CASEY ANTHONY - A case with more twist & turns then a SOAP OPERA SHOW, but the little girl is still DEAD.

Casey Anthony's lawyer admits she killed daughter Caylee, investigator says
       FOX News  FoxNews.com15 hrs ago
More than five years after a jury in Florida cleared Casey Anthony in the murder of her two-year-old daughter, Caylee, a private investigator claimed the mom's attorney admitted she killed the girl and hid her body.

Dominic Casey made the claim in court documents that went public last month in Casey Anthony's bankruptcy case. He also suggested that the mom paid her lawyer with sex.

The investigator claimed attorney Jose Baez hired him days after police arrested the mom in July 2008. He said, "Baez had told me that Casey had murdered Caylee and dumped the body somewhere and, he needed all the help he could get to find the body before anyone else did."
Meter reader Roy Kronk found the girl's body in the woods near her grandparents' home that December. Dominic Casey also said that before the remains were discovered, Casey Anthony allowed her legal team to try framing Kronk, "to portray him as a murderer and or kidnapper of Caylee Anthony."

The investigator said he quit the legal team in October 2008.
Casey Anthony was convicted of lying to police but acquitted of murder.
She filed for bankruptcy in 2013.
Dominic Casey claimed, in addition, that the defendant and her attorney were having sex because she couldn't pay him. "I arrived at Baez’s office unexpectedly one day and once again, witnessed a naked Casey. This time she ran from his private office, through the conference room to the hallway. That night I told her that she cannot allow him to continue engaging in this behavior. Casey told me she had to do what Jose said because she had no money for her defense."
There was no immediate response from Baez or the Anthony family.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/casey-anthonys-lawyer-admits-she-killed-daughter-caylee-investigator-says/ar-BBttTq8?ocid=ansmsnnews11

(CNN)Here's a look at what you need to know about the Casey Anthony trial of 2011. Anthony stood accused of killing her two-year-old daughter in 2008.
Timeline:
August 9, 2005 - Casey Anthony, 19, gives birth to a daughter, Caylee Marie Anthony. The identity of Caylee's father has not been publicly revealed.
June 9, 2008 - Casey Anthony claims her two-year-old Caylee Anthony is missing in Orange County, Florida. Anthony later tells police she dropped Caylee off at a babysitter's apartment. The name given to police is Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez.
June 15, 2008 - The last time grandmother Cindy Anthony sees Caylee alive.
June 27, 2008 - Casey Anthony abandons her Pontiac Sunfire in a parking lot. It is towed away three days later.
July 15, 2008 - Casey's mother, Cindy Anthony, calls the police to arrest her daughter on suspicion of stealing the family car and money. During the call, she tells the police that her granddaughter may be missing, "I found my daughter's car today, and it smelled like there's been a dead body in the damn car." When questioned, Casey Anthony admits to police that she has not seen Caylee for more than 30 days.
July 16, 2008 - Casey Anthony is arrested on suspicion of child neglect, filing false official statements and obstructing a criminal investigation.
July 17, 2008 - The Sheriff's office searches Casey Anthony's car and a cadaver dog picks up the scent of human decomposition. Police also find hair, dirt and a stain in the trunk.
August 5, 2008 - Anthony is formally charged with child neglect.
August 21, 2008 - Is released from jail on $500,000 bail.
August 27, 2008 - The Sheriff's department says a sample of the air from the trunk of Anthony's car shows that it once held a decomposing body.
August 29, 2008 - Anthony is arrested on charges of check forgery, petty theft and fraudulent use of someone else's ID, after she allegedly steals checks from a friend and uses one to purchase items at Target.
August 30, 2008 - Anthony's bond is revoked and she is booked into the Orange County jail.
September 3, 2008 - Preliminary test results from the FBI show the presence of chloroform in Anthony's car.
September 5, 2008 - Anthony is again released from jail on $500,000 bail.
September 24, 2008 - A Kissimmee, Florida woman with the same name as the one Casey Anthony gave to police, Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez, files a lawsuit against Anthony, claiming her reputation has been ruined.
October 14, 2008 - A Florida grand jury indicts Casey on capital murder and other charges.
October 17, 2008 - Casey Anthony pleads not guilty to murder charges.
October 21, 2008 - Child neglect charges are dropped.
December 5, 2008 - The Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office announces that it will not seek the death penalty against Anthony.
December 11, 2008 - Skeletal remains are found in a wooded area near the Anthony home by a utility worker.
December 19, 2008 - Authorities announce the remains found belong to Caylee Anthony.
April 13, 2009 - Prosecutors announce they will seek the death penalty.
January 25, 2010 - Anthony pleads guilty to 13 counts of check fraud.
April 19, 2010 - The original judge assigned to the case, Stan Strickland, recuses himself from the case and is replaced by Judge Belvin Perry, Jr.
May 9, 2011 - Jury selection begins. The jury is sequestered.
May 24, 2011 - The capital murder trial of Casey Anthony begins in Orlando, Florida. In opening statements, defense attorney Jose Baez claims that Casey's father, George Anthony, started molesting her at the age of eight. Baez also says that Caylee drowned in the Anthony family pool on June 16, 2008, and that George and Casey Anthony covered up the death.
June 6, 2011 - Forensic expert Dr. Arpad Vass testifies that the "only plausible explanation" for the odor in Casey's car trunk is the presence of a decomposing human body.
June 9, 2011 - Casey becomes ill during testimony about Caylee's remains and Judge Perry calls the court into recess for the day.
June 14, 2011 - Judge Perry denies the defense's request for a mistrial.
June 15, 2011 - The prosecution rests.
June 16, 2011 - The defense begins presenting its case.
June 30, 2011 - The defense rests. Casey Anthony does not testify.
July 4, 2011 - Jury deliberations begin.
July 5, 2011 - The seven-woman, five-man jury deliberates for 10 hours, 40 minutes and 33 seconds before coming back with a verdict of not guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter of a child. She is found guilty of four counts of providing false information to law enforcement.
-Count 1: First-Degree Murder - Not Guilty
-Count 2: Aggravated Child Abuse - Not Guilty
-Count 3: Aggravated Manslaughter of a Child - Not Guilty
-Counts 4, 5, 6 and 7: Providing False Information to Law Enforcement - Guilty (two convictions were thrown out in January 2013)
July 7, 2011 - Casey Anthony is sentenced to four years in jail for four counts of lying to police. The years will be served consecutively and will include the time she has already served. She will also be fined $1,000 for each count.
July 17, 2011 - Anthony is released from jail shortly after midnight after serving three years and one day. Under police guard, Casey and her lawyer, Jose Baez, are escorted to a waiting SUV and leave the area quickly.
August 11, 2011 - A report is released by Florida's Department of Children and Families saying that Casey Anthony is responsible for the death of her daughter Caylee.
August 12, 2011 - Judge Perry rules that Anthony must serve one year of supervised probation on a check-fraud conviction.
August 24, 2011 - Probation begins, Anthony must report monthly to a probation officer.
September 15, 2011 - Judge Perry rules that Casey Anthony owes authorities approximately $98,000 for the costs of searching for Caylee Anthony in 2008. He doubles the tab-to more than $217,000-on September 23.
April 12, 2012 - Judge Lisa Munyon rules that the defamation suit against Casey Anthony can proceed to trial because there are issues that must be decided by a jury. Munyon denies Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez's request for summary judgment.
June 12, 2012 - Casey Anthony talks to CNN's Piers Morgan by phone briefly. In the exclusive interview she tells Morgan that, "I didn't kill my daughter" and that, "The caricature of me that is out there, it couldn't be further from the truth."
August 23, 2012 - Anthony's probation for check fraud ends at midnight.
January 25, 2013 - A Florida appeals court throws out two of Anthony's convictions for providing false information to law enforcement.
January 25, 2013 - Anthony files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in a federal court in Florida. She claims to have almost $800,000 in liabilities, but only has about $1000 in personal property and no income.
December 17, 2013 - A federal bankruptcy judge grants Anthony a standard bankruptcy discharge. This means Anthony will not have to pay most of her debts.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/04/us/casey-anthony-trial-fast-facts/index.html

Raggamuffin wrote:A very interesting case indeed. I don't have time right now to go into it - maybe later.

eddie wrote:I'd like to know why the first judge recused?

"April 19, 2010 - The original judge assigned to the case, Stan Strickland, recuses himself from the case and is replaced by Judge Belvin Perry, Jr."

Does that mean he had a conflict of interest?

Why the Judge in the Casey Anthony Trial Was Right to Recuse Himself Due to His Remarks to a Blogger

By ANITA RAMASASTRY

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Last month, Judge Stan Strickland recused himself from presiding over the Florida state criminal trial of Casey Anthony. As readers are likely aware, Casey Anthony is charged with killing her two-year-old daughter, Caylee -- whose remains were found near the family home in December 2008. The controversial trial is set to begin sometime next year.
Judge Strickland's recusal was prompted by a motion by Casey's defense attorney, Jose Baez. The motion took issue with the judge's brief remarks to, and about, blogger David Knechel, aka "David Marinade," who is covering the trial.

As it turns out, the judge's comments were minimal and probably fairly innocuous – but given the nature of the blogosphere and the low threshold set by Florida's recusal standard, the judge likely made the right decision in stepping down.
This is just one example of the ways in which judges and lawyers are currently grappling with the role that technology and social networking should play in their work and in their lives.  As I explained in a prior column, Florida also was in the spotlight on such issues when it told judges that they could not ethically have lawyers as Facebook friends. 
The Casey Anthony trial blogger incident is yet another example of the kinds of new ethical dilemmas that are arising in this area.
The Judge and the Blogger
In his recusal decision, Judge Strickland noted that he had begun reading blogs about the Casey Anthony case in order to help him decide whether he should grant the defense's change-of-venue motion.  The defense contends that the trial should be moved out of Orlando because of the excessive and -- the defense says -- prejudicial media coverage there. 
The judge's decision to read the blogs is, in itself, potentially disturbing, unless all counsel consented to it.  Judges are not supposed to do outside research, beyond the submissions of attorneys on a particular question.  That's because each side is entitled to know about all the materials the judge has considered in making his decision, so that each side can make a fully-informed and effective argument to the judge regarding the weight and relevance (or lack thereof) of those materials.  (Counsel could properly submit screen-shots of blogs' webpages in support of a change-of-venue motion, however, since then each side would know exactly what materials the judge had seen and would have the ability to address them.)   
Defense attorney Baez alleged that Judge Strickland also called blogger Knechel to inquire about his health, and that the judge did not disclose this apparently personal relationship with Knechel to the defense. (Note: This alleged phone call was not discussed in the Judge's recusal order and has not been further confirmed). Baez also alleged that Judge Strickland recognized Knechel at a court hearing, summoned him to the bench, and spoke to him.
The judge conceded that he did talk to the blogger in court.  Indeed, he could hardly have denied it, as there was a TV camera rolling, microphones were on, and the conversation took place in front of the attorneys.  Part of the conversation was caught on audio; Knechel says that people are reading his blog because he does a "good job, very simple."  Judge Strickland remarks that Knechel had "admonished and frequently chastised those who came onto his blog for the sole purpose of bashing the defendant and her family."   He also thanks Knechel for being "fair and civilized." 
The defense disagreed with the blog's fairness and pointed out that, in fact, Knechel has posted remarks such as "Casey Anthony must die!" "Caylee's murder: Premeditated and pretty stupid too" and "Guilty as charged" on his blog.  But perhaps those comments were not on the blog on the days when the judge visited it, or perhaps the judge did not consider those comments to be in the realm of those he considered to be "bashing" the defendant and her family, as opposed to simply expressing an opinion on the case. 
Judicial Ethics and the Blogosphere:  Did Judge Strickland Violate Florida Ethics Rules?
Did Judge Strickland violate Florida's judicial ethics rules by communicating with the blogger in court ? 
Canon 3 of the Florida Judicial Code of Ethics states that a judge shall perform the duties of judicial office impartially and diligently.  Even the appearance of partiality or favoritism is a problem:  Judges need to tread lightly to avoid perceived conflicts or partisan views.  
Moreover, in Florida, a judge is required to recuse himself or herself from a trial if the recusal motion has a legally-sufficient basis.  Here, moreover, "legally-sufficient" has been interpreted to mean that the motion by the party seeking recusal demonstrates a good-faith belief that that party is not going a receive a fair trial. 
As commentators have noted, Florida has thus set a low threshold for recusal – perhaps too low.  Judge Strickland reportedly has a reputation for being competent and fair.   Moreover, one could argue that Judge Strickland's comments were brief and that their content – allegedly sending a get-well wish, and complimenting Knechel's impartiality -- was relatively innocuous.  The judge himself described the content of his words as "unremarkable," and noted that they were uttered in open court for all to hear. 
Still, blogs do often indicate a viewpoint – and surely, the judge would have been better off remaining silent, rather than indicating any preference or opinion at all about a  particular blog or blogger.
Ironically, Judges Themselves May Ethically Blog Under Some Circumstances
Oddly enough, in the future Judge Strickland himself might be able to become a blogger, if he so chooses.  Florida has not yet ruled on the issue, but other states are permitting their judges to blog. 
For instance, in November 2009, the State of Washington published an ethics opinion to this effect. The Washington Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee noted that "[t]he Code of Judicial Conduct does not specifically prohibit a judge from blogging on the Internet," but it also added a word of caution: 
Even though a judicial officer may post a blog on the internet, caution should be exercised as to how that blog is used and comments responded to in order to make sure that the judicial officer's impartiality is not called into question or the action does not impair the judicial officer's ability to decide impartiality issues that come before the judicial officer.  For instance, the judicial officer should consider the impression that may be conveyed when responding to comments that are posted on the blog and how to tailor those comments to avoid any impression that the judicial officer's impartiality might be called into question. The judicial officer should also consider whether readers might perceive that the judge's impartiality is impaired by the volume and content of the comments received.
 
In time, we will surely have a better sense as to what will -- or will not -- cause the appearance of judges' partiality in cyberspace and, in particular, in the blogosphere.  For now, Judge Strickland was wise to take a safe route – and other judges may be wise to take heed of his examples and keep their blog preferences out of the public eye.
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/ramasastry/20100506.html

Casey Anthony Juror: 'Sick to Our Stomachs' Over Not Guilty Verdict
By MARY KATE BURKE/JESSICA HOPPER/ENJOLI FRANCIS/Lauren Effron  
July 6, 2011
Casey Anthony juror Jennifer Ford said that she and the other jurors cried and were "sick to our stomachs" after voting to acquit Casey Anthony of charges that she killed her 2-year-old daughter Caylee.
"I did not say she was innocent," said Ford, who had previously only been identified as juror No. 3. "I just said there was not enough evidence. If you cannot prove what the crime was, you cannot determine what the punishment should be."
Ford, a 32-year-old nursing student at St. Petersburg College, praised the jurors, but said when deliberations began there were "a lot of conflicting ideas." At first, people came down on both sides of whether Casey Anthony killed her daughter, Ford said, and the first vote was 10-2 for "not guilty."
"I toggled on manslaughter and not guilty," Ford told "Nightline" anchor Terry Moran in an exclusive TV interview. "It doesn't feel good. It was a horrible decision to have to make."
The jury's jaw-dropping not guilty verdict shocked court observers, but it was also a difficult moment for the panel, Ford said in her exclusive interviews with ABC News. No one from the jury was willing to come out and talk to the media in the hours after the verdict.
"Everyone wonders why we didn't speak to the media right away," Ford said. "It was because we were sick to our stomach to get that verdict. We were crying, and not just the women. It was emotional and we weren't ready. We wanted to do it with integrity and not contribute to the sensationalism of the trial."
Ford told Moran she thought Casey Anthony's claim that her 2-year-old daughter accidentally drowned and she lied for three years was more believable than the evidence the prosecution presented.
"I'm not saying I believe the defense," she said. "Obviously, it wasn't proven so I'm not taking that and speculating at all. But it's easier for me logically to get from point A to point B" via the defense argument.
Ford said that she couldn't make out "logically" the prosecution's argument because there were too many unanswered questions about how Caylee died, including how Casey Anthony would have used chloroform to smother her 2-year-old daughter, then put her in the trunk of her car without anyone seeing her.
"If there was a dead child in that trunk, does that prove how she died? No idea, still no idea." Ford told Moran. "If you're going to charge someone with murder, don't you have to know how they killed someone or why they might have killed someone, or have something where, when, why, how? Those are important questions. They were not answered."
Instead of murder, Casey Anthony, 25, was found guilty of four counts of lying to law enforcement and could be released from jail as early as Thursday. Ford agreed that Anthony was a "pathological liar" but said "bad behavior is not enough to prove a crime" and her actions could be blamed on her family dynamic.
"The family she comes from and the family that made her what she is had some influence," she said. "What do they say? You're as sick as your secrets? I mean, the family seemed to have a little something going on."
She added that she thought Casey Anthony's father, George Anthony, was "dishonest."
"I don't know if he had anything to do with it, but I think that he was there," she said. "He and Casey have something."
Casey Anthony Prosecutor: 'All Came Down to Cause of Death'
Earlier today, the prosecutor and an alternate juror agreed on why the jury refused to convict Anthony: They couldn't prove how Caylee Anthony died.
"It all came down to the evidence," said Florida state attorney Jeff Ashton on "The View." "I think ultimately it all came down to -- at least from what the one alternate said -- it came down to the cause of death."
Russell Huekler, one of five alternate jurors who were present for all the testimony and sequestered along with the 12 other jurors, said today that he would have delivered the same verdict and that he was shocked by the public outrage over the trial's outcome.
"The prosecution failed to prove their case and there was reasonable doubt," Huekler said. "Again, they didn't show us how Caylee died. They didn't show us a motive. I'm sorry people feel that way. ... These were 17 total jurors. They really listened to this case and kept an open mind."
Top 9 Moments: Casey Anthony Trial
The prosecution was hampered by the fact that Caylee Anthony's body wasn't discovered until six months after she disappeared. She was found lying in a swampy, wooded area. Her body was so badly decomposed that the autopsy could not determine a cause of death and stated only that she was a victim of homicide by undetermined means.
"I don't think it was the lack of DNA" connecting Casey Anthony to her daughter's death that undermined the case, Ashton said. "It was the cause of death."
Ashton said that he and his team felt they put on a good case.
"We were pretty shocked" at the verdict, he said. "We put on everything that an investigation, a really thorough investigation over three years, produced. That's the way it goes. I think I mouthed, 'Wow' five times."
One of the most powerful pieces of evidence, he said, was the photo of Caylee's decomposed skull with the pieces of duct tape where her mouth and nose would have been.
"What I've said all along is if a jury looks at that photograph and doesn't see it the way I do and doesn't know how she died, then so be it," Ashton said. "I wouldn't have been involved in this case if I didn't think she did it."
Huekler said he believed Caylee's death was just a horrific accident and that Casey Anthony was a good mother.
"The first number of witnesses were Casey's friends, and every time that they said they saw Casey with Caylee it was a loving relationship, and no one provided evidence to the contrary," Huekler said.
Huekler said the lack of physical evidence that Caylee was murdered overwhelmed the circumstantial evidence of Casey Anthony's many lies and her hard partying in the 31 days when she knew her daughter was dead but didn't tell authorities.
"Yeah, the behavior was bizarre, but what I took from that is that the family was very dysfunctional," Huekler said. "Because they were so dysfunctional, that was the norm for them. Casey didn't just start lying for the first 31 days [after Caylee disappeared]. She had been lying for the past two years. ... I felt it was the norm for her."
Huekler added that it didn't bother him that Casey Anthony did not testify in her own defense.
Mark Lippman, a lawyer for Anthony's parents, said on "Good Morning America" that George and Cindy Anthony were shocked by the verdict, not because they believed Casey Anthony was guilty, but because they thought the state did a fantastic job presenting its case.
George and Cindy Anthony have not met with their daughter since her trial began, but they hope to meet with her and to one day get the truth about what happened to Caylee.
"There was a slim chance that we were hoping to get some sliver of truth during this trial and that would have been by testimony from Casey," Lippman said. "Hopefully, one day she'll tell her story. But who knows what to believe?"

Casey Anthony's defense team argued that Caylee accidentally drowned in the family pool and that George Anthony, Casey Anthony's father, helped dispose of the body. In the trial's shocking opening statement, defense attorney Jose Baez said that Casey Anthony hid her daughter's death in the same way she hid what the defense claimed was years of sexual abuse by her father and brother.
Baez was not allowed to bring up the alleged abuse in closing arguments because Judge Belvin Perry said there was no proof any abuse occurred. Huekler said that the omission of abuse in closing arguments did not hurt the defense's case.
Lippman denied the abuse allegations again on "Good Morning America."
"My client, George Anthony and Lee Anthony, never molested her," Lippman said. "And George Anthony had nothing to do with moving the body. And the rest of the things the defense said about my clients in particular never happened."
"This case has destroyed everyone's reputation," Lippman said. "Even if it's baseless, there's people out there that are going to believe ... for their rest of their lives ... what the defense told them."
Casey Anthony will be sentenced Thursday morning for the four misdemeanors she was found guilty of committing.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/casey_anthony_trial/casey-anthony-juror-jury-sick-stomach-guilty-verdict/story?id=14005609

"If there was a dead child in that trunk, does that prove how she died? No idea, still no idea." Ford told Moran. "If you're going to charge someone with murder, don't you have to know how they killed someone or why they might have killed someone, or have something where, when, why, how? Those are important questions. They were not answered."

4EVA wrote:We have had cases {old cold cases} where the murderer has been found guilty and sentence for such a horrible crime and there never was a body - no evidence  of how the human was killed - where their remains are - when/what time of day they expired and yet these group of humans couldn't come to a decision.

July 15, 2008 - Casey's mother, Cindy Anthony, calls the police to arrest her daughter on suspicion of stealing the family car and money. During the call, she tells the police that her granddaughter may be missing, "I found my daughter's car today, and it smelled like there's been a dead body in the damn car." When questioned, Casey Anthony admits to police that she has not seen Caylee for more than 30 days.
July 16, 2008 - Casey Anthony is arrested on suspicion of child neglect, filing false official statements and obstructing a criminal investigation.
July 17, 2008 - The Sheriff's office searches Casey Anthony's car and a cadaver dog picks up the scent of human decomposition. Police also find hair, dirt and a stain in the trunk.