Archives for 2011

Lee Anthony’s tearful testimony was the high point of Friday’s activities in the Casey Anthony trial. Or was it the low point? Hard to tell one from the other anymore.

It seems that Lee, Casey’s brother and Cindy’s son, must have inherited the tears for fears gene. We’ve seen Casey turn on the water works sitting at the defense table. We’ve seen Cindy turn them on when testifying, both for the prosecution and the defense. And now, we see a big, bearded grown man break down crying on the witness stand.

Why? Because he wasn’t invited to his sister’s baby shower.

This Turkey would cringe at the thought of attending one of those. Crying would definitely not enter the picture. Rejoicing with a beer and silent tears of joy would be more like it.

Lee broke down again when talking about not being present for the birth of little Caylee, with the rest of his family. He said that Cindy was ashamed of the out of wedlock birth.

Under cross examination, when asked why he wasn’t similarly emotional when depositions were taken in advance of the trial, he stated that things were different back then. The span of time between the depositions and the trial has found Lee suddenly turning into a whining cry baby about not being invited to a baby shower and Cindy amazingly able to recall details that she had previously forgotten. All of this under oath.

Protecting a sister or a child from death by lethal injection might well be the motive for these desperation ploys by the Anthony family, while the defense team no doubt views them as building sympathy from the jury. Jeff Ashton’s harsh attempts to impeach Lee Anthony, and to a lesser extent, Linda Burdick’s cross examination of Cindy Anthony could have caused a sentimental swing by the jury in favor of the defense. Maybe, perhaps. We cannot get into the minds of the jurors.

Regardless of the motive for the sudden change of tune by both Cindy and Lee, the legal implications for each of them could include charges of perjury if they lied under oath at either the deposition or the trial (or both). However, under the “this family has been through quite enough” rule of getting District 9 State Attorney Lawson Lamar re-elected, charges might never be brought.

As this Turkey has mentioned, the long string of forensic expert witnesses for the defense led me to wonder whether Jose Baez and company had abandoned the defense theory originally presented by Baez in his opening arguments. Clearly, I wasn’t the only one wondering what the defense was trying to prove with today’s testimony, inasmuch as Judge Perry had to ask Baez at least twice to enunciate his defense game plan. Perry characterized it as constantly changing. One certainly has to wonder whether Baez’s inclusion of all those far fetched allegations in his opening was not another blunder borne of Baez’s inexperience or ineptitude. Now, he has finally begun to try to tie the case together by casting doubt on the prosecution’s case — as well as advancing his own theory of an accidental drowning. However, one big area of the defense’s case remains to be explored via witnesses: the notion that George Anthony sexually abused his daughter over a period of many years. Will George fall on his sword, too, by testifying for the defense? Or will the jury have to accept Baez’s account of the incestuous relationship?

Another issue that will require significant attention is the 31 day period that elapsed before Caylee was reported missing and the subsequent song and dance about Zanny the Nanny, kidnapping, and other such folly. The 31 day lapse is no doubt etched indelibly in jurors’ minds. It would seem that the only reason to delay that long would be to cover up a crime. An accident doesn’t require a cover-up. Just how the Zenaida Gonzalez-Hernandez kidnapping of Caylee fits into this picture is even more difficult to conceive if indeed the child drowned accidentally. This alone makes it unlikely that Casey Anthony will be called as a witness. She might be a great liar by her own admission, but she’ll need the proverbial sky hook to get her through this potential cross examination.

District 9 Chief Circuit Judge Belvin Perry had asked the lawyers to give him a time estimate for completion of their cases. Baez responded that he could wrap up the defense’s case by Wednesday or Thursday. That, he said, meant Thursday. The prosecution will have rebuttal witnesses, which Mr. Ashton estimated would require the remainder of Thursday and Friday. The humorous part involved the closing arguments. When asked for a time estimate, Baez began muttering something about the unfairness of the prosecution essentially having four lawyers doing four closings while he was expected to provide his summation in the time it took for one prosecution lawyer to do his. The judge told him to give his estimate independent of what the prosecution was doing. “Knock yourself out. Just give me an estimate.” Baez replied that his peroration could well require half a day. Judge Perry responded that that was OK if he wanted to put the jury to sleep. What came out of this discussion is a hyper-optimistic target of Saturday for handing the case to the jury. As there are several charges for the jury to consider, Perry’s instructions to the jury will be lengthy. He estimated 45 minutes or so for them. Adding all the time estimates in this paragraph, this Turkey feels that Tuesday, July 5 is more likely than Saturday, July 2.

Today, Saturday, June 25, will be a full session, which the judge estimates will conclude around 3 PM.

The long awaited bombshell exploded in the Casey Anthony murder trial today, as Cindy Anthony, Casey’s mother, testified for the defense. She asserted that it was she, not Casey, who used the family computer to search for “chloroform”.

Whoa! This one came out of left field. Mixing football and baseball metaphors, this Turkey was blind-sided.

Additionally, Mrs. Anthony stated that the car in which Casey allegedly stashed Caylee’s body already had a stain on the trunk’s carpet at the time it was purchased.

Cindy’s memory was suddenly clarified, she claims, by a change in medication.

She claims that she searched for chloroform when she was looking for chlorophyll, and that all of these chemical searches were in connection with some sort of hand sanitizer scare that was making the rounds at the time.

Does all this sound a little fishy to you? It gets fishier.

I recall a hand sanitizer scare that might have occurred around the 2008 time frame during which Cindy’s internet search activities presumably occurred, but it concerned alcohol poisoning in young children. Chlorophyll and chloroform have no relevance to hand sanitizers, as far as I know.

Cindy also mentioned a dog that was acting ill at ease, as well as a friend who had recently suffered an automobile accident, stating that the searches were on their behalf.

Is this beginning to sound like a school child making stuff up to avoid punishment? It is so simplistic and contrived!

Will we soon be hearing testimony from George Anthony admitting that he sexually abused his daughter? Will he concoct a story to fit in with lead defense counsel Jose Baez’s theory that Caylee accidentally drowned? I think that there is a distinct possibility that the Anthonys are throwing themselves on their swords, attempting to save their daughter’s life. Perjury is certainly well within the bounds of what desperate measures might be taken in these circumstances. However, if George suddenly changes his tune, won’t it be just a little too obvious?

I’m getting a little ahead of myself here. George hasn’t testified for the defense (yet).

Cindy has, and this Turkey’s B.S. indicator is glowing bright red. In addition to the song and dance about the hand sanitizer, Cindy said that she had no MySpace account at the time; however, the information recovered from the computer showed that accesses to MySpace were interspersed with the incriminating searches. Furthermore, her work records indicate that she was at work during the time the searches were made. She had previously denied making searches for how to make chloroform, household weapons, neck breaking, etc. So, there were inconsistencies between Cindy’s testimony not only with the computer records but also with her prior testimony under oath.

Draw your own conclusions, but if I was the judge, I would be instructing Cindy about the implications of perjury.

I would expect daily fireworks from here on. How much longer this trial will last should be known tomorrow, as Judge Perry has ordered both sides to give firm estimates on the time they’ll need to wrap up their cases. It would seem that we will have at least one last week of entertaining testimony before the jury begins its deliberations. Perry advised the lawyers that they would be working until at least three P.M. on Saturday.

Today, the trial took a surprising new direction. This twist should provide good fodder for the inevitable made-for-TV movie. Stay tuned.

 

Judge Belvin Perry had a prior commitment for Wednesday afternoon, which meant only a half day for the trial of the millennium. It turned out that he had a state budget meeting and he wanted to be certain that his circuit was well represented when the negotiations began. I tell ya, you gotta fight tooth and nail for every dime these days.

More forensic witnesses were heard Wednesday morning. Essentially, the same pattern as for all the prior defense witnesses evidenced itself. The witness would state what the cops or the medical examiner didn’t do or cite which evidence was never obtained, attempting to cast reasonable doubt on the prosecution’s case. Then, the prosecution would cross-examine, turning the testimony right around to favor the prosecution. And so it went.

Here’s the big question: Are we ever going to get to hear witnesses who will corroborate Baez’s outlandish claims made in his opening arguments? Baez has been playing it safe and conservative with his witnesses thus far, sticking mainly to scientific opinions. When he eventually hops over the fence to question witnesses who will claim that Casey Anthony was sexually abused by George and Lee Anthony, father and brother, respectively, and that Cindy Anthony, Casey’s mother, was a domineering bitch, and Caylee, the victim, actually drowned in a pool accident, sparking a cover-up by George and Casey, then — then, the fireworks will really start. The longer he delays calling such witnesses, the more suspect I am that he’s come to realize that he went a bridge too far with those opening bombshells.

Apparently, Casey encountered a fellow inmate in the Orange County jail who discussed her own child’s accidental drowning in the family swimming pool. This conversation presumably occurred before Baez slapped together his opening statements. So, I can imagine the bull session between Baez and Ms. Anthony when Baez was brainstorming his defense strategy:

Ms. Anthony: Can’t we just say she drowned? My cellmate had a kid who drowned. I could just use her story. I’m such a good liar, you know!

Mr. Baez: Oh, yeah! Dat’s da ticket! We’ll do that then. I was going to talk about how your hostile home environment made you a liar.

Ms. Anthony: Hey, talk about that, too. George gave me shit about those gas cans and I don’t like him anymore. And my mom, well, you know she’s a bitch…

Mr. Baez: Now, about that conjugal visit…

Anyhow, I can’t see that cellmate doing much good for the defense, but the prosecution has declared its intention to call some rebuttal witnesses, and this babe could come in handy during that phase — if Baez ever gets around to making his case.

So, in his inept little way, Baez is spending much time attempting to discredit the prosecution, which is backfiring on him because unlike Baez, Jeff Ashton does his homework, preparing nifty cross-examination questions that catch witnesses off guard. He’s been quite successful in turning witnesses around.

At this point it appears as if the trial will be still going on after Independence Day. After the defense rests, there will be some rebuttal witnesses for the prosecution as I mentioned, and then Judge Perry can hand the case over to the jury for deliberation. The lawyers have been ordered to give time estimates by the end of this week. It is expected that defense witnesses will be testifying through the end of next week. Judge Perry has promised that getting behind schedule will mean extended hours for everyone. He originally wanted the jury to begin deliberating on the 25th at the latest, so it’s crunch time.

About the jury, a potential new mishigas has arisen. Apparently, Juror #4 has let the word slip that her religious beliefs would preclude her from judging anyone. Now, why did she not disqualify herself from jury service, especially on such a high visibility trial?  This crazy person could easily cause a hung jury, and I’m not sure about the jeopardy implications. Observers in the courtroom have reported that she sits with her arms crossed during prosecution questioning but takes notes during defense questioning. Is this for real?

Here is the Orlando Sentinel bio for Juror #4:

Description: She is a middle aged black female. She heard about the case when it first happened. She survived a preemptory challenge [at jury selection] when prosecutors asked that she be removed from the panel of prospective jurors.
Fast fact: She said she doesn’t like to “judge people.”
Quote: She told attorneys that after seeing the mitigating and aggravating factors, she “thinks” she can recommend a death sentence. “I just don’t like to point my finger at anyone,” she said. “What I mean by that is, judging someone by what they say.”

So, is this just smoke, or is there fire?

We learned that a woman alleged to be George Anthony’s mistress might testify. However, in a deposition taken under oath she claimed not to have had a sexual relationship with George. Sounds to me like another witness Ashton could turn into a boon for the prosecution.

Full day on Thursday, which is liable to run late as well. Will it be another snoozer?