Casey Anthony

Caylee Marie Anthony (August 9, 2005 – c. June 16, 2008)[1] was an American child who disappeared in June 2008, attracting national attention. Her body was discovered five months later.[2] Her mother, Casey Anthony, was indicted on charges of first-degree murder on October 14, 2008, and was in county jail when jury selection for her trial began May 9, 2011. Casey Anthony has maintained she did not harm her daughter and that she is innocent of all charges.

Casey Anthony: Ex-Boyfriend Testifies


Casey Anthony Trial Stops, Judge Scolds Lawyers



Disappearance

On July 13, 2008, while doing yard work, Cindy and George Anthony found a notice from the post office for a certified letter affixed on their front door. George Anthony picked up the certified letter from the post office on July 15 2008, and found out that their daughter's car was in a tow yard.[3] George told an employee at the tow yard and later the police that when he picked up the car, the smell of the car had made him afraid that his daughter and granddaughter could be deceased in the trunk.[4] When the trunk was opened it contained a bag of trash.[5]

Caylee Anthony was reported missing to the Orange County Sheriff's Office on July 15, 2008, [6] by her grandmother, Cynthia "Cindy" Anthony. In the same call, Casey Anthony acknowledged to the operator that her daughter had been missing "for 31 days."[7][8] Caylee had lived in her grandparents' home with her mother, Casey Anthony, until June 15, 2008.[6] According to George Anthony, Caylee's grandfather, Casey left the family's home on June 16, 2008,[6] taking Caylee, who was almost 3, with her.[9] Cindy asked repeatedly during the month to see Caylee but Casey stated she was too busy with a work assignment in Tampa. At other times, she said Caylee was with a nanny, later identified by Casey as Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez, at theme parks or the beach.[10]

Casey Anthony was first arrested on July 16, 2008,[6] and was charged the following day with giving false statements, neglect of a child, and obstruction of a criminal investigation. The judge denied bail, saying Casey had shown "woeful disregard for the welfare of her child".[11]
[edit] Investigation

When Detective Yuri Melich, with the Orange County Sheriff's Department, began investigating the disappearance of Caylee Anthony, he found discrepancies in what her mother, Casey Anthony, had told law enforcement in her signed statement.[12] When questioned, Casey said her child was with a nanny. The nanny, however, was never seen by Casey's parents or her friends, boyfriends, family, or acquaintances.[10][11]

On August 11, 12, and 13, 2008, tips of a suspicious object found in a forested area near the Anthony residence were called in to police by a utility worker. After another report on December 11, 2008, the remains were found in a plastic bag.[13][14][15][16] [17] On December 12, the remains were tentatively identified as Caylee's.[18]

On August 21, 2008, Casey Anthony was released after one month of incarceration. She was released from the Orange County jail after her $500,200 bond was posted by California bail bondsman Leonard Padilla.[19] She was arrested again on August 29, 2008, on charges of forgery, fraudulent use of personal information, and petty theft for forging $700 worth of checks and using her friend's credit cards without permission.[20] Leonard Padilla, whose nephew posted Casey Anthony's $500,200 bail, stated that if he had known before the bail was posted what he learned later, and that Anthony would not cooperate with him, he probably would not have helped get her out of jail.[21]

On December 15, WFTV reported that more bones were found in the wooded area near where the skull was discovered.[22] On December 19, 2008, medical examiner Jan Garavaglia confirmed that the remains found were those of Caylee Anthony. The death was ruled a homicide and cause of death listed as undetermined.[23]
[edit] Arrests and charges
Casey Anthony

Casey Anthony's mugshot
Born Casey Marie Anthony
March 19, 1986 (age 25)[24]
Warren, Ohio, U.S.

Casey Anthony was offered a limited immunity deal by prosecutors until September 2, 2008, but did not take it.[25] Casey Anthony was arrested for the third time on September 15, 2008, on new charges of theft,[26] and was released shortly afterward.[27]

On September 5, 2008, Casey Anthony was released again on bail after being fitted with an electronic tracking device.[28] Her $500,000 bond was posted anonymously,[29] and it was later revealed that her parents, Cindy and George Anthony, signed a promissory note for the bond.[30]

On October 14, 2008, Casey Anthony was indicted by a grand jury on charges of first-degree murder and was arrested for the fourth time. She entered a plea of not-guilty to the charges that she killed Caylee.[27] On October 21, 2008, the charges of child neglect were dropped against Casey. In a statement that morning, the State Attorney's Office explained: "The neglect charges were premised on the theory that Caylee was still alive. As the investigation progressed and it became clear that the evidence proved that the child was deceased, the State sought an indictment on the legally appropriate charges."[31]

On April 14, 2009, prosecutors announced that they plan to seek the death penalty in this case.[32]
[edit] Publicity

The case attracted a large amount of national media attention, and was regularly the main topic of many talk shows, including those hosted by Greta Van Susteren, Nancy Grace, Geraldo Rivera, and others. It has been featured on Fox's America's Most Wanted,[33] NBC's Dateline, and ABC's 20/20.

Grace labelled Casey Anthony the "tot mom"[34][35][36] and urged the public to let "the professionals, the psychics and police" do their job.[6][37][38][39][40]

Casey Anthony's parents, Cindy and George, appeared on The Today Show on October 22, 2008. They maintained their belief that Caylee was alive and would be found.[41] Larry Garrison, president of SilverCreek Entertainment, was their spokesman until he resigned in November 2008, citing that he was leaving due to "the Anthony family's erratic behavior".[42]

More than 6000 pages of evidence released by the Orange County Sheriff's Department, including hundreds of instant messages between Casey and ex-boyfriend Tony Rusciano, have been the subject of increased scrutiny by the media for clues and possible motives in the homicide.[43] Rusciano, a rookie Orange County deputy, was fired for lying about his sexual relationship with Casey Anthony.[6]

Outside the Anthony home, WESH TV 2 reported that protesters repeatedly shouted "baby killer"[44] and that George Anthony was physically attacked.[45] George Anthony was reported missing on January 22, 2009, after he failed to show up for a meeting with his lawyer, Brad Conway. George was found in a Daytona Beach hotel the next day after sending messages to family members threatening suicide. He was taken to Halifax Hospital for psychiatric evaluation[46] and later released.
[edit] Evidence

The Anthony case broke new ground regarding scientific evidence.

University of Tennessee's famous 'Body Farm' discovered 'hair banding', a phenomenon in which hair roots can form a dark band after death. A hair found in the trunk of the Anthony car exhibited this pattern.[45] Also new is the work of University of Tennessee's Oak Ridge National Laboratory in which air extracted from the trunk of the Anthony car revealed human decomposition and the presence of chloroform.[45]

On Friday, October 24, 2008, a forensic report by Dr. Arpad Vass of the Oak Ridge Laboratory in Tennessee stated that results from an air sampling procedure (called LIBS) performed in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car showed chemical compounds "consistent with a decompositional event" based on the presence of five key chemical compounds out of over 400 possible chemical compounds that Dr. Vass's research group considers typical of decomposition. (Human decomposition was not specified.) Whether or not the decomposition was human is still unknown but was indicated as a possibility. The process has not been affirmed by a Daubert Test in the courts.[47] Dr. Vass's group also stated there was the presence of chloroform in the car trunk. In evidence hearings in March and April 2011, Dr. Ken Furton, a biochemist and nuclear chemist, pointed out with examples from various studies that there is no consensus in the field on what chemicals are typical of human decomposition.[citation needed]

DNA samples could not confirm whether the source was alive or dead. The only DNA testing by the FBI was limited to 752 base pairs out of 16,569 base pairs (less than 5% of the mitochondrial genome sequence). Traces of chloroform were also found in Casey Anthony's car trunk, and evidence was found that someone had searched the Internet on her computer for the use of the chemical and how to make it.[48] On November 26, 2008, officials released 700 pages of documents related to the Anthony investigation, which included evidence of Google searches of the terms "neck breaking", "how to make chloroform", and "death" on Casey Anthony's home computer.[49]

Investigators also entered into the body of evidence a photo from the computer of Ricardo Morales, an ex-boyfriend of Casey Anthony, which depicts a joke in which a man is using a chloroform-soaked rag to drug a woman. Casey and Caylee Anthony had stayed with Morales on several occasions until June 9, 2008.[citation needed]

On February 18, 2009, documents released by the State Attorney's Office in Florida indicated that the same type of laundry bag, duct tape, and plastic bags discovered at the crime scene were found in the house where Casey and Caylee resided. Heart-shaped stickers were also recovered by investigators. According to an FBI laboratory email, a heart-shaped outline was originally seen on the duct tape that was recovered from the mouth area of Caylee's skull, but the laboratory was not able to capture the heart shape photographically and could no longer see it after the duct tape was dusted for fingerprint processing. The documents also indicate that Cindy Anthony stated to them that a Winnie the Pooh blanket was missing from Caylee's bed. This type of blanket was found at the crime scene. An entry from Casey Anthony's diary was also released.[50]

The following diary entry by Casey Anthony is dated "June 21" and reads:

I have no regrets, just a bit worried. I just want for everything to work out OK. I completely trust my own judgment and know that I made the right decision. I just hope that the end justifies the means. I just want to know what the future will hold for me. I guess I will soon see – This is the happiest that I have been in a very long time. I hope that my happiness will continue to grow– I've made new friends that I really like. I've surrounded myself with good people – I am finally happy. Let's just hope that it doesn't change.[51]

Transfer writing (imprints of writing) from other pages of the diary mentioned a person named Kenneth whom Casey had dated in 2003. A member of Casey Anthony's defense team, spokeswoman Marti MacKenzie, contends that this entry was written in 2003 prior to the time that Caylee was born. The defense contends that the opposite page has "'03" written in one of the corners as the date, and the handwriting on the two pages match. However, there was no authentication that this is a date, or when it was entered in the diary or by whom. The prosecution acknowledged that it did not know when the entry was made.[52] In January 2010, however, an FBI report released in the media stated that the diary in question was not sold until 2004.[53]
[edit] Civil case

Anthony told investigators that she had left 2-year-old Caylee on June 16 with a babysitter named Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez – also known as "Zanny" – at a specific Orlando apartment complex. A woman named Zenaida Gonzalez who was on the apartment records as having visited apartments on that date was questioned by police and said she did not know Casey or Caylee.[54] She has since filed a defamation suit seeking compensatory and punitive damages, alleging that Casey willfully damaged her reputation.[55] It was reported that Anthony would be exercising her rights under the Fifth Amendment in response to written questions in the civil case.[56] The civil trial is set for August 29, 2011.
[edit] Former attorneys

On June 30, 2010, Andrea Lyon presented a Motion to Withdraw as Counsel representing Casey Anthony.[57] Linda Kenney-Baden withdrew in October 2010. Both cited travel costs as a barrier in continuing to represent Anthony.[58]

Brad Conway, the attorney representing Casey Anthony's parents, withdrew in mid-August 2010, citing allegations in a defense motion that he received special treatment in reviewing records. Conway claimed these allegations were false, but that this now made him a witness in the case, which forced him to withdraw.[59]
[edit] Criminal trial

Jury selection began May 9, 2011, at the Pinellas County Criminal Justice Center in Clearwater, Florida, because the case has been so widely reported in the Orlando area. Jurors were brought from Pinellas County to Orlando.[60] Jury selection took longer than expected and ended on May 20, 2011, with twelve jurors and five alternates being sworn in.[61] The panel contains nine women and eight men. It has been estimated that the trial will take about two months, during which the jury are being sequestered to avoid influence from information available outside the courtroom.[62]

The trial began on May 24, 2011, at the Orange County Courthouse, with Judge Belvin Perry presiding. In the opening statements, prosecutor Linda Drane Burdick described the story of the disappearance of Caylee Anthony day-by-day. The defense, led by Jose Baez, presented its claim that Caylee drowned accidentally in the family's pool on June 16, 2008, and was found by George Anthony, who then covered up Caylee's death. Baez also alleged that George Anthony had sexually abused Casey since she was 8 years old. Baez also claimed that Casey's brother Lee had made sexual advances toward Casey and was even given a paternity test to see if he was Caylee's father.[63]

The prosecution alleges an intentional murder and is seeking the death penalty against Casey Anthony.[64]
[edit] See also

Capital punishment in Florida
Child abduction
Unreported missing

References from Wikipedia.com