Casey Anthony’s attorneys challenge probation ruling(Photo-Video)

ORLANDO, Fla. — Casey Anthony attorneys appeared at the Orange County Courthouse late Tuesday to block an attempt to put the young woman on probation for her old check-fraud case.

Defense attorney Cheney Mason filed an emergency motion for a hearing "to quash, vacate and set aside"

Judge Stan Strickland’s recent amended order regarding Anthony’s probation.

The motion says Strickland’s amended order was "made with a reckless disregard for Ms. Anthony’s due process and civil rights."

The attorneys reacted after Strickland signed amended court documents Monday requiring Anthony to serve one year of supervised probation — as he originally intended when he sentenced her in a check-fraud case in January 2010.

The emergency motion argues Strickland lost jurisdiction in this case because the amended order was made more than 60 days after his original.

"Additionally, the order was fraudulently entered," Mason’s motion states. "There was no attempt to notice the defendant or her counsel (however, the media had ample notice), the defendant has not signed the order as required, and the statement on the order was not filed during any proceedings in open court, as stated in the order."

The motion goes on to say: "Ms. Anthony actually did serve probation, as evidence(d) by her record with the Florida Department of Corrections. Any second sentence for probation imposed will be in violation of Ms. Anthony’s rights of protection against double jeopardy under both the Florida state and United States Constitution."

The pleading accuses Strickland of "unbridled prejudice" due to statements he made on television following Anthony’s acquittal in the more serious murder case last month.

Anthony, 25, left the Orange County Jail on July 17 after her acquittal at trial on charges of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee Marie, in 2008.

Officials put Anthony on probation while she was in the Orange County Jail. But after Anthony was released from jail, Strickland stated that he intended her to serve her probation on check-fraud and related convictions after her release from jail.

That sentence was not spelled out clearly in some court documents, but it was stated by Strickland during Anthony’s sentencing in open court on Jan. 25, 2010, according to video and printed transcripts of that proceeding.

If Strickland’s order is not vacated and set aside, Mason asks for "administrative probation" because anything requiring Anthony to return to Orange County will "put her in great peril, as well as impose a significant cost to taxpayers in securing her safety."

The motion says Anthony has received several threats to her life. Mason included one of the threats as an exhibit. It has a picture of Anthony with a mark in the center of her forehead. Beneath the picture read the words: "Keep Smiling (expletive) With a forehead that big, the headshot will be easier."

Court administration spokeswoman Karen Levey said no hearing has been set yet on the probation matter. In addition, Strickland is out of the office this week, so it was not immediately clear who would hear the motion. Before leaving, however, Strickland said future issues in the case would be taken up by Chief Judge Belvin Perry.

Casey Anthony trial: Judge fed up with bickering attorneys(Video)

The constant courtroom bickering between defense attorney José Baez and prosecutor Jeff Ashton may have had its final showdown Sunday.
The tension between the two opposing attorneys in the Casey Anthony murder case has been obvious since

the start and has led to at least one public courtroom apology to Ashton from Baez.
Outside the presence of the jury Sunday, Baez complained to Chief Judge Belvin Perry about Ashton's facial expressions during the defense attorney's closing argument.
Then, later in the day, during a heated portion of his closing argument, Baez referred to Ashton as that "laughing guy."
Ashton immediately objected — in a rare move for closings, Perry called a sidebar and then sent the jury out. There was concern among all the parties that the judge would find them in contempt or level some other sanction.
Perry called a recess and watched video from the courtroom — footage the lawyers also reviewed. Ashton, who also reviewed the tape, told the judge he appeared to be smiling behind his hand and apologized.
Baez asked that Ashton not be held in contempt but said the prosecutor's behavior needed to stop. Baez also apologized for his remark.
Perry said he accepted their apologies — for now.
 

Anthony Defense: Prosecution Evidence a Fantasy
"If it happens again, the remedy will be exclusion of that attorney from further representation at these proceedings," Perry said. "Enough is enough."
Perry last week issued an order outlining what prosecutors and defense attorneys cannot say during closing arguments, which began Sunday and will continue today.
Among his edicts: "Counsel shall avoid using derogatory terms or characterizations when referring to Defendant, a witness, or opposing counsel and shall not make any disparaging comments about counsel's occupation or performance in court."

Casey Anthony Trial Draws to a Close: What Will the Jury Decide?

After more than 33 days of testimony and 400 pieces of evidence, the Casey Anthony trial is finally coming to a close. On Sunday, closing arguments will begin and the lawyers will have their last chance to try to persuade the jury before they deliberate.
With each side's case deficient in definitive evidence, Florida A&M; professor Karin Moore said jurors might lean on the most glaring thing presented to them.

That could mean judging Casey Anthony's actions during the month Caylee was missing, Moore said.
"If she knew her child had died or was missing, she was not acting like a grieving mother," Moore said. "It may be enough for a jury."
Casey Anthony is charged with first-degree murder (which would mean a possible death sentence or life in prison if convicted), aggravated child abuse (a 30-year prison term), aggravated manslaughter of a child (a 30-year prison term), and four counts of providing false information to law enforcement.
What do you think the jury will decide?

Closing arguments to begin in Casey Anthony trial(Video)

Closing arguments are expected to begin Sunday in the Florida murder trial of Casey Anthony, the woman charged in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.
Prosecutors contended at trial that Anthony killed her daughter in June 2008 by covering the child's mouth with duct tape. Prosecutors told jurors the woman dumped the girl's body in woods near her parents' home and then resumed her life of partying and shopping.

Defense attorneys, without offering firm proof of how Caylee died, countered at trial that the toddler accidently drowned in the family swimming pool.
A medical examiner never determined precisely how Caylee died.
Casey Anthony has pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder. She could face a possible death sentence or life in prison if convicted of that charge.

Anthony trial enters 30th day

The trial of a Florida mother charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter resumes in an Orlando courtroom, a day after her attorneys sought a mistrial and a judge ruled that she was competent to continue the trial.
Testimony resumes Tuesday morning, a day after Casey Anthony's attorneys asked the judge to select a new jury. The attorneys sought the mistrial based on a ruling by a federal judge in Miami last week. It declared Florida's death penalty unconstitutional.

Anthony has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and could face the death penalty if convicted of that charge.
The trial judge ruled Anthony is competent after her attorneys asked that she get a mental evaluation.

Casey Anthony trial enters 3rd week

The third week of the Casey Anthony murder trial gets underway Monday. On the second week, that ended Saturday, jurors had a front-row seat to the vivid yet imaginary world the Florida mother created in the weeks after 2-year-old daughter Caylee disappeared in 2008. The jury heard detailed stories from Anthony's mother and her brother, of her business trips to Tampa and visits to an old flame that later proved to be false. Jurors also heard recordings of Anthony's police interviews, jailhouse visits and a 911 call.

Anthony is charged with seven counts, including first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and misleading police in the 2008 death of daughter Caylee. The last time the little girl was seen was June 16, 2008. The girl's grandmother, Cindy, reported her missing on July 15, 2008. Caylee's body was found five months later, in a wooded area less than a mile from the Anthony family home in eastern Orange County. Anthony, 25, has denied harming her daughter or having anything to do with the little girl's disappearance or death. Her lawyer has said that once all the facts were known, it will become clear his client is innocent. In a July 16, 2008, police interview, which the jury heard Thursday, Orange County Sheriff's Sgt. John Allen told Anthony the time had come to reveal the truth. "By burying this ... you are not going to get yourself to a better place, OK?" Allen said. "What you're going to do is you're going to cause everybody else around you to suffer. And at some point this is going to come out; it always does." Anthony heard the same sentiment expressed during in a jailhouse phone conversation with her mother, also on July 16, 2008. When Anthony blames her mother for her being in jail, Cindy Anthony fights back. "Well, whose fault is your sitting in the jail?" she asked her daughter. "Blame yourself for telling lies." The excusesTestimony earlier in the trial in Orlando revealed that Anthony lied to her parents and avoided them for 31 days in the summer of 2008 while Caylee was supposedly missing. During the second week of the trial, jurors learned more about what Anthony told her parents during that time and what she was actually doing. From the witness stand Tuesday, Anthony's mother described heated confrontations with her daughter on July 15, 2008, after she learned Anthony had been lying about her whereabouts for a month. The stories began with Anthony saying she was having a sleepover with a nanny named Zenaida "Zanny" Gonzalez. Then, Anthony said she was out of town on a work trip to Tampa, Florida. By the fourth week, Anthony's story was that she was out of town visiting an old boyfriend named Jeffrey Michael Hopkins. Cindy Anthony caught her daughter in her lies by discovering she was, in fact, in Orlando with a different boyfriend. By the time her mother called 911 to report Caylee missing, Anthony had a new story. "I know who has her. She's been my nanny for about a year-and-a-half, almost two years," Anthony told the operator in the July 15, 2008, call, which jurors heard Tuesday. When asked by the operator why she waited so long to report her daughter missing, Anthony replied, "I have been looking for her and have gone through other resources to try to find her, which was stupid." The characters In the following days, Gonzalez's alleged role would expand from an occasionally-mentioned nanny to a central character in Caylee's disappearance. When initially questioned by Orange County Detective Yuri Melich on July 16, 2008, about Gonzalez, Anthony provided a description of her without hesitation. That interview was played Wednesday. Anthony said she'd known Gonzalez for four years after they met working together at Universal Studios. She provided a physical description of Gonzalez, her address, even her mother's name. Other characters were also fleshed out. Hopkins, a former Universal Studios co-worker, according to Anthony, lived in Jacksonville and had a son named Zachary who played with Caylee. And then there was Juliette Lewis, another co-worker at Universal, who now lived in New York, Anthony said. She also had a daughter Caylee's age. Anthony claimed she called Lewis and Hopkins when she realized Caylee was missing. But prosecutors claim Anthony was not looking for her daughter in the month she was missing. Instead, she was staying with her boyfriend, spending time in Orlando with friends, attending parties, going shopping and hitting nightclubs, according to testimony from friends, her former boyfriend, and acquaintances, who also said that she did not mention her daughter being missing during that time. Anthony's frustration level with her parents, particularly her mother, was rising around the time Caylee disappeared, friend Amy Huizenga testified Tuesday. "I remember she told me her mom had told her she was an unfit mother. She was extremely upset about that," Huizenga said. But Anthony also was agitated at her mother because she had to cancel plans "fairly frequently" when no one was available to watch her daughter, Huizenga testified. In late June, Huizenga said, Anthony told her that she was keeping Caylee away from her parents, as they were having marital problems and were considering divorce, and "she wanted to keep Caylee out of the drama." 'Fessing upOn Thursday, Detective Melich described the day Anthony was finally forced to admit her lies, at least in part. On July 16, 2008, Melich worked with Universal Studios to scour the employee database. Anthony was in the database, but she hadn't been affiliated with Universal for years. Melich also found no record of Gonzalez or Lewis. A Jeffrey Hopkins was found, but never worked for the company at the same time as Anthony. Gonzalez's supposed apartment had also been found vacant. Anthony voluntarily met Melich at Universal Studios to discuss the matter. Melich testified Thursday that he watched Anthony try to enter the park without a badge, then attempted to lead him to her office before being forced to admit she didn't have one. "I can tell you just for certainty everything you've told me so far has been a lie," Melich said in a recorded interview played for the jury on Thursday. "I've gone to every address that you've told me. I've looked up every name, I've talked to every person that you wanted me to talk or try to. And found out all these names you're giving me are people that either never worked here or been fired a long time ago, OK?" Anthony conceded she didn't work at Universal and that the people she had described as her co-workers did not exist. Yet she continued to blame Gonzalez for the disappearance of her child. Cindy Anthony said her daughter had been telling her about Gonzalez along with numerous other people -- a boyfriend, a co-worker and a man named Eric Baker, whom she believed to be Caylee's father -- for years before Caylee went missing. At the time, she said, she never had a reason to believe those people were fictitious. "I just found out they were imaginary people," she testified. A Zenaida Gonzalez was later found, but she had no affiliation with Anthony aside from having filled out a guest card at the Orlando apartment complex where Anthony claimed the nanny lived. The apartment where Anthony said Gonzalez lived was found to be vacant, and there was no record of Gonzalez in the Universal Studios employee database. Anthony has denied killing her daughter. She faces the death penalty if convicted.

No Go for Message Evidence in Florida Mom's Trial

Prosecutors are looking to refocus their case Saturday against an Orlando woman accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter after a judge rebuffed their attempts to allow instant messages to be introduced as evidence that they say go toward her motive. The prosecution on Friday did present its strongest witness against 25-year-old Casey Anthony, who is charged with first-degree murder in Caylee Anthony's death in the summer of 2008. The manager of a towing yard where the defendant's car was kept for more

than two weeks during that summer testified that he smelled an odor coming from her car consistent with decomposing bodies he'd smelled in the past. The defense argued in its opening statement that the smell was actually from a bag of trash Anthony left in her car. Birch said he has spent 30 years in the towing business as well as two years in waste management, and had come across deceased bodies at least eight times. He said he first noticed the smell coming from the car on the fourth day her 1998 Pontiac was parked on his yard. The car had been towed after spending four days in an Amscot parking lot. It stayed there from June 30 to July 15, when Anthony's parents retrieved it. "In my opinion and experience, the smell of decomposition is unique in comparison to rotten food or rotting garbage," Birch said. His testimony went largely unchallenged by the defense. However, late in the day, prosecutors failed to survive a defense challenge of their attempt to introduce computer instant messages between Anthony and an ex-boyfriend. With the jury sent out of the room by Judge Belvin Perry, the state argued the messages, which included sexually laced chatter between Anthony and Tony Lazzaro, help establish the motive for killing her 2-year-old daughter. Judge Belvin Perry was shaky on that premise and initially requested extra time to review all of the content. "What does that tend to prove or disprove?" Perry asked at one point. But after a recess the prosecution withdrew its motion to introduce the evidence, though it could try to get it admitted later Prosecutors contend she Casey Anthony suffocated Caylee with duct tape. Anthony's defense team says the child drowned accidently in a family pool. If convicted, she could be sentenced to death. Her father, George Anthony, testified for the third time in four days Friday and said his mind was racing when he arrived to pick up the car and observed the smell in her car. "That particular smell, whenever you smell it, is something you'll never forget," he said. "...I don't know if I said it out loud or whispered, but I said 'Please God, don't let this be Casey or Caylee.'" Under cross-examination, defense attorney Jose Baez tried to shake the father on some details of the tow yard visit, including why he knew to bring a can of gas with him for the car and whether it was Anthony or Birch who first decided to open the trunk. Anthony and Baez also clashed over if it was a bag of trash in the trunk or the trunk itself that was the source of the odor. Later state attorney Jeff Ashton became agitated at questions he repeatedly objected to as argumentative. He also took issue with a suggestion to Anthony by Baez that the reason he might not have wanted to touch the bag of trash was because he knew its contents could be evidence of Caylee's death. Part of the defense's theory is that George Anthony found Caylee drowned and helped dispose of the body. Mallory Parker, the fiancée of Casey Anthony's brother Lee, was prosecutors' first witness of the day. She described how she and Lee searched for Casey in Orlando bars in the summer of 2008 when her family hadn't seen her in many days. But Parker also said that Anthony had a special relationship with her daughter and at one point broke down in tears under cross examination when Baez asked here to describe the interactions between them. Casey also wiped away tears during Parker's testimony. "It was amazing," Parker said. "Casey and Caylee had a special bond."

Murder trial witnesses say they saw no change in Casey Anthony's behavior

One month after prosecutors say a Florida mother murdered her two-year-old daughter and left the body in garbage bags in a wooded area, she invited an acquaintance to the toddler’s upcoming birthday party, an Orlando courtroom was told Wednesday. The mother, Casey Anthony, continued to suggest for weeks after the alleged murder that her daughter, Caylee, was staying with a nanny or that she had to leave soon to pick the little girl up. “She said she had to pick up her daughter.… She said that her birthday was the next month and I was invited to her birthday party,” said Jamie Realander in testimony Wednesday, the second day of Ms. Anthony’s expected two-month murder trial in an Orlando courtroom.

Ms. Realander met Anthony while working at a local night club. “She invited you to her daughter’s birthday party the next month?” asked Assistant State Attorney Frank George. “Yes,” Ms. Realander replied. According to Realander the conversation took place on July 15, 2008. That date is significant because prosecutors allege that sometime on June 16 – a month earlier – Anthony used chloroform to subdue the toddler and then affixed duct tape over her mouth and nose before hiding the body. Caylee would have been three years old on August 9, 2008 – her birthday. If convicted, Anthony faces a death sentence. Web of lies is alleged According to prosecutors, Anthony’s repeated references to her daughter from mid-June to mid-July were all part of an intricate web of lies calculated to cover up a premeditated murder. But the apparent lies are only part of the story. Rather than the one-dimensional monster portrayed by the state attorneys office, the view of Anthony emerging from trial witnesses is far more complex and perhaps ultimately inscrutable. Every witness has portrayed her as a loving, caring mother. There is no dispute on this point. There has been no testimony – at least so far – that she felt burdened by motherhood, or that the toddler was excessively interfering in her social life. Her former boyfriend, Tony Lazzaro, testified Wednesday that he had no problem with her being a mother. “You knew she had a daughter,” Defense Lawyer Jose Baez said on cross-examination. “You didn’t have any issues about dating a girl who had a child?” “No,” Mr. Lazzaro answered. Growing romance They had met in late May, a few weeks before Caylee’s disappearance. The timing of the alleged murder and the trajectory of their growing romance is chilling. During direct examination, Assistant State Attorney George had Lazzaro recount for the jury the events of June 16 – the alleged murder day – and the days that followed. He said he met Anthony on the evening of June 16 and they went to a Blockbuster Video. The security camera in the video store captured the two, walking like lovers, arm and arm. The implication for the jury is that Anthony had just spent much of the day murdering her daughter and hiding her body before meeting her boyfriend for a carefree evening. “How would you describe her demeanor,” the prosecutor asked. “It was the way she was every day, happy,” Lazzaro said. “Happy to see me.” Did she cry or act scared? No. Was she nervous? Did she tell you her daughter was missing? No. Was there any difference in the way she acted? No. Anthony and Lazzaro stayed together for the next 36 hours. Lazzaro told the prosecutor he “played hooky” from college the next day, remaining in his apartment. “Why,” the prosecutor asked. “I didn’t feel like leaving my bed,” he said. The defense's version The defense attorney, Mr. Baez, told the jury in his opening remarks on Tuesday that Anthony’s repeated lies are a symptom of years of sexual abuse by her father and brother. It is her way of coping, he said, to find an alternate reality and essentially hide in plain sight. According to Baez, Anthony did not kill her daughter, who died in a swimming pool accident. The body was discovered, Baez says, by Anthony and her father, George. The accident was supposedly covered up to prevent investigators from discovering the long history of incest in the Anthony family, he suggested. Prosecutors sought to counter the effects of this explosive defense gambit by immediately calling George Anthony to the stand Tuesday as the trial’s first witness. He said he did not know how his granddaughter died and he repeatedly denied sexually abusing his daughter. During Lazzaro’s cross examination, Baez sought to return to the theme of sexual abuse. He asked Lazzaro if there came a time when Anthony shared a secret with him about her father abusing her. “Yes,” he said. Prosecutors objected to the question and answer because the answer was hearsay. Lazzaro wouldn’t necessarily know the truth of the statement, just what Anthony told him. The judge sustained the objection. Anthony is accused of first-degree murder in the disappearance and death of Caylee, who was last seen alive on June 15, 2008. Her remains were discovered six months later in December in a wooded area not far from the family’s home. Law enforcement was not told that Caylee was missing until mid-July after Anthony’s parents called 911. At one point, Anthony said her daughter was kidnapped by her nanny, but the story was later dismissed. The case touched off a nationwide search, with tips flooding in from across the country until the body was discovered.

Casey Anthony trial opens in Orlando with defense claiming 2-year-old Caylee drowned

ORLANDO — With Geraldo Rivera and Nancy Grace in the courtroom, the Florida murder trial that has fueled a cottage industry of cable television coverage took more tabloid turns on Tuesday, the first day of testimony.

This is an Orlando trial with Pinellas County jurors who must decide if Casey Anthony killed her 2-year-old daughter in the summer of 2008. It's also a captivating drama with its own cult following — a case in which duct tape is the purported murder weapon and jurors may consider whether air samples taken from Anthony's car trunk contain the smell of death.

And like a John Grisham thriller with unending plot twists, defense attorney Jose Baez dropped a series of bombshells in his opening statement that only added to the swarming media interest.

Baez said Casey Anthony did not kill little Caylee — on purpose or otherwise. He said Caylee loved to swim and managed to get into the family swimming pool, where she drowned.

Baez suggested that Anthony's mother, Cindy, forgot to pull up a ladder by the pool, and that Caylee slipped into the water the next day when no one was looking.

The distraught family panicked and didn't call police, he said.

"Casey should have called 911. That's what she's guilty of, she's not guilty of murder. This is not a murder case," Baez said.

Baez didn't say in his opening statement how he believes Caylee's body was disposed of — or by whom.

It took months to find Caylee's body in the woods less than a half-mile from her home. The search for the missing girl catapulted the case onto cable television shows. Baez suggested this long wait was because Caylee's remains were hidden for months by a "morally bankrupt" meter reader who later staged a discovery of the body, hoping to get reward money.

Baez didn't make it clear how he thinks this man obtained the remains originally.

The defense lawyer's opening statements gave the public the first glimpse of how Casey Anthony explains her unusual behavior around the time her daughter vanished.

But Baez wasn't through.

In an effort to explain why Anthony did not reveal the accident to anyone for a full month, Baez said it was a symptom of her past sexual abuse — at the hands of her father, George Anthony.

Baez claimed George Anthony "inappropriately touched her starting at age 8" and that the abuse continued for several years.

As Baez unspooled his tale, George Anthony sat in the courtroom audience listening.

The Orlando Sentinel reported that during a recess, George and Cindy Anthony were seen in an elevator, and "were visibly enraged and shaken by the opening" statements.

Later in the afternoon, George Anthony took the stand as the first witness for the prosecution.

Asked by a prosecutor if he ever abused his daughter, he said "no sir," shaking his head and setting his jaw.

At the defense table, Casey Anthony shook her head and, at times, cried.

After court adjourned, George Anthony's attorney, Mark Lippman, released this statement: "George and Cindy Anthony are shocked and appalled that the defense would resort to lies about them in today's opening statement. Baez's idle speculation today certainly are not facts. The only result achieved by the defense in this statement was to further hurt this grieving family."

Baez also claimed that Casey's brother made advances toward her and was given a paternity test to see if he was Caylee's father. All those secrets eventually led to the cover-up of Caylee's drowning, Baez said.

"You will hear about a family that is dysfunctional," Baez said. "Ugly things. Secret things."

The defense's dramatic, free-wheeling opening contrasted with the methodical opening statement by Assistant State Attorney Linda Drane Burdick, who laid out her case with procedural precision.

For the first time publicly, Burdick explained how prosecutors believe Caylee died. Though an autopsy did not provide conclusive proof of a cause of death, Burdick said Caylee died after three pieces of duct tape were placed over her nose and mouth.

Burdick also said Casey Anthony led a double life. While living with her parents and her daughter, she dressed for work every day at Universal Studios — even though she was really unemployed.

She invented a babysitter who supposedly cared for the child. Her charade was so ingrained that when detectives interviewed her about her missing daughter, she took them into Universal to talk to co-workers. They got all the way into the administration building before she finally admitted lying about her work, Burdick said.

Burdick also said the trunk of Anthony's car contained clues of the girl's death. A sample of a tire cover in the trunk was evaluated by an expert, who found it had "the unmistakable odor of human decomposition," she said. Air samples were taken to preserve the odor.

The same tire cover also had high levels of chloroform, she said. And someone had used the family computer to make several Internet searches for "chloroform," "neck-breaking" and how to make weapons from household chemicals.

Burdick made her case not only with words but with pictures. She showed jurors the last known photo of Caylee, taken by her mother. It was a shot of the little girl grinning wide, a coloring book in front of her.

Then she showed the next known photograph of Caylee — a vivid image of the toddler's skeletal remains, which had been wrapped in a Winnie the Pooh blanket and several plastic bags.

The 12 jurors and five alternates were selected in Pinellas County because of the intense media coverage in Orlando. They will stay in an Orlando hotel for an estimated six to eight weeks while hearing the case.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.