek the death penalty against a father accused of hurling his five-year-old daughter from a St Petersburg bridge in 2015, killing her.
Jon Jonchuck, 27, is scheduled to stand trial on September 24. He is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Phoebe Jonchuck.
‘The state has elected to waive the death penalty in this case,’ Assistant State Attorney Doug Ellis told Judge Chris Helinger during a hearing on Monday.
Death’s off the table: Prosecutors in Florida have decided not to seek the death penalty against Jon Jonchuck (left), charged with throwing his 5-year-old daughter, Phoebe, from a bridge in January 2015
Prosecutors say the father dropped the five-year-old girl into Tampa Bay off the Dick Misener bridge (pictured) after a trip to a lawyer’s office
Jonchuck, who has a history of mental illness, was deemed incompetent in February 2015, a month after officials say he dropped Phoebe into Tampa Bay off the Dick Misener bridge.
Another judge found Jonchuck competent to stand trial in March 2017.
Chief Assistant State Attorney Bruce Bartlett on Monday explained that they decided to drop the death penalty to focus their attention on the issue of the defendant’s sanity and streamline the proceedings.
‘It dispenses with a lot of the formalities with many of the motions that would have to be litigated as well as a lot of the obstacles you encounter when doing jury selection,’ Bartlett told Tampa Bay Times. ‘So it kind of lets you present a more orderly trial and you can focus on the issue at hand.’
If convicted of first-degree murder at trial, Jonchuck will automatically be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
According to previous reporting by the Tampa Bay Times, just hours before the deadly January 8, 2015, incident, Jonchuck brought his daughter to the office of an attorney – and he said he was the Pope, sought a DNA test, and wanted the attorney to read a Bible in Swedish.
Jonchuck, seen in a January 2015 file image, was found competent to stand trial in March 2017
That attorney contacted 911, and Jonchuck was located at a church by deputies who determined he wasn’t displaying mental illness signs, the newspaper said.
Jonchuck’s mother, Michele Jonchuck, told the paper last year the death penalty ‘would be too easy on him.’
‘My whole family and I have to deal with this every day, and I believe he should have to deal with it. But at the same time, I believe he needs help,’ she said.