Holy hell, what a day, what a day! Where to begin...
Key Players
Prosecution
J. Ashton
L. Burdick
Defense
J. Baez
C. Mason
Defendant
Casey Marie Anthony
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| Krystal Holloway |
Alright, this morning, the first witness to testify was Ms. Krystal Holloway a.k.a River Cruz, the alleged mistress to one, George Anthony, father of the defendant. Her testimony revealed a nervous presence about her statements and at one point, during sidebar, she removed her dress jacket. Her testimony did not prove anything for the defense, though they tried to include her testimony as evidence of the death of little Caylee Anthony. State objected and gave requested instruction to Judge Belvin Perry, to allow the jury to accept her testimony as an impeachment of George Anthony's testimony, but not as evidence of the death. Holloway testified that G. Anthony said, "it was an accident that snowballed out of control." She never said he caused the accident or knew who caused the accident. Perry allowed the testimony as impeachment only, with instruction not to take it as evidence of the death.
Next on the stand was George Anthony. The questions Baez posed were about a video showing a command center that Anthony had worked and questioned the location of the center. Baez never brought up the question of whether Holloway was indeed his mistress, whether he abused Casey, or whether he knew for a fact how the 'accident' occurred.
Enter Cindy Anthony,
mother of the defendant, who was then questioned about the burial practices of the family pets. She stated that the first pet they had, prior to her children being born, was buried in Ohio and that the dog was euthanized at the vet, and then handed to her, wrapped in a blanket she had taken, and taped securely. The other pets (and there were a lot) were buried in the families back yard in Florida. All among the same practices, wrapped in cloth of some sort, placed in black garbage bags and wrapped with packing tape, 'at every 1/3'... which would be appropriately described as the neck and waist/hips. She was asked if her children ever assisted with this. She stated that Lee had on occasion and Casey had when she was older. She stated that the dogs were never euthanized with chloroform.
Lee Anthony, brother of the defendant, was then called to the stand and asked the same questions. He advised that he assisted with burying a couple of the deceased family pets. He reiterated what Cindy had said, except he used the words duct tape.
State had finally received their documents from Gentiva (Cindy Anthony's previous employer) and had not had time to go through them entirely but felt determined they held vital information that would impeach her testimony about being home when the computer searches for chloroform had been made. And wouldn't you know Baez through a hissy fit. He objected immediately claiming he did not know these were available and made a motion to have them not entered into evidence on grounds of discovery, claiming they were not allowed based on being added after they rested their case.
Linda Burdick took the podium to explain to Judge Perry the defense was aware they may arrive and in fact, she had called Baez's office late last week and early this week to remind them. Baez claimed they were inadmissible because Perry had already laid the evidence foundation and the grounds for entering evidence. Long story short, the evidence was admitted on the stipulation that Defense is allowed to have a documents examiner go through the information to make sure it is validated and has not been tampered with. In addition, Judge Perry asked several questions as to the knowledge of whether Baez knew Cindy Anthony would lie about the information contained in the documents should they be admitted and to my understanding, Baez stated she would/did. I'm still iffy on the issue with that, but in any event, tweets and chat room chatter stated should the evidence prove she lied, perjury charges may be brought up. Immediately after the discussion between Attorneys and Judge Perry, Cindy and her attorney left the courtroom. Cindy arrived back after the jury read the suicide note written by George Anthony. You can read the first page of the note here.
One can't help but wonder if the state proved their case enough to get a conviction from the jury. We've heard testimony from experts, volunteers, good Samaritans and the list goes on and on. But have they proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Casey killed her daughter. The following are some pictures to remind you of why we value the justice system.
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| Caylee Marie Anthony |
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| Caylee Marie Anthony |
And these picture show you just how evil someone can be to destroy a life so innocent, so fragile, and so undeserving as to how she was taken out of this world.
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| The day remains of a small child were found. |
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| Child skull and surround garbage. |
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| Child skull, surrounding garbage and foliage. |
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| Child skull, foliage and black garbage bag(s). |
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| Depiction unknown, surrounding foliage, black garbage bag. |
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| Matthew Bartlett |
The remainder of the afternoon went to something a little more outlandish. While court was in session, a 28 year old male by the name of Matthew Bartlett was spotted and photographed giving Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Ashton the bird. Ladies and gentlemen, this sort of stuff doesn't just get made up. I witnessed for myself, two court officers escort this man to the podium where he faces the judge. Bartlett apologized for his dastardly deed, but it did not go unpunished. Perry ordered the man to spend 6 days in the Orange County Jail and to pay a $400.00 + court costs fine ($623.00). To read more about the event, go to this site. To see him do it, click here.
All in all, it was an eventful day. The defense rested their case (having not met their opening statement of how they would show this death to be an accidental drowning, nor any allegations of sexual abuse towards their client). One can only hope that true justice will prevail. You know the jury must be getting antsy with the Independence Holiday coming up. Prosecutions rebuttals are scheduled for tomorrow and we are hoping to hear closing arguments on Saturday.
Until tomorrow my fellow courtroom junkies,
LaVonda
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