Archives for July 1, 2011

The Casey Anthony murder trial wrapped up its evidentiary phase today and will stand in recess until Sunday morning at 9 AM. The main order of business today was the prosecution’s rebuttal, which was delayed by some shenanigans by the defense, as I mentioned in my previous post. However, once it got going, which had to wait for the afternoon hours while the lawyers farted around making Baez happy, the testimony was swift and directly to the point.

The major point was Cindy Anthony’s testimony. It was cut to shreds by the terrible, swift sword of the prosecution. Rebuttal witnesses reviewed time records for the hospice company with which Cindy was employed during the time she claimed to conduct internet searches for “chloroform” and other incriminating terms from her home computer. The company, being a public company and in the health care business is subject to daunting Federal regulation with respect to retention and upkeep of financial records (per Sarbanes-Oxley) and health care records (HIPAA). The records produced by an officer of the company show that Cindy Anthony was at work while the internet searches were being done on the home computer. Clearly, someone else did the searching.

Having been soundly impeached in this fashion, could Cindy be charged with perjury? Many legal pundits believe that she could but she will probably not be charged. Any number of reasons have been cited for why she will not be charged, the sympathy factor being the strongest, and at the same time, the weakest. Others have suggested that a perjury trial for Cindy would cloud the appeal of the Casey Anthony trial, should Casey be convicted. Finally, Ninth District State Attorney Lawson Lamar would like to keep his job, so he’ll think about this matter very carefully before he makes an arrest.

The other issue the prosecution rebutted was the testimony of the defense’s expert forensic pathologist in which he stated that Orange-Osceola County medical examiner Dr. Jan Garavaglia did a “shoddy” job with the initial autopsy of Caylee Anthony, and that the top of the child skull should have been sawn off to enable inspection of brain matter. The prosecution’s expert rebuttal witness knew of no such dictum in the conduct of autopsies. Another defense witness nullified.

After the final rebuttal witness, Judge Perry sent the jury back to their hotel. Cheney Mason then piped up about some mistrial motions. Perry denied all of them but one, on which he reserved judgment, that one being the one filed by death penalty expert Ann Finnell over the phone relating to a case in South Florida in which a Federal appeals judge found the Florida death penalty law unconstitutional. I don’t know for how long or until what particular event Perry is reserving judgment on this. There seems to be a great debate about having a “death qualified” jury versus one that is not “death qualified.” If this motion is upheld, the case will have to be retried with a “non-death qualified” jury. However, what if Ms. Anthony is found guilty but not given the death penalty by the jury? Will Perry be obliged to act on this motion and will he possibly grant the mistrial? Or would this sway him to vacate the jury’s decision to impose the death penalty? This could be a very interesting issue as the trial nears its conclusion.

The trial will resume on Sunday at 9:00 AM with the closing arguments from both sides (unless the attorneys create another kerfuffle). Perry gave them the day off tomorrow in order to prepare their summations. Perry has been mindful throughout of the plight of the sequestered jury. For that reason he is unwilling to drag out the trial to accommodate a Sunday and the Monday holiday. Perry expects that the closing arguments will be completed by mid-day and that he can then give about 45 minutes of instructions to the jury before turning over the case to them.

So, this will be it. A verdict could come as early as Sunday evening, although that is unlikely. It’s anyone’s guess as to how long the jury will deliberate and with what sort of verdict (or non-verdict) they will return. Ms. Anthony could be found guilty of first-degree murder, felony murder, aggravated manslaughter, or aggravated child abuse. She could also be acquitted. Or possibly the jury will not be able to arrive at a unanimous opinion — a hung jury. There are too many variables to even speckalate on the outcome.

All eyes will be on the jury room, even those eyes that have eschewed involvement with the trial heretofore.

Those of us who have been obsessed with this trial, your Turkey included, will suffer withdrawal symptoms when the damn thing ends. No football, no hockey, no Casey. Damn! Hurry September!

Yet another brouhaha has erupted between the defense and the prosecution of the Casey Anthony murder trial. Friday’s proceedings were suspended and an indefinite recess called by Judge Perry due to the insistent whining by lead defense counsel José Baez that he should have the opportunity to depose two witnesses the State intended to give rebuttal testimony.

Perry is now clearly perturbed by the delay tactics and the continual nit picking by the defense. “There are real problems and there are imaginary problems. This better not be an imaginary problem.” He went on to say that the jury has been sequestered for over a month and are far away from home. While the attorneys can go home to their families every day and enjoy life as usual, the jurors cannot. They cannot use the Internet, read newspapers, listen to radio, or sit on the couch and watch whatever TV channels they feel like watching. They are effectively captives, and the attorneys should understand and respect the position they are in, particularly with regard to contrived issues or “imaginary problems.” The judge’s tone of voice suggested more than a hint of pique at the puerile behavior of opposing counsel.

Judge Perry has vowed to work late nights, weekends, and holidays in order to conclude the proceedings and give the trial to the jury. He voiced his firm conviction to do that by Sunday.

Meanwhile, Matthew Bartlett, the bird-flipper, is indeed in jail. I bet he doesn’t think he’s so cool now. Media reports bring out that Bartlett is not happy that Casey Anthony has been accused of and being prosecuted for a crime she did not commit. Oh, yeah? Based on what? Wishful thinking? Certainly, Ms. Anthony deserves from us all the right to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Bartlett and his cohort are entitled to think what they will of Casey’s guilt or innocence, but they are not entitled to make a mockery of the trial through juvenile actions. If Bartlett comes out unscathed after his six days, it is my hope that he nevertheless learned his lesson and sends a signal to the others who would make him their hero, but I doubt it.

You’ve no doubt read posts in newspaper feedback forums and the like by people of Bartlett’s ilk, or perhaps you’ve seen their Twitter tweets. They bitch every time Judge Perry sustains a prosecution objection or overrules a defense objection. “Of course!” they say, suggesting that Perry is in bed with the prosecution, reducing them to a lynch mob out to hang Ms. Anthony the Downtrodden. Perry, of course, long has been known for his firm and fair courtroom management. He has every reason to want to avoid being biased toward one side or another, especially in such an obvious manner as these morons suggest. An appellate judge would surely see through such an attitude if even these self-proclaimed experts do. Judge Perry has demonstrated throughout this trial that he is fair to a fault, and is patient and unbiased. Any suggestion to the contrary is sour grapes. Once again, we’re dealing with a cross-section of society that is self-absorbed and too used to getting its way. They don’t care about others’ rights or property. This is what concerns me. If the jury returns a guilty verdict, will these low-lifes turn to violence to express their displeasure?

I wouldn’t worry too much. I don’t think white people really know how to riot properly, anyhow.

Bartlett must have had an interesting night in jail. Assuming that he’s still a jail virgin, he must have been thinking of where he’s going to work after he gets canned (as he should) at T.G.I. Fridays. Maybe there’s a book deal in the offing for him. Haha. Perhaps Good Morning America will pay him $10,000 to appear, although Letterman is probably a better bet. He deserves to fade into obscurity and poverty but he will probably be able to capitalize somewhat on his 15 minutes of Warholian fame. It’s too bad that our society can reward a schmuck like this in any way at all.

I’ve spent enough time on Bartlett. He’s an asshole unworthy of my time. I’ll be following his appeal, though, just for laughs.

It’s lunch time for me and for the jury. They haven’t had to hear any testimony at all today. What a life this is for them! Can you imagine being ushered into and out of a courtroom all day sitting out long periods waiting to be called back in? Could any of these jurors have had any idea of what they were in for when they joined this jury back in May? Sitting and waiting. Sitting and listening. Sitting and waiting. Just sitting. I wonder what Orange County is feeding these people. The judge is very sensitive to their plight, but how many “regular folks” care about their hardship. Once they become known after the trial, they’ll face further hardship when partisans blame them for the verdict that didn’t go their way. These are ordinary people whose lives will be changed permanently by their unselfish participation in this trial.

I’ll be back atcha when anything happens, real or imaginary.

José Baez’s defense of Casey Anthony ended with a decidedly canine whimper instead of the much ballyhooed potential bang of the skanky defendant taking the stand. It says a lot for this trial when the featured event of the day involved a 28-year old chain restaurant waiter who flipped off prosecutor Jeff Ashton from the gallery during the trial and was summarily fined and sentenced to serve prison time by no-nonsense Judge Belvin Perry.

The first defense witness was River Cruz (née Krystal Holloway), who claimed she had a down and dirty affair with handsome George Anthony. He had strongly denied any such thing in prior testimony. Baez attempted to elicit testimony from Ms. Cruz that George had admitted that Caylee Anthony’s death “was an unfortunate accident gone out of control”, but under cross-examination, Cruz could not put the finger on George. Whether he laid a finger on her is moot, although a potential negative perception of Mr. Anthony could introduce doubt into jury deliberations.

Other witnesses were pretty dull until we entered the “dead dog” phase of the defense strategy. At this point, Baez called each of the Anthonys (sans Casey) to testify about the manner in which their dead pets had been wrapped and taped prior to burial. I found this to be highly disrespectful to the dearly departed doggies. How would you like to be taking your eternal dirt nap with people talking about how they wrapped you in plastic garbage bags secured by duct tape? I doubt that the jury would spend so much as a minute discussing the relationship between a duct taped dead doggie and little Caylee’s traumatic death. If Baez was trying to prove that Caylee’s death was an accident and that she received the same treatment as beloved family canines when they went to that great fire hydrant in the sky, how bizzare! Who the hell is going to buy that?

The court recessed for lunch at 11:30 and would resume at 1:30. This unusually long lunch break caused a buzz among the media vultures who, after the dead doggy testimony, were desperate for a story. Could Casey be going to take the stand? They rushed out to see who was having lunch with whom, and to glean what they could glean.

At 1:30, Ms. Anthony was seen signing several papers and discussing them animatedly with members of the defense team. This was all that the TV people needed to see to conclude some or all of the following must be true:

• Casey was going to testify and she was signing papers to absolve counsel of responsibility, as she was testifying against their advice
• Casey was not going to testify, and she was signing papers to indicate that she made that decision of her own volition
• Casey was probably in the midst of the defense cooking up a plea deal (huh?)

The document Ms. Anthony was signing turned out to be a routine stipulation (or as Judge Perry would call it, a “stippalation”). The media were screwed again. The judge asked both sides and the defendant if they had agreed to the stipulation, and once that was done, he called the jury back in.

Judge Perry: The defense may call their next witness.
José Baez: Your honor, the defense rests.

Casey Anthony would not testify. The judge asked her to answer several questions regarding her decision not to speak for herself: whether it was her decision and her decision alone, whether she made the decision under duress, and so forth. She satisfied the judge that all was hunky dory.

The jury was sent away for yet another argument between the opposing sides. The prosecution had obtained some time records from Cindy Anthony’s employer for its rebuttal of her claim that she was the one who did the computer searches involving chloroform on the Anthony’s home computer. Presumably, these time records would show that she was at work at the time the searches were done. Baez felt that there was not enough time for the defense to review the presumably voluminous records. Besides, the defense wanted records from the a day prior to the date of the documents obtained by the prosecution. At one point, Baez complained about the prosecution, “That’s all it is. More blablablablabla.” I believe that both sides are complicit in the blablablablabla. So the discussion wore on, with Baez asking for more time and Perry telling him essentially to pound sand. “It is what it is.”

After a couple of rebuttal witnesses had been heard, it was time for the featured event of the day, a trial within a trial. Perry first excused the jury for the day.

Matthew Bartlett, a 28 year-old white male waiter at T.G.I. Fridays at Millenia, was brought before the judge and shown two pictures.

Judge Perry: Do you recognize these pictures?
Bartlett: Yes.

Perry: Whose pictures are they?
Bartlett: That’s me.

Perry: And what are you doing in the pictures?
Bartlett: I’m giving a hand signal to Jeff Ashton.

Perry: You extended your middle finger. What does that hand signal mean?
Bartlett: It means the f-word to someone.

Perry then asked him when the flip-off took place — was it during the trial. The answer was yes. The judge asked Bartlett if he had read the signs on the door about not making gestures or facial expressions during the trial. He said he had. The judge asked him if he had been further instructed by the deputy in the proper comportment during the trial. He said he had. The judge then asked him why he did it in spite of all those indications that he shouldn’t. Bartlett would not say what we all knew he should: that he is a disrespectful asshole who thinks the world revolves around him. Instead, he abjectly apologized, hoping that the judge would accept the apology and send him home.

No such luck.

The judge summarily imposed a $400 fine and six days in the county jail for contempt of court. He said that Bartlett would also be responsible for court costs, which the clerk estimated would be approximately $230. The judge mercifully gave Bartlett a payment plan, with six equal monthly payments starting August 1. Then he advised Bartlett of his right to appeal and that if he couldn’t afford an attorney, the court would appoint one for him at public expense.

Perry: Do you wish to appeal?
Bartlett: [still somewhat taken aback by the sentence] Yes!

The judge then asked him what was his annual income, which turned out to be $15,000. He asked about savings accounts and checking accounts, in which Bartlett said he had $12 and $600, respectively. He asked about any other assets, which Bartlett denied owning. Finally, he asked what Bartlett’s monthly living expenses were. Bartlett replied that they were $1,500.

“The court will appoint a public defender for your appeal. You will be remanded and held at the county jail for processing. That will take about 45 minutes,” said Perry. Two deputies escorted Bartlett out of the room.

If you click here you can talk to an expert regarding the situation. This dumbass kid is bound to become a sensation among slackers — a hero, even. Remember the “Don’t taze me, bro!” guy in Gainesville? This guy is going to have that same sort of notoriety and following. Young hedonists, who think Casey is being wrongfully accused by a society bent on not letting the poor girl have a little fun (and by way of projection, doing the same thing to them), will lionize this schmuck for his brass balls and for taking the fall for their cause. I’m here to say that those who fall into that category are all assholes who didn’t have a proper upbringing, and their parents should be shot for malfeasance. These scofflaws contribute nothing to our society, but take more than their share. I hope Bartlett has a nice time being Bubba’s bitch down at 33rd Street.

Today, more rebuttal witnesses. Judge Perry still thinks summations can be delivered on Saturday morning and instructions given to the jury on Saturday afternoon. We’ll see.