Dee-briefs

I am transfixed by the State of Florida v. Casey Marie Anthony… the sordid details, the lies, the legal wranglings. I do think Ms. Anthony is guilty of many, many wrongs, including the murder of her baby. However I also think that the State of Florida has made a mistake in asking for the death penalty, mostly because I personally do not believe in the death penalty as a punishment, particularly for malignantly narcississtic, sociopathic people. I think the worst fate for this type of person is to be tossed away in general population and completely forgotten.

I welcome constructive discussion.

Is “crazy” the right word for her? I don’t think so. The old lady on the subway conducting an invisible orchestra is “crazy…” Casey Anthony is The Bad Seed.

July 6, 2011

The Final D-Brief

Justice wasn’t served but the LAW was. No matter how ridiculous the defense was or how logical the prosecution was there was still reasonable doubt in the minds of those jurors. As we have seen in a few other high-profile cases, a jury is notoriously unpredictable. Why did they ignore so many facts, disregard such massive evidence and basically rush to judgement? Was it because they had been away from their homes and families and communications and media for the past six weeks and they all wanted out?

In a case as convoluted as The State of Florida v. Casey Marie Anthony, one expects a jury to deliberate days, not hours; one expects them to ask for and reexamine evidence and even ask for clarity from the court. If I was the conspiratorial type, I might “assume” there was some tampering with the jury.

1. Did they really need a COD when the very reputable medical examiner determined Caylee’s death a homicide?

2. The defendant denied an accidental drowning to law enforcement, did not testify to it, there is no evidence of such a drowning, and the only alleged witness to the fictional drowning (per the defense) denies it ever happening, denies the defendant being home, how can it be considered during trial?

3. If everyone including the defendant agrees she was the last existing person with the victim, how do you get past that?

I said before that I have no interest in lawyering. I still, however, would like to be involved in Behavioral Analysis for the FBI. If for no other reason then to be able to freely use all FBI tools to analyze everyone who comes into my life.

July 5, 2011

Mr. Ashton, I, too, am retiring.

How can a jury find her guilty of lying to police about the baby Caylee’s whereabouts, lying that the child was with a person who doesn’t exist, NOT find her also guilty of at least aggravated child abuse?

A baby is dead.

Please, Universe, do not make her (or anyone in her family) rich because of this.

June 23, 2011

This was a telling piece in The Daily Beast.

The June 18 D-Brief

Saturday. Dr. Werner Spitz.

In summary:

Dr. Spitz, age 84, is a pioneer in the field of forensics. He does deserve respect for his impressive resume of accolades and achievements having autopsied the likes of JFK, MLK, and possibly Elvis and Adam and Eve; however, he admits that he is ‘out of the mainstream’ of the current field of forensics. It also appears that he supplements his retirement by being an expert in high profile cases. We were privileged to his bizarre opinion that someone came back after decomposition and was able to duct-tape the mandible anatomically correctly to the skull.

During Assistant State Attorney Jeff Ashton’s cross-examination, Dr. Spitz’s egomania revealed itself. HIS way to perform an autopsy is the only way (regardless of whether or not the body is completely skeltonized)He actually called Dr. Garavaglia’s autopsy ‘shoddy.’ Perhaps Dr. G felt it best to examine the empty skull via techniques Dr. Spitz has never used, and NOT cut the skull open so it could be best preserved to reflect no signs of trauma to the skull. Dr. Spitz was politely reminded that it was his insistence to cut the skull open that caused it to fracture and that the ‘brain dust’ was never analyzed by a lab. I believe this mysterious ‘brain dust’ was merely dirt from sitting in a swamp for six months.

Dr. Garavaglia will be the State’s rebuttal witness, and will be far more coherent and able to document her protocols. I just read this on one of the true crime blogs I frequent: “Any showdown between Dr. Spitz and Dr. G could be compared to Alexander Graham Bell and Bill Gates arguing communication methodology.” Ha. Word.

Dr. Spitz did make three important points:

That he’d been “out of the mainstream for quite awhile,” that he forgot he broke the skull, and “skulls cannot walk on their own.”

He also enlightened us with:

“the head is part of the body.”

“just like the basement is part of a house”.

“and you wouldn’t want to buy a house without a basement, unless you didn’t want a basement, then you could probably find a house that didn’t have one.”

Great work, Defense Team! Keep ‘em coming!

The June 14th Casey Anthony Trial D-Brief

As I shared with Kathleen who commented on my last post, I’ve been spending a lot of time wondering why I find the Casey Anthony Case so captivating. I felt less ashamed of my compulsion to follow every proceeding(and more validated) after reading this piece in The Huffington Post about the Cult of Casey.

The Prosecution wraps up its Case in Chief later today or tomorrow, at the latest. The jury has been taking notes the entire time. I hope they have a summary somewhere in their notebooks that includes:

1. Casey NEVER reported her child dead or missing
2. Casey told anyone who asked her where her child was that Caylee was with a FICTIONAL Nanny
3. During the period after Caylee’s demise and prior to Cindy calling 911 (31 days), Casey was living a rather carefree life that included Hot Body Contests, staying in bed all day with boyfriends, and party after party.
4. Casey had at least six imaginary friends that she used to habitually lie to her parents about Caylee’s whereabouts and care over a 2 year period
5. Casey had a fake job over that same 2 year period
6. Casey NEVER cooperated with LE to help them locate her “missing” child
7. Casey searched for how to make chloroform
8. Casey visited a site that provided instructions on how to make chloroform 84 times!
9. When asked to turn over her computer to LE Casey deleted all search history. I think she deleted the browser that she used.
10. Caylee’s skull was found with duct tape on it
11. Casey drove around with a dead Caylee in her trunk and complained about the stink to a friend.

Former Orlando Prosecutor and Trail Commentator Bill Sheaffer said yesterday that the reason the State is finishing so quickly is because they know what the defense has to say (from their opening statement) and there is no benefit to bring in the rest of their witnesses. At this point. Sheaffer said the State is going to force the Defense to prove their case, even though they don’t have to “prove” anything, they do have to, at least, defend what they brought to light in their fantasy Opening Statement. Depending on what the defense presents, the State will have the opportunity to cross-examine, and then to have the last word in their Rebuttal case.

Many obsessed Casey Case followers have complained, repeatedly, that the Prosecution isn’t doing their job. What about the cell-phone pings? What about the Tattoo? What about the syringe in the Gatorade bottle? Believe me, as a prosecutor, I’d try to cram every bit of incriminating evidence into the case. But I’d be a lousy prosecutor. The prosecutor’s case was lean and mean. They made the important points without boring the jury to death, or confusing the hell out of them. Can you imagine the madness that would be brought with trying to present Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez’s family tree? Or bringing forth all of the men who could be Caylee’s father?

The most urgent part of the prosecutor’s case is that Caylee’s body was in the Pontiac trunk. I do not think there can be any reasonable doubt about that issue after the State’s Case In Chief. More than six experts verified that what they smelled was a dead body. The dog verified it. The bugs verified it (bugs BOTH from the trunk and from the trash bag). The fatty acids (verified by a test that HAS been admitted in other courts–the one besides the air test) on the trunk carpet could only have come from a body OR raw meat. The adipocere on the napkins with the same fatty acids as were found in trunk carpet (which could only have come from POUNDS of human bacteria-infested raw, fatty meat OR from a dead body) verify a body in the trunk.

It was established during testimony that there was no garbage (organic matter) in the trash bag to cause the smell or attract the bugs to the trunk or to make a stain the size of the one Dr. Vass tested (which he said in his testimony).

Caylee’s body in Casey’s trunk disproves all of the defendant’s theory about George having the body and then Roy Kronk dragging that same body around for the next six months.

There are more reasons I think the state made its case. And as been pointed out by several talking heads, some of the experts like the botanist will be most effective as rebuttal witnesses. And then there will be the closing argument to make the points and tie everything together.

The prosecution’s case is exactly where it needs to be.

The June 9th D-Brief

Yesterday afternoon convinced me that Casey Anthony murdered her baby Caylee, and it was a premeditated murder.

The jury needs to only remember two numbers:

84 and 31.

84 is the number of times that the webpage containing a do-it-yourself, make-at-home recipe for chloroform. When was the last time you visited the same, static web-page 84 times?

Then we have:

1. The chloroform levels in the air of the trunk that peaked on Dr. Vass’s chart.
2. The duct tape over Caylee’s little face.
3. The fatty acids (from decomposition) on the carpet of the trunk of Casey’s car.
4. The one strand of little Caylee’s hair with the band of decomposition at the root found in the trunk.
5. The smell of decomposition so strong that it has been positively identified so far by 6 expert body sniffers and two professional cadaver dogs.

And then, to me, is what has been always the most damning…

The 31 days she never reported her daughter missing or dead. The 31 days when she partied with her friends, had a lot of sex with her boyfriends, participated in a Hot Body Contest, and got a tattoo that said, “Bella Vita”…

And even after the 31 days, the only reason the authorities found out about the missing baby is because the grandmother, Cindy Anthony, called them to her house after finding The Car that had been towed after it was abandoned days earlier at an Amscot because it was too stinky to drive.

It was too stinky to drive. From DEAD BABY.

Your Vita ain’t all that Bella, lady.

May 25, 2011

Day One of the Casey Anthony Trail D-Brief

Remember that chimpanzee who lived as a “companion” in some crazy lady’s house and he was on xanax and wine and one day he went nuts and ripped off that other lady’s face and hands? And now that poor lady has to wear some kind of a beekeeper’s hat/veil because she doesn’t a nose or eyes or a mouth anymore? The chimp was in Connecticut I think? And Travis was his name, right? Remember Travis?

Well Travis… even the wild version of Travis on xanax and wine, would have been a better defense lawyer than Jose Baez.

I would like to go on record that after the defense’s opening statement, I have no doubt that Casey Anthony murdered her daughter Caylee.

I had long hoped that it may have been an accidental death and she’s just narcissistic and entitled enough to think she could cover it up. I was expecting to hear an accidental death strategy unfold: a simple accidental death (by drowning, even!), a panic to hide it from her parents, and then years of deception and blaming others. After all, it was already well-known to her family and friends that Casey Anthony and the truth are strangers, to paraphase the judge at her original bond hearing.

Instead, we were fed a script that the Lifetime Movie Network would have tossed in the trash: “Father, May I Sleep with You and the Meter Reader?”

The Defense Team, led by Jose Baez, shotgunned to the jury a convoluted, very refutable theory that Casey’s father George was there at the time of her daughter’s drowning, that George helped dispose of his granddaughter’s body in whereabouts unknown, and to top it off, that somehow Roy Kronk, “a morally bankrupt meter reader,” got his hands on the body and then planted it so he could find it and use the reward money to pay off his auto repair bills.

Oh, and then there was that little mention of George’s penis being in his daughter Casey’s mouth every morning before grade school. The entire presentation was punctuated with seventh grade science fair poster-boards. The only part of any of the Defense’s story that is true is the fact that poor little Caylee is dead.

Had the opening statements been that after George left the house on June 16th, Casey and Caylee returned and then Casey found Caylee dead in the pool and subsequently freaked out and didn’t know what to do and went bonkers…and eventually dumped the body in the swamp, I would have said…okay, I think they will make a reasonable doubt presentation. And the jury will probably buy it and show her some mercy.

But no, it couldn’t be a simple accident. Nothing is ever simple with pathological liars.

Travis? You’re hired! No Credentials required.

May 11, 2011

Jury selection continues today, after the crazy coincidence yesterday involving the dismissal of 50 potential jurors who were tainted by one of their peers, a searcher involved with Texas Equusearch who also happens to be a potential witness.

The defendant strolled into the courtroom today, with that weird little raised hands-with-fists walk that she does and newly cut long bangs, which is a bad idea for someone obsessed with primping and touching her hair.

Judge Perry’s voice sounds like he’s losing it, as he read the charges against her. Casey sat at the defendant’s table facing the prospective jurors, sandwiched in between The Dream Team, and rolled some tears out and carefully examined the tissue after each wipe.

Members of the Dream Team, however, continued to Google, “How to be a defense lawyer…”

The irony is indeed rich. (Judge Stan Strickland is smiling somewhere.)

May 9, 2011

Jury selection began this morning in Pinellas County, and I’m following the questioning of potential jurors as carefully as I can, while still being a productive human being.

Judge Belvin Perry is starting off by eliminating people from the pool due to financial hardship. I’d certainly have a financial hardship as no place I’ve ever worked has paid for Jury Duty. For this case, I just might have moved in with my parents and began writing my tell-all juror expose. I would be SO into being sequestered. I would get so much crocheting done!

There’s a little news screen in our elevators in my building here in midtown Manhattan, and this case is so huge that “Jury selection begins today in Casey Anthony case” flashed on the screen as I was on my way to lunch this afternoon. If it’s news in my elevator, it’s NEWS.

(Oh, wait, I just looked it up and in my current position, I’m paid for Jury Duty as many days as I need. Hear that, State of New York? Call me!)

May 3, 2011

Jury selection starts next week and I’m ready!

The two biggest things that stump me about this case are the Chloroform and the Zanny/Zenaida coincidences.

1. Chloroform

Casey Anthony googled “how to make chloroform” in March, three months before Caylee was last seen. We know it was her, because her parents had proof that they were both at work. I believe the search was related to anger she felt for her mother, as she had just closed her bank accounts from which Casey had been stealing money.

It’s not difficult to mix up a batch, as I’ve read, however, how would Casey have managed to mix up some and not asphyxiate herself as well? And why would she need to go to the trouble of dealing with dangerous chemicals when she could easily have overpowered Caylee with a pillow on her face. Or with duct tape across her nose and mouth.

However, exorbinantly high (ten thousand times) levels of chloroform were found in the trunk of Casey’s Pontiac Sunfire, the same place where a strand of Caylee’s hair was found with a “death ring” at the root, indicating it had come from a decomposing body.

What is the meaning of this Chloroform Coincidence?

Are the extremely high levels, as some theorize, a by-product of all of the cleaning products that George and Cindy Anthony tossed into the trunk, after they picked it up from Johnson’s Towing Company, reeking and full of maggots?

2. Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez

Casey had been mentioning The Nanny to her friends and family for months. She had even given her a name: Zanny. But HOW did she come up with Zenaida Fernandez Gonzalez’s name, a random woman who had very innocently visited the Sawgrass apartments to look for an apartment on June 17th, the day after Caylee was last seen? The same apartments where Casey’s once best friend Annie lived and the same place to which Casey sent detectives from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office on a wild goose chase to Apartment 210, an apartment near the model apartment, however vacant for 140+ days?

I’m looking forward to an explanation of all of this from the State Attorney’s, because after three years, I haven’t heard anything from anyone that makes any sense…

March 1, 2011

So here’s my latest personal CMA news.

1. My friend Julie in Orlando saw George Marie Anthony at a traffic light downtown last week. He was driving a car with posters about the Caylee Foundation all over it. No gas cans, blood pressure pills, or six packs of beer. I’d like to think that he was on his way to work, but I have a feeling he was on his way to the power company to pay an overdue light bill in person.

2. A few weeks ago, Derek and I stayed at a hotel across the street from Universal for the weekend (the Doubletree), because now that I live in New York City, we like to make our visits like mini-vacations since the long-distance thing can be tough.

On Saturday night for dinner, we weren’t feeling like anything fancy, so we walked over to the Carrabba’s at Conroy and Kirkman. We sat at the bar because we didn’t want to wait for a table. The bartender asked what we wanted while I was looking at the wine list and his voice sounded familiar. I looked up at him and I was floored: It was Jesse Grund.

(I thought I had read a while back that he lived in Atlanta now.)

Anyhow, there he was. (Since then, I googled him and found his Linked-In Profile that indicated that yes, he’s the bartender there and he’s been there for a year and a half.)

Now Derek only knows the name “Casey Anthony” and that’s about it. He changes the channel when anything about the case comes on. (Luckily we don’t live together!) Anyhow, I start whispering to him that it’s Jesse Grund and he’s Casey Anthony’s ex-boyfriend and and and…

Derek motioned toward Jesse and asked, “Are you talking about that juicer?”

I was fascinated… how did he know that Jesse had been surrounded with the rumors about taking steroids. The answer is, he never heard or read that in the news. He looked at the guy and could tell. (Tell-tale signs are his body shape, his bad acne, his jittery movements, and looking like he’s on the verge of getting angry. Also, he shaves his arms.)

Anyhow, please don’t think I’m implicating Jesse in anything to do with hurting Caylee. I believe he loved her and the poor kid (yes, he’s really just a kid) got involved with a malignant narcissist.

However, as I watched the way he acted for the next two hours, I could see that he would have made the perfect person to pin this whole thing on had Casey been a better planner. It was a very busy Saturday night, so understandably, he was irritable. But then he’d quickly turn into a sweet guy when talking to someone else. His mood swings were incredible!

As we were sitting there enjoying our drinks and dinner, Derek spotted something weird . On the top shelf behind the bar, there was an Absolut vodka/martini display with some glasses. And sitting in one of the glasses was a little doll who looked like Caylee!

We took a picture, but due to the lighting and the distance, it’s a bit fuzzy.

Caylee???!?

January 26, 2010

I know sociopath is an outdated term, but I prefer it to Anti Social Personality Disorder (ASPD), because it seems to describe the person better.

So we’re going with Sociopath from now on, and yesterday in court, Casey Anthony turned on all of her dazzling sociopathic tears.

Having been in a relationship with the male version of Casey, I have seen firsthand the ability to turn on and off emotions at will. Turn on the switch, and tears appear when the Sociopath senses that people are expecting an emotional reaction or when they feel it’s necessary to garner sympathy.

Casey’s words during the tearful apology were typical of a Sociopath as well, because they just focused on such a small bit of the problem. She wishes she had been a better friend to Amy… why? Because she wrote checks on Amy’s bank account. Is that REALLY what made Casey a bad friend though?

What about the fact that Amy was HOMELESS at the time because Casey had led her to believe that Cindy and George were giving the Hopespring house to her and Amy would live there as a roommate with her and Caylee?

What about the $400 cash that Casey took from Amy and then told Amy she saw her sleepwalking and had Amy believing that Amy herself had hidden the cash somewhere and now it was just lost?

What about the fact that almost everything Casey told Amy throughout the course of their “friendship” was a lie… the job at Universal, the parents’ marital problems, George’s “mini-stroke”… etc., etc., etc..

A couple of checks at Target? Not really that bad. But you can’t ever point out reality to a sociopath.

December 14, 2009

I was fascinated by the court proceedings on December 11th, with Andrea Lyons arguing against the death penalty in this case and then Jeff Ashton countering with a version of how Casey, although presumed innocent, killed Caylee. Judge Stan Strickland remarked at the end of the two hour hearing that he had seen some good lawyering today. I agree. I saw both sides of the argument, but overall, it was a win for the prosecution.

I don’t really care for Andrea Lyons physically (get a haircut!) but she’s great at what she does. Casey doesn’t deserve the good lawyers that she has. She certainly can’t pay for them. The only reason her case became huge enough for the heavy-hitters is because she’s a cute white girl and she told a boatload of ridiculous lies.

It’s fantastically humbling that these ASPD (sociopathic) people somehow always manage to surround themselves with good people.

October 14, 2009

I’m beginning to understand my fascination with this case even more. I’m hopelessly and devestatingly attracted to charming, outgoing people who, more often than not, turn out to be sociopathic, narcississtic liars with an overbearing sense of entitlement and self-importance.

I don’t want to be. And I want to learn how to identify these creatures right up front.

Add new Casey Anthony stat — one year anniversary of her indictment
By-the-numbers look at the past year of Casey Anthony’s life

by Walter Pacheco
Sentinel Staff Writer

October 14, 2009

A year ago today, a grand jury indicted Casey Anthony on a first-degree murder charge, among other criminal counts, in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee Marie Anthony.

Since then, state prosecutors have released volumes of official case documents, including personal photographs from Casey Anthony’s computer, cell-phone records, forensic reports and other mind-numbing paperwork.

But there are other methods of tracking this case: Google hits for “Casey Anthony,” the times CNN’s Nancy Grace has babbled about the “tot mom,” and the number of sticks of beef jerky Casey Anthony has chowed down since deputies first incarcerated the 23-year-old on July 16, 2008.

7,900
Pages of discovery released by State Attorney’s Office.

7
Charges Casey Anthony faces:

•First-degree murder.
•Aggravated child abuse.
•Aggravated manslaughter of a child.
•Four counts of providing false information to law enforcement.

1,073
Photos released by State Attorney’s Office.

1,360,000
Google hits for “Casey Anthony.”

3,920
YouTube videos on “Casey Anthony.”

181
Nancy Grace shows dedicated to Anthony case.

366
Orlando Sentinel print stories and briefs about Anthony.

411
Total days Anthony has spent in jail (includes time she spent behind bars before the Oct. 14, 2008, murder indictment).

$2,605.26
Deposits in Casey Anthony’s bank account.

•Commissary purchases: $2,229.47.
•Current balance: -$7.45.

6
Types of Anthony’s favorite jail snacks:

•Chocolate-chip granola bars (118 bars).
•Jalapeño dip (58 cans).
•Hot peanuts (43 bags).
•Spicy Cajun chips (41 bags).
•Skittles (39 bags).
•Beef jerky (34 sticks).

There is a mountain of circumstantial evidence piling up, but I look to behavioral evidence to do all the damning. Two weeks after Caylee “went missing” (I can’t stand that phrase), Casey went inking, and got a tattoo to celebrate the beauty of life. Yeah, isn’t life grand? And thanks for tainting the name of my favorite film, especially in Italiano!

Tattoo Photo Among Newly Released Evidence in Caylee Anthony Case
Sunday, October 11, 2009

A jailhouse photo taken of a tattoo Casey Anthony got shortly after her daughter Caylee vanished is among new evidence released Friday by prosecutors in the murder case.

Color photos of the duct tape over the toddler’s mouth when her remains were found, the shorts she was wearing and the laundry bag her body was placed in also were included in the 1,400 pages of evidence released.

MyFOXOrlando.com reported that a judge granted prosecutors’ request to go into the Orange County Jail in Orlando to take photos of the tattoo that reads “La Bella Vita” — which means “Beautiful Life” in Italian.

Anthony got the tattoo on her left shoulder blade on July 3, 2008 — two weeks after Caylee was last seen alive.

It isn’t clear how the photo or the tattoo might factor in to the case against Anthony or whether it will be discussed at her trial, now scheduled to start in January.

Anthony, 23, is jailed on first-degree murder charges in Caylee’s death. She has insisted that a baby sitter kidnapped her daughter, but police say little she has told them during the investigation has proven to be true.

Investigators have gone to substantial lengths to piece together the timeline of Anthony’s activities in the month after her daughter vanished and before the disappearance was reported to police.

Since early in the investigation, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and prosecutors have taken the unusual step of releasing numerous pieces of evidence before the trial.

Detectives interviewed tattoo artist Bobby Williams about the day Anthony came in, MyFOXOrlando.com reported.

“She just wanted nice cursive writing over her shoulder blade,” Williams told the station. “She was acting like nothing happened. … It’s definitely strange now that you put two and two together.”

Caylee Anthony disappeared in mid-June 2008 but wasn’t reported missing by her family until a month later. Her remains were found in December in a wooded area near the Anthony family home in Orlando.

June 17, 2009

I don’t know about you, but I need someone or something in my life to villify. Casey Marie Anthony is the perfect person. Strangely enough, though, I don’t villify her because she allegedly murdered baby Caylee and dumped her body in the swampy woods. I can’t. I don’t know what it’s like to have a child and be young and hot and want to party. I don’t know if the baby died of neglect and then she hid the evidence. I don’t know.

I do know, however, that she told many, many lies. And that’s why I villify her. I’m sensitive about lies, lying, and liars thanks to an ex-boyfriend whose entire life was a lie, much like the narcissistic Miss Anthony.

Fake job? Check
Cheating? Check
Accidental Pregnancies? Check
Elaborate tales? Check Check Check

May 20, 2009

Yesterday, the motion to drop the civil case was denied and in another blow to the defense, it was decided that Zenaida Gonzalez can ask for punitive damages.

I’m not sure that Morgan & Morgan will ever get any money out of any of the Anthonys, however, I’ve got a feeling that with what they uncover, this will be the real trial.

Padilla Says George Anthony’s Story Is Untrue
Posted: 6:20 pm EDT May 19, 2009

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — California bounty hunter Leonard Padilla says he told investigators that Lee Anthony told him a story that greatly conflicts with George Anthony’s statement about when he last saw Caylee alive.

Eyewitness News found out that her lawyers are trying to keep Padilla’s statement a secret.

George Anthony told investigators he last saw Caylee alive Monday, June 16 as she left with Casey, who he thought was going to work.

It was the day after Father’s Day and the day after witnesses say Casey and Cindy had a terrible fight over money that Casey allegedly stole from Cindy’s mother.

Padilla, who had bonded Casey out of jail in the past, says George’s story is not true. Eyewitness News reporter Kathi Belich talked to Padilla on the phone Tuesday.

Kathi: “George says he saw Caylee the next day.”

Padilla: “She didn’t leave the next day like George said.”

Kathi: “Oh, you think George is lying about that?”

Padilla: “I know he is, yeah.”

Kathi: “How do you know that?”

Padilla: “Because Lee says so.”

Kathi: “What did Lee say?”

Padilla: “Lee says she left that night. She was upset and took off with the baby.”

Kathi: “Lee actually told you that and you told investigators that when you were questioned?”

Padilla: “That’s correct.”

Leonard Padilla says Lee told him Cindy tried to choke Casey on Father’s Day and that’s when she took off with Caylee.

Eyewitness News learned Cindy Anthony denied that ever happened and Casey’s defense team wanted to keep incriminating statements from Padilla and his associates a secret, claiming they were working for the defense.

Padilla says they were not and says after he bonded Casey out of jail, she did not seem desperate to find her missing toddler.

“It’s almost like there was no daughter. There was no daughter missing. There was nothing to be concerned about,” said Padilla.

Jose Baez is expected to depose one of Casey’s friends on Thursday. Then, on May 28, Baez will be back in court to try to get a jail videotape thrown out that supposedly shows Casey’s reaction as she watched the discovery of Caylee’s remains play out on Eyewitness News.

May 14, 2009

Cindy and George on Larry King 2.0 was a whole lot of nothing.

I thought King posed some great questions, but I would have been more persistent in trying to get answers out of them. Why have a lawyer? Why aren’t you looking for the real killer? Why not just visit Casey and tell her you love her without discussing the case? Why are you so insistent that there was NOT a heart sticker on the duct tape over Caylee’s mouth even after forensic evidence shows otherwise? Do you want justice for Caylee even if that means confronting the fact that your daughter might have done something horrible?

I might be getting a bit bored of this case.

May 13, 2009

I think that Narcissistic Personality Disorder can be both learned and inherited. And judging from Cindy Anthony’s behavior in front of the television cameras so far, I don’t think Casey ever had a chance of being a humble, honest person.

Cindy and George have had so many chances for sympathy from the public and yet they seem to blow it each time. I could not believe that I was actually on John Morgan’s side during those depositions last month. We’ll see what they have to say on Larry King tonight.

Casey Anthony: George, Cindy are public-relations flops
George and Cindy Anthony will appear on CNN’s Larry King Live Wednesday
Hal Boedeker
11:28 AM EDT, May 12, 2009

Larry King teased last night to George and Cindy Anthony’s appearance on his CNN show on Wednesday. “A lot of traffic on our blog about it,” King said. He asked viewers to take part in the conversation at CNN.com/LarryKing.

The tragedy of toddler Caylee Anthony mainly drives interest in the perplexing story. Casey Anthony has been charged with murdering her daughter.

But the media performance of George and Cindy, Caylee’s grandparents and Casey’s parents, sustains the public’s interest, too. George and Cindy have done just about everything wrong in public-relations terms, says Ron Sachs. His Ron Sachs Communications in Tallahassee deals in crisis management.

“It’s as bad as it could get,” Sachs says of the way the grandparents have conducted themselves. “It’s a runway train off the tracks, and that usually has one outcome: disaster.”

The problem?

“There’s a stunning lack of discipline in how the story is told,” Sachs says. “When crimes are alleged, long before you get to a court of law, you’re being tried in the court of public opinion. If you don’t speak, it’s almost an admission of guilt. If you speak and perform poorly, it’s worse than an admission of guilt.”

Sachs says the grandparents don’t come off as likable, and they’ve been overexposed.

Mason Moore, director of public relations at Fry Hammond Barr in Orlando, says he would have advised the couple to keep a lower profile. “I didn’t see any positives from them having such high visibility in the beginning,” he says. “They were so visible and outspoken from the beginning. It damaged their credibility.”

Mark NeJame quit as the Anthonys’ attorney in November, saying he couldn’t help them if they wouldn’t take his advice.

“My heart goes out to them, but I continue to spend my energy and time addressing things that might not need to be addressed if I had better control of the case,” NeJame said then.

Brad Conway has taken over as their attorney, but evidently he hasn’t been able to exert control either. The Anthonys made the huge blunder of agreeing to an exclusive interview with Oprah Winfrey, then talking to other outlets, such as CBS’ “Early Show.”

The result: The queen of daytime television dumped the couple. And in this media world, it’s never wise to anger Winfrey.

Now the Anthonys have turned to CNN’s King. They appeared on his show in December, the night before Caylee’s remains were found.

People who have followed the case will watch to see how King pushes the couple to answer questions. Will they say something of value? Or flub another opportunity?

“Anybody in that jackpot of trouble needs to tell their story,” Sachs says. “They don’t need to look like Brad Pitt. They have to be a regular person who’s believable. They have erred on the side of being pathetic, but not sympathetic. It’s one of the worst cases I’ve seen of a poor performance on a giant stage when the stakes are life and death.”

April 20, 2009

Execute Casey? Not a chance — but now she might cut a deal
Mike Thomas | COMMENTARY

State Attorney Lawson Lamar says he wants to kill Casey Anthony, which I suppose is one way of guaranteeing she dies of old age.

The odds of Casey taking a lethal snooze are about equal to the odds she’ll celebrate with milk and cookies if exonerated.

Even Lamar understands that.

For historical reference, I refer you to Richard Adams, an evil psychopath who brutally beat and stomped his 6-year-old daughter Kayla to death. Lake prosecutors tried, but failed, to get a death sentence against him.

And Adams was much more loathsome than Casey. There was no doubt about his guilt. Kayla’s body testified to the horrors of the crime.

Lamar has nothing close to this strong a case against Casey. He has no confession, no cause of death and no indication of premeditation. Evidence consists of Casey’s mysterious and indifferent behavior, her compulsive lying, a piece of fairly common duct tape and iffy evidence that there once was a body in the trunk of the abandoned family Pontiac.

Casey’s defense team may be headed by José Baez, a not-ready-for-prime-time Kissimmee lawyer whom I wouldn’t hire to defend my traffic ticket. But he is backed by some serious talent, including New York defense attorney Linda Kenney Baden, criminalist Henry Lee and forensic scientist Larry Kobilinsky, a regular on Nancy Grace.

I imagine they will put the prosecution’s trunk-sniffing machine — the one used to indicate the presence of a body in the car — on the witness stand and make a convincing case it can’t sniff the difference between a cadaver, a rotten pizza or a bottle of Chanel No. 5.

And any number of expert witnesses could testify that it’s typical for a woman who has lost a daughter to go into shock, forget the mystery nanny’s name, grab a six-pack, call up the gang and put off notifying the cops for a month.

You scoff at this only if you haven’t seen a good lawyer magnify preposterous notions into gaping chasms of reasonable doubt.

Lamar obviously has to be concerned.

So his best offense has become a good bluff: the death penalty. His office resurrected it last week after ruling it out in December. The official explanation is that “sufficient aggravating circumstances” have come to light.

Like what, more pictures of Casey wrapped in an American flag guzzling beer?

This is nothing more than an old prosecutor’s trick.

It goes like this: To get seated for a death-penalty trial, a juror must say during the selection process that he or she is willing to sentence someone to death. This tends to weed out the softies and liberals like Scott Maxwell and myself, giving prosecutors more of a law-and-order jury — one more likely to convict.

Noted Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz claimed prosecutors in Texas used this tactic to get a conviction against Andrea Yates, who drowned her five children in 2001.

“The prosecutors … never really expected, nor even wanted, the jury to return a death sentence,” he wrote in an analysis. “They manipulated the death penalty processing order to get a pro-prosecution jury, more likely to reject the insanity defense and return a verdict of guilt. This tactic, well known to those who practice criminal law, is becoming more widespread in states which authorize the death penalty.”

Her conviction was overturned on appeal, and Yates subsequently was ruled not guilt by reason of insanity.

Jury consultant Beth Bochnak from the National Jury Project, calls this ploy a “massive problem.”

She says the focus on the death penalty during the selection process gives potential jurors the impression that guilt is a foregone conclusion, or else why would everybody be harping on the punishment?

“I recently heard from jurors in a capital [murder] case,” Bochnak says. “One told me about another juror in the deliberations who was completely confused because he thought the guy already was convicted.”

Dershowitz hopes the courts “will finally declare this practice unethical, even unconstitutional.”

Until then, this is Lamar’s best hope to force Casey into a plea deal that could spare his office a long and expensive trial, followed by a very bad outcome.

Not only have prosecutors stacked the deck against her, they have added considerable time and cost to her defense. That may temper the enthusiasm of some of her defenders who obviously won’t be getting paid their normal hourly wage.

And Casey now has something new to think about: the image of being strapped down on a gurney, a jail nurse prepping her veins.

Maybe that will make her squirm enough to end this freak show. If this is prosecutorial misconduct, then this one time I can look the other way.

April 19, 2009

Morals aside, death penalty is flawed
Scott Maxwell | TAKING NAMES

All the Nancy Grace devotees must be thrilled to pieces.

Casey Anthony may die.

For nearly a year now, they’ve eagerly tuned into CNN Headline News every night where they get to ogle titillating party pics of America’s worst mother under the thinly veiled guise of “news.”

And now, they may get to watch her die.

Last week’s news that the prosecution will seek the death penalty sent online message boards into a joyous frenzy.

“Fry baby Fry!” exclaimed someone named “TWM.”

“Bring back the chair. I will pull the switch,” said “Grasscutter.”

“Justin” directed his fellow celebrants to an online game where they could kill an animated version of Anthony themselves.

“Now you can hang her, inject her or rack her!” he proclaimed.

Welcome to modern-day America, where crime as entertainment is the pastime of choice.

The Romans and their coliseums of death had nothing on us.

Welcome also to America’s jury pool.

Lost in all this blood lust is the fact that the death penalty is flawed.

I’ll skip over the moral dilemma and leave that to God and his disciples.

Instead, simply look at the facts: This country has executed the innocent.

That’s not debatable.

And no rationale — be it revenge or legal strategy — is a valid one to perpetuate such an injustice.

People who have been killed in the name of justice have subsequently been exonerated.

Hundreds more have been sentenced to death, spared only because underpaid activists and lawyers — the truly “pro-life” advocates — worked tirelessly on their behalf.

The latest tally from the Death Penalty Information Center counts 131 people exonerated after conviction.

Twenty-two of those have been in Florida — more than any other state.

And those are just mistakes involving the death penalty.

Just this month, authorities in Texas determined that a man who died in jail after 14 years there never committed the rape for which he was convicted.

The judge said the Lubbock police botched the case in many ways. They unfairly lured Timothy Cole into a sting. They used a “suggestive lineup” that led the victim to identify Cole as her attacker. And Cole, the judge said, didn’t even fit the profile of the rapist.

DNA later proved Cole was not the culprit.

“The evidence is crystal clear,” said District Judge Charles Baird, “that he died in prison an innocent man.”

But who really cared about that during the trial? Cole — a college student and military veteran — had been charged. And the community wanted blood.

Sound familiar?

There are other problems with the death penalty.

It’s inherently unfair to the poor — and to men. Wealthy people can hire better attorneys to get them off. And of the 392 people currently on Florida’s Death Row, only one is a woman.

There is also the cost and time of prosecution.

Experts say death-penalty cases can require as much as 10 times more money and time. That means justice for others is delayed. Or ignored.

And for those who argue that seeking the death penalty is just a good legal strategy — a way to get a plea bargain or life sentence — since when is it OK to threaten to kill merely as a tactic? If State Attorney Lawson Lamar is seeking the death penalty for Anthony, he had better be ready to actually kill her.

None of this is to say that Anthony is being unfairly charged with murder.

In fact, you would be hard-pressed to find an unbiased soul who could look at the mountain of circumstantial evidence and reach any other conclusion.

And the crime for which she has been charged — killing her own little angel-eyed daughter, Caylee — is beyond comprehension.

Little girls deserve fairy-tale lives — princess parties and stuffed animals. Daddies who make pancakes with too much syrup. And mommies who let them win at Chutes and Ladders.

The idea of anyone hurting one — much less killing their own — makes the head spin and gut wrench.

And, yes, it generates understandable and instinctive urges to kill in return.

But does that desire for lethal revenge justify perpetuating a system that has also executed the innocent?

The problem is that, for so many engrossed in this story, this is not the time for such philosophical questions.

They want a climactic finale to this story.

And only more blood will do.

April 18, 2009

My type

I think I’ve had a breakthrough in trying to understand why I’m so into this case. It’s the dishonesty. I’m in awe… her entire life was a lie.

If she were a guy, I’m sure I would have dated her at some point.

April 17, 2009

Death Certified

I’m not going to try to play to both sides or even attempt to be fair and balanced: I’ve read and watched all of the evidence released thus far. I am fairly certain Casey Anthony is guilty of Murder One and that she acted alone. How should she be punished then? Life in prison without any hope of parole.

I think the State is making an enormous mistake by pursuing the death penalty. Any death penalty case is a mistake. Not because I don’t think people deserve to die because of their actions, but because I don’t think it’s our right as a civilized society to decide that and to carry it out.

Cost to the taxpayers isn’t an issue. It costs us more to put someone to death with all of the appeals processes then to just ignore them and feed them three squares and let them live out their lives in general pop.

Isn’t the worst punishment to any human being, especially a narcissist like Casey, to forget about them?

I would love to sit on that jury, but I’d never be allowed to because I’m definitely not death certified.

April 13, 2009

Obsessed

Since mid-July 2008, there’s been one news story here. It’s all Casey Anthony, all the time.

And my obsession with the case is as embarrassing as my lust for all things World War II, accordion music, and any quiz involving world maps. I talk about the case a LOT. I’ve driven past the Hope Spring Drive house and the Sawgrass Apartments and the Buffalo Wild Wings, the Target, and the Blockbuster. I know the Subway stakeout parking lot well. I made the pilgrimage to the Suburban Drive lot where the baby’s body was dumped… I didn’t leave a stuffed animal because I thought that would make me obsessive and weird.

I own large white sunglasses and a short-sleeved blue hoodie with the number “82″ emblazoned on the chest. I have an idea to start a tour company to visit all of the places shown every night on the Nancy Grace show, wrapping up at Fusian Ultra Lounge for a few shots and a swing around the stripper pole for the hot body contest.

I’m not the only one. The case is a huge moneymaker for all of the news outlets here. Consequently, some update (or manufactured update) is available everyday at the top of the broadcasts and the newspapers. It’s bigger than The Octomom and The Obama Dog. I’m not going to apologize for getting involved in a crazy sensational media-hyped phenomenon. I want to know everything there is. I’ve read the thousands of pages of The Documents. I’ve watched and/or listened to all of the interviews. I could probably tell you who the 150 or so people are on the State’s Witness list. And the trial doesn’t even start until October.

If you’re not familiar with the case, you probably have a much richer life than I do. This piece has a comprehensive summary of all of the evidence, the interviews, the articles, the documents in the sidebar on the left.

If you don’t want to spend days watching The Videos of Lies and reading the PDFs of Shame, the short of it is, a girl, Casey Anthony, 22 years old, was the single mom of 2 year old Caylee. They lived with Casey’s parents, George and Cindy Anthony, and saw them everyday. Something happened in mid-June 2008, though, that caused Casey to leave the family house with baby Caylee and not come back. Casey managed to put her parents, specifically Cindy, off for a month, telling them she was busy with work, visiting a boyfriend in Jacksonville, etc..

On July 15th, George and Cindy got a notice from a towing company that they had picked up Casey’s abandoned car from an Amscot parking lot two weeks earlier. When they went to pick up the car, there was a horrible smell, described by George as the odor of decomposition, coming from the trunk. Cindy tracked Casey down at her boyfriend’s apartment using information she found in the car and confronted Casey, demanding to know where baby Caylee was. Casey was defiant and said, “She’s fine, she’s with the nanny.” In order to get Casey to talk, Cindy called 911. Two or three times. Casey finally said, “Well, I haven’t seen Caylee in 31 days. The nanny kidnapped her.”

Six months later, in December, the baby’s remains, just bones, were found 1/4 mile from the Anthony house, with duct tape over the mouth and a heart sticker on top of the tape.

There are many many other lies that Casey would tell and still continues to tell. There’s Zanny the Nanny whom no one has ever seen or heard of and there are no phone records, email records, or residential records of. There’s the fake job at Universal which she pretended to have for two years and even took police detectives there to show them her office. The fake job even had fake co-workers… one named Juliet Lewis. There’s the fake boyfriend, Jeff Hopkins, she was supposedly spending time with in Jacksonville. There are all of the stories about who Caylee’s father really was.

But a liar isn’t necessarily a murderer.

The biggest red flag for me is that her baby was missing for 31 days before being reported. And it wasn’t even Casey who reported it. She insists she was “looking for Caylee through other avenues”… but photographs show her out at a club during that time whooping it up during a hot body contest. There’s the surveillance footage of her in a Blockbuster renting movies with her boyfriend and in a Target using her former friend’s checks to buy bras and beer and those white sunglasses. Friends say she met up with them at a Buffalo Wild Wings for a UFC fight and downtown at The Dragon Room for drinking and dancing.

I know there isn’t a “playbook for grief”… but is this the behavior of someone whose child has been kidnapped and who is subsequently being threatened to keep quiet?