Man sentenced for dropping daughter to her death off bridge

Thursday, April 18, 2019
Man gets life sentence after dropping daughter off bridge
Man gets life sentence after dropping daughter off bridge in 2015.

TAMPA, Florida -- John Jonchuck was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday after he was found guilty for murdering his daughter, Phoebe Jonchuck in 2015.

Jurors did not believe his plea of insanity he claims to have had at the time he threw her over a bridge to her death.

Legal expert Roger Futerman not involved in this case, told WFLA he's not surprised by the outcome.

Futerman said, "The more I thought about it, the more I thought guilty the likely verdict. That was the likely verdict having considered all the evidence. The statement that Jonchuck made that the state put as their first statement in closing seems like a powerful statement and they did a good job by making that the forefront. It's very difficult facts to overcome. No matter how jurors say they can set aside what happened, those are tough facts."