Here we go... over and over again
Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 11:11PM "Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet."
- Rudyard Kipling, in his Barrack-room ballads, 1892
What Kipling was lamenting was the vast ocean of opinions that separated the British and the inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent. I see similarities in the courtroom.
The governor of Florida is the top banana of the state Executive branch, just as the president of the United States is in charge of the federal equivalent. The governor of this state is the only person who has the authority to name a Secretary of the Department of Corrections. Therefore, as we have heard time and time again, jails and prisons fall under the auspices of the Executive branch, not the Judicial or Legislative.
COMES NOW, Casey Anthony's defense team has filed yet another motion regarding her lack of privacy in jail, including, but not limited to, what types of snacks she buys from the commissary. Titled the NOTICE OF STANDING OBJECTION OF ABUSE OF FLORIDA STATUTE 119.01, it, once again, “objects to the constant, unconstitutional and abusive application of [the statute] as it relates to this cause..." In other words, inquiring minds should not have the right-to-know if those nachos are Frito Lay or another brand, never mind what flavor.
For starters, here's what F.S. 119.01 says about the matter as it explains the general state policy on public records...
- It is the policy of this state that all state, county, and municipal records shall be open for personal inspection by any person.
There are actually 4 parts to the statute, but the remainder are superfluous, in the sense that they address matters of technological advances, meaning we are no longer moving into a digital world, we are in the thick of it and the state is obligated to keep up with it. With that lone entry, all that should matter to the judge and Casey's attorneys are the simple words that need no further explanation, “shall be open for personal inspection.”
Judge Perry has no authority to usurp Florida statutes, which come from the Legislature, and he has no power to trump the Executive branch, either, which runs jails and prisons.
This is certainly not the first time Casey's lawyers have filed a motion like this. Each time, they have been turned back for the same reason. Whether it was Judge Strickland or Judge Perry, the same old, same old response has been delivered. “I have no power over the Executive branch of government. I cannot tell the jail how to run itself.”
Of course, those responses did nothing to stop this new request. I don't know whether to give the defense an “A” for perseverance or an “E” for filing another wasted motion. I know exactly what grade I would give, but instead, lets take a look at the meat of the motion.
- This matter is a Death Penalty Case that has garnered national attention and local obsession by the media.
- The undersigned counsel (Baez & Mason) has made repeated objections as to the application of Chapter 119.01 of the Florida Statutes.
- The Defense has objected to information being released by Law Enforcement, Corrections, and the State Attorneys office in this matter.
- It has been and continues to be the defense position that the First Amendment rights of the media must give way to the constitutionally protected rights of the accused, especially when the State seeks the ultimate penalty of Death.
- This objection is standing and continues and the Defense invites this Honorable Court to either reverse any prior rulings as it relates to public disclosure or Sua Sponte order the aforementioned agencies to prevent any future abuses of Chapter 119.01.
- On July 13, 2010, the media reported that the accused ordered "Crackers and Cocoa." This ridiculous coverage has become common in this case. The information was obtained from a public records request from the Orange County Jail. [A WESH Web story was attached to the motion.]
- The only purpose of this type of coverage is to embarrass, harass and humiliate the accused and poison the potential jury pool.
It is that final argument that strikes me as peculiar. The only thing that has become an embarrassment is the amount of motions this defense has filed regarding, not only this matter, but others. It is no trade secret that the jail, the state attorneys and the sheriff's office routinely respond to media requests for public records and the agencies are obliged to hand over the goods. True, this is a capital murder case, but if we are a nation where all people are created equal, and that means Floridians and their state's Open Government and Public Records laws, it must clearly include Casey Marie Anthony, who has no special rights outside of each and every one of us. The rules will not be rewritten.
My advice for the defense would be to take the "Crackers and Cocoa" argument up with the governor. That's an executive decision, not the court's. As for tinkering with Florida's statutes, that's up to the Legislature.
And for what goes in Casey's belly behind bars? Without a doubt, potential jurors are not going to remember whether Casey squandered her jail allowance away on nachos and bean dip or saltine crackers. No, not at all. What those jurors will ponder is whether she squandered her life away by murdering her child, and nothing more. Besides, what's so embarrassing about liking Doritos?
Dave Knechel | in Capital Punishment, Casey Anthony, Caylee Anthony, Cheney Mason, Chief Judge Belvin Perry, Dave Knechel, Florida’s Government in the Sunshine, Human Interest, Judge Stan Strickland, Marinade Dave, Marinade Dave’s Caylee Anthony Posts, Orange County Corrections Department, Orange County Sheriff’s Office, State Attorney's Office | Share Article 
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Reader Comments (120)
cereusle, I will never understand why the Defense has not thrown in the towel by now. They have nothing unless Mr. Mason pulls something out of his hat or wherever he is keeping his secret tactic. With so much evidence that the State does have I can not even imagine what he would have. I sill say if there are enough women on the jury Casey could get the Death Penalty. Women have a big problem when Mother's kill their children.
Just because WE all follow this doesn't mean that a jury cannot be found. For instance...my wife is a physician in an emergency room while I own my own business. I am on the net more than she is and believe me, she has no time to watch Nancy Grace or follow blogs like this. I asked her a little bit about Casey's defense last night and she HAS NO CLUE what is happening. There are many, many more out there like my wife. They absolutely know nothing about the doc dumps, what Casey had for breakfast and etc. It will be no problem to find a jury.
Tim, you are correct when you say they won't have a problem finding a jury. I have a sister that lives in Ft. Myers, FLorida, and she knows very little about this case. They will be pulling a jury from another ocunty, so they should have plenty of people to choose from that will be able to be on the jury.
Tim, if you had said that last spring, I would have said you are wrong. I honestly thought everyone had heard of the Case against Casey, but they are quite a few that have not, or at least not that much about it. I was in Branson Mo this summer and there was a woman talking on her phone before going into one of the shows. She could have been Cindy's twin. I even said something to her about that and she honestly said, Who is Cindy Anthony? So, they are out there, and a jury will be found.
BTW Tim hi
HI Peg and Mary Jo!
I also have a hard time believing that Casey is SO important to Jose that he would throw his future away for her by demeaning himself. I don't agree that the goal is to declare her defense Att. incompetent. He is looking at this case as a resume' for his future. There is a plan, because Biaz is not that dumb... I am just not convinced that it is for the appeal process.
Dave, do you know anything about the other lawyer that is working with the Anthony's besides Mr. Lippman? Her name is Jennifer Craddock. She is in the same law firm as Mr. Lippman.
Hi guys! IMO a Jury will be found, have they ever not found a jury? (LOL) I think Jose knows but he needs sympathy for his client. What is worse than a mother who kills her child, or lets her child go missing for 31 days and not report it to the police? Cindy is doing the same, needing for someone to feel sorry for Casey's situation. I am sure they get more chit than roses thrown at them. My problem is don't complain about coverage when you don't like it then call the media to announce a donation. Don't notify the media of a motion you are about to file.
Hey Laura, Cindy is an idiot if she thinks whatever she does is going to make her look good. For over the last two years she has made it her goal to be front and center to make Casey look not like the murdering baby killer she is, and lie doing it. She is her own worst enemy. I only wish LE would arrest her for if nothing else but, obstruction of justice, and that would be obstruction of Justice For Caylee.
Since Cheney Mason joined the defense team, I would think that he is helping to guide Baez thru this process. I do not see Mason making any efforts via motions to attempt another approach and try to get the DP off the table. Actually, from what I have seen so far, Cheney appears to be getting a little rusty.
I forget which hearing it was now but Baez made more of an impression on me than Mason when they made their arguments. I realize that Cheney has a hearing problem but he seemed to be going around it circles. It may have had something to do with the microphones and the feedback he was getting in his hearing aid.
Before Mason joined the defense team, he had the case all figured out. He said that Casey would get LWOP and was downing Baez et al for going out before the media. The man does not believe their client is innocent. Unless Mason has an ace up his sleeve to play, I don't know why he stays on the team. The last motion Baez filed was a disaster waiting to happen.
Snoopy, When Cindy's former boss was testifying and when Mr. Mason was asking her questions, you could tell that she was getting very aggravated with him when she had to keep repeating her answers. If that is the way he is going to "preform" at the trial, Mr. Mason is going to upset a lot of witnesses. But then if they have Biaz question the witness, they could be in bigger trouble. Casey would be better off to plea, LWPP. Just do it and get it over with. But we know that will never happen.
Peggy~ I agree Cindy is not only her worst enemy she is also Casey's worst enemy. Casey can not be happy getting all the letters of the happy family from home. It must make her crazy that her parents are traveling and going on television.
Then there is George who now has a new story for the whole molestation charges. Trying to help her friend open up?!. WTH? I do not remember any of the girls say they were molested by their dad and brother. What is Casey now pyschic? She told Jesse 2 years prior to being locked up that Lee was touching her at night.
Snoopy~ I think Mason is going thru the motions of being an attorney but I do not believe his heart is in it. He seems to tak to much, say to many things that should probably not be said even though most of us can figure out that Caylee was in those woods the whole time. Not moved by anyone else. If she wasn't there why did Casey have a melt down the day the remains were found? I think the "fun" went out of it for Mason when JS gave them exactly what they asked for. A new judge with zero tolerance for their chit.
George has a new story for the whole molestation story Laura? Trying to help her friend? I only heard that he denied it when he was on the Today show or whatever show it was.
I wonder if Mr. Mason is going to be there in May? He really does not look like he is "having fun" like he so boldly said when he came aboard. Who has fun in a trial about a mother killing her baby?
Peggy Mason's way of questioning Cindy repeating the same thing over and over is an old lawyer's trick. If you do it often enough something just might change that you can jump on.. which is what he was trying to do about the death smell with Lee. If Lee had even mentioned seeing George at the house whether it was then or later that night Mason would have been all over it making it sound like George was right there giving his opinion when he wasn't. I was in an accident case once with a lawyer who did this repeatedly. I still think he's thinking nothing beyond life without parole for her. If he seriously thought she was innocent the direction of their investigations would have been going differently by now. Taking the death penalty off the books went out the window with Andrea Lyons and I have to wonder if that's why she's pulled out and why she's "never lost a case". She probably bailed on other dp cases that weren't going in the direction she wanted.
I came in just now to mention the bus is off to another stop... Anthony Lazarro. I didn't understand why they didn't look at him in the very beginning but I imagine Casey had a lot to do with the defense looking at him. I think this time this one could just become her "reasonable doubt" because she lived with him while Casey was missing. From all appeances though Lazarro has been very cooperative with the police even down to the drugs and his friends. Now they are once again not satisfied with Strickland's ruling that they can only access records from June-Dec 2008.. they want them up to this date. Guess TES documents didn't pan out so the bus moves onward circling around the obvious.
Connie, I think your right about Andra Lyon(no S), getting off the case because she was not sure she could not prevent Casey from going to Death Row. Remember when Biaz told Judge Perry that there was no S, I thought that was really funny. It as like he finally has a reason to say something right LOL.
Actually Mr. Mason could not hear Cindy's boss, and he did have to repeat the question. I think he was very surprised when she said that yes George did smell the car and it did smell like death. The way he reacted I do not think he knew about that. You would think that he would have questioned her before the hearing, guess not.
Poor Judge Strickland is still getting mentioned, he probably will be until the start of the trial. The Defense will try to have Judge Perry overrule his motions if they can. I will bet that he does not do that.
Peggy222, they're not throwing in the towel both because they have an obligation to defend and because Casey won't change her position. They cannot plead guilty if she won't. Besides, they don't need to prove her innocent. They just have to dispute the evidence and cause reasonable doubt. It's a monumental task, but not impossible.
They're playing Three Card Monte.
Baez is the dealer and Mason is the shill.
This defense team seems to have stumbled at every turn. I can't invision any defense attorney doing a whole lot better with what they have been given to deal with. I could be wrong, but I bet at this point they would jump at the offer of a plea bargain. Their problem is that the prosecution is not offering one. Casey's only option to avoid a trial is to plead guilty, and we all know she will not do that.
Do we know for a fact that they reviewed the TES records? I haven't had a chance to read about that.
Good post. I think the duh-fense SCHEME TEAM should hire you Dave to give them legal advice and to do some research before they file their motions. Clearly, they are inept.
Hi, Diana... Isn't it odd that this defense looks bad to people who know less about the law than they do? I just don't get it.
Dave - good to hear from you. I love your blog. You should be hired at some awesome newspaper or magazine to report. You have terrific writing skills. You remain fair yet you're honest about the facts. And yes, I wonder why the defense doesn't "get it." Same goes for the Anthonys and their spin in the media. Seems to me they all do more harm than good. A good attorney know how to say "no comment." And good parents don't lie and enable their child's bad behavior.
Oh, it's my pleasure indeed, Diana. I'm glad you're here and I would like you to make yourself right at home. Thank you for the vote of confidence in my writing ability. I do try to remain as fair as possible, and if it sometimes seems like I don't, it's not because of any disdain I feel, it's because of the blatant mistakes that are made, especially by Casey's defense. Her family is just as bad.
I wouldn't mind getting some kind of job in this field, but I like the fact that my deadlines are ones that are set by me and no one else. That's not to say I would walk away from an offer, but in the newspaper industry, times are very, very tough. Here, I am my own boss and I set my own hours. As a matter of fact, it's time for a nap!