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Covington fires lawyers, plans to plead guilty in Lutz triple-murder case

 
Edward Covington points towards the Freiberg family during his trial in the courtroom at the George E. Edgecomb Courthouse in Tampa on Thursday. [EVE EDELHEIT   | Times]
Edward Covington points towards the Freiberg family during his trial in the courtroom at the George E. Edgecomb Courthouse in Tampa on Thursday. [EVE EDELHEIT | Times]
Published Oct. 24, 2014

TAMPA

In an astonishing moment on Thursday, a Lutz man on trial for murdering his girlfriend and her two children on Mother's Day dismissed his attorneys and abruptly announced his intention to plead guilty.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys looked stunned as Edward Covington declared that after more than six years of legal wrangling and a week of jury selection, he wanted to end his trial and place his life in the judge's hands.

"My plea of guilty is the right thing to do," he said, addressing Hillsborough Circuit Judge William Fuente on the second day of his trial. "It's the only thing to do. It's the appropriate thing to do."

On May 12, 2008, Covington was found cowering in a closet of a Lutz mobile home near the mutilated bodies of his girlfriend, Lisa Freiberg, 26, and her two children, 7-year-old Zachary and Heather Savannah, 2. He was charged with three counts of first-degree murder and abuse of a human body, as well as animal abuse, for killing Duke, the Freiberg's German shepherd. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty and have not offered Covington a lesser sentence in exchange for pleading guilty.

"I expect you to sentence me to death," Covington, 42, told Fuente, adding that this was the sentence he would choose for himself.

"I feel it's warranted. The Freibergs feel it's warranted. The state feels it's warranted. I have no problem with this."

There was no calculation or evident reasoning behind Covington's announcement, only an obvious exasperation with the legal system and his public defenders, whom he fired after claiming they were ineffective. Seated at the defense table, he massaged his forehead vigorously, as though the proceedings and the spectators' gaze were one massive headache.

But he was also intent on making it known that he is remorseful and sympathizes with the victims' family. What matters now is justice and closure, he told the judge. And expediency — "Let's get this done and over with," he said at one point.

"My life means nothing to me. My life died on May 10," he said, referring to the day before the killings occurred.

Refusing to accept Covington's claims of ineffective counsel, Fuente noted that defense attorneys had worked hard on his case for more than six years, filing more motions than he has seen in his career as a judge. Surrounding the defense table were boxes upon boxes of files that defense attorneys hastily packed up and removed, declining a reporter's request for comment.

"I have entered more than 200 orders," Fuente said. "This is the most researched case I've done in the 20-plus years I've been on the bench. I do not find they're being in any way ineffective."

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With great reluctance, Fuente said he had no choice but to allow Covington to represent himself. But he said he would not accept a guilty plea until at least two mental health experts evaluated him for competency and reported their findings, expected as early as this morning. Covington's attorneys had planned to use the insanity defense, arguing that the combination of going off his medication for bipolar disorder and abusing cocaine and alcohol, made him turn violent.

For his part, Covington has said he remembers almost nothing of butchering his girlfriend and her children. Although his history of mental illness could be a compelling argument to a judge or jury for sparing his life, he said he would not make excuses for himself.

"Even though I may have been temporarily insane or whatever you want to call it, in the end, I'm also mentally responsible," he said. "I knew something was going wrong and failed to protect the people I cared about."

Covington's trial was proceeding normally until midday on Thursday when, in the middle of the victim's mother's testimony, he called her a liar and referred to her using a blunt expletive. Jurors were ushered out of the courtroom as defense attorney Mike Peacock tried to calm Covington, who kept repeating the words: "I'm done." Later, jurors were told not to report back to the courthouse until Monday.

Though attorneys for both sides appeared visibly ruffled, Covington's decision to plead guilty did not come as a complete surprise. In an August phone call with his mother, he told her that he wanted to take responsibility for the murders, but his attorneys had advised against it.

Still, decisions by defendants to volunteer for the death penalty are rare.

"It's hard to look at the motivation and decide why the defendant wants to do this," said Tampa defense attorney John Fitzgibbons, who is not connected to the case. "They might be totally fed up with the process; they know the prognosis for success is bleak and they just want to bring an end to it. Others might figure they're cooked in front of a jury, so maybe they have a better chance of convincing a judge not to execute them."

In his years on the bench, Fuente said he had encountered a similar situation only once before. He sentenced that defendant to death.

Contact Anna M. Phillips at aphillips@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3354. Follow her @annamphillips.