POOF! Into thin air

"Polly was taken inside of her bedroom. A little girl named Amber Dubois was taken out in front her school last February. Children can be, unfortunately, snatched anywhere."

- Marc Klaas, on Larry King Live last night

In an odd twist, Kyron Horman's father filed for divorce from his stepmother yesterday in Multnomah County Circuit Court. It includes a restraining order. The filing listed Kaine Horman as the petitioner and Terri Moulton Horman as the respondent. KATU also reported that, "The source said the restraining order is a physical restraining order that is meant to protect the couple’s 18-month-old daughter, Kiara."

Read the Horman divorce papers

Kyron's father, biological mother and stepfather issued a statement yesterday. Noticeably absent was his stepmother's signature:

"We have been fully briefed by law enforcement on the on-going criminal investigation. We are in complete support of that investigation. We have asked the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office to facilitate releasing this statement for us due to their access to the media/flash news.

We understand that we have free access to the media but are limiting statements to the media to keep the integrity of the investigation intact.

Any actions taken by the investigation, or by us, are based on the best interests of Kyron and Kiara and comply with the law. Beyond this, we have no comment on the matter.

Desiree, Tony and Kaine"

Since Kyron disappeared from his school on June 4, police have said that Terri is the last known person to see him alive. After a massive search turned up nothing, the Multnomah County sheriff's office labelled the case a criminal investigation.

Last night, Sheriff's spokeswoman Lt. Mary Lindstrand said her office is "not talking about personal issues going on with the Hormans." In other words, the divorce papers mean nothing to them. Although speculation has mounted in recent weeks that Kyron's stepmother might know more about his disappearance than she had initially let on, Lindstrand said Terri Horman is neither a person of interest, nor a suspect.

Meanwhile, her father is staying at her house to lend a hand and to give her much needed support.

Former Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Jim McIntyre had a few things to say about the investigation.

"The probabilities are that it’s somebody close in – and when I say that I don’t mean immediate family members, I mean that it’s somebody that may or may not know Kyron or know the routine.  It’s usually someone closer in but closer in can include a retail store clerk that sees him all the time that decided to do something," McIntyre stated. He said that maintaining a lead on the right suspect is a key ingredient. "You don’t want to put the investigators off on the track that could be an erroneous track because then the individual who actually committed the offense is gaining time."

McIntyre also warned about the problems associated with joining public opinion. "Jumping on the bandwagon of who the public thinks did it is often a huge mistake," he said. Pointing fingers at the family usually causes them to shut down.

"It’s easy for family members to begin to believe that they’ve become targets when perhaps they’re really just trying to eliminate [the family] and they’re can be a natural friction that can develop and you saw that historically in theJonBenet case which still remains unsolved and that case slipped sideways between law enforcement and the family."

Terri Horman's white truck being impounded twice and the recent questionnaire sent out, McIntyre concluded, "You have to go back to who is the last person who was with Kyron, who was the last person to see Kyron. What was Kyron’s regular schedule and where would he have been.  What was the likelihood of people having contact with him."

On Larry King Live last night, Marc Klaas of the Klaas Kids Foundationsaid, "As I understand it, he does. Let me clarify a couple things. First of all, it's a very rural community. It's a rural school. There are about 300 people at the school. What happened that day, according to her own words, as she was walking the little boy to his class and was very close to the class when the bell rang at 8:45 a.m. She then told him - he told her, mom, excuse me, I'm going the classroom now. She said she waved to him and that was the last time she saw the little boy.

"The problem with that statement is that if she was walking with him, she would have kissed him or rubbed his head or something. Waving doesn't make a lot of sense if you're close to the classroom. So she then turned and went away. One of two things happened, I believe. Number one, she is involved. That's where the numbers take you. That's where the facts as we know them take you. The second possibility is a very high risk snatch by a local pedophile."

The problem with Terri's story is the relative lack of time. If she was walking Kyron to his classroom, he would have been merely seconds away from the door. Had she turned around to leave, how much time would there have been for someone to grab him and run out of the building? Why didn't anyone see a perpetrator? Klaas added, "And I think the best thing to yell is you're not my mom, you're not my dad. Under no circumstances, if a child has any kind an option, you never, ever go with the bad man."

Although the sheriff's office states that Terri Moulton Horman is not even a person of interest, how could someone enter a school undetected and, in a matter of seconds and perfect timing, leave with a young child in tow? This is a far cry from the 31 days Casey claimed, but it becomes more believable if we factor in the entire school day. Remember, he wasn't reported missing until he failed to get off the afternoon bus.

Creepy Cryptic Casey, Part 2 Revisited

This is an article I wrote and published 12 August 2009. Because someone sent a printed copy to Casey at the jail and it was released in the discovery documents yesterday, I decided it might be worth another look. You will find it HERE. You need to go to page 177-179 to view the scanned pages. Thanks, Snoopy. She’s the one who found it last night and alerted me.

Also, bear in mind that we know more today than we did last August. Some people don’t believe Casey was smart enough to conjure up a scheme like this. Others believe she was. I just presented some rather odd coincidences. Some people believe in them and others don’t. This is for you to discern.

At the bottom of this post are 2 videos titled Driving Miss Casey. I had to break it into 2 parts because of size limits on YouTube. In a nutshell, I took a ride down Chickasaw Trail to Hopespring and Suburban Drives. Included are a real time trip from the Anthony house to the woods, a real time trip from the end of Hopespring to the abandoned house the PIs scoped out, a trip to Lee’s old place, and the famous Amscot parking lot with a bonus shot of the dumpster. You can read the article first or last, but I really do want you to read it because it should prove to be thought provoking.

CREEPY CRYPTIC CASEY, PART 2

In January of this year [2009] I wrote an article titled, Creepy Cryptic Casey. It was there that I mentioned the two dwellings at the corner of Suburban and Hopespring Drives. The last two lots on the east side of Hopespring are numbered 4709 and 4701, respectively. In the house next to the end lives Zenaida Almodovar. In the corner lot lives Peter Gonzalez. Some could safely surmise that by combining parts of the two names you come up with Zenaida Gonzalez. Is this merely a coincidence or is there more to it?

Images can be enlarged by clicking them

In that January article, I wrote, “Some people love to play mind games. They bask in the unfounded superiority they feel they have over you. They love to tell riddles. Casey was good at that.” I continued by including something she said to Lee in response to one of his questions:

LEE: What do you think, where do you think. You think Caylee’s ok right now?

CASEY: My gut feeling? As mom asked me yesterday and even Jose asked me last night, the psychologist asked me this morning that I got through the court, um in my gut she’s still ok. And it still feels like she’s close to home.

What was most unusual about Casey’s statement was that she was absolutely right. Caylee was very close to home as we later found out, and it is here that I am going to expand on those words by showing you evidence that could, quite possibly, shed more light on why the state of Florida charged her with premeditated first-degree murder. As puzzling as Casey tried to be, did she hand out clues and truisms at the time of her initial oral and written statements to investigators? Was she telling the truth? In some cases, I allege that she was absolutely telling the truth.

On her first written statement to law enforcement, dated July 16, 2008, she said something that appears to have come from her mother. Cindy told her (and deputies) that she hadn’t seen Caylee since June 9. Casey wrote the same thing on her statement. She also wrote that she hadn’t seen her daughter in 31 days. Obviously, June 9 to July 15 add up to more than 31 days and later the confusion over the date was remedied by the Father’s Day video taken on June 15. What is extremely interesting and telling to me is one thing she wrote in particular…

“… between 9am and 1pm…”

Could that be true? Oh, I’m not talking about the time George said he saw them leave the house together on June 16. I’m looking at the time Casey wrote, between 9 and 1. Take a good look at where Caylee’s body was found:

Caylee’s body was found behind Zenaida’s and Gonzalez’s properties by meter reader, Roy Kronk. Look at the two addresses again:

4709

4701

Casey kept insisting that Zenaida Gonzalez had her. What are the two house numbers and who lives there? Where was Caylee found?Between 9 and 1. Incidentally, this information, like the Zenaida MySpace page, was right under our noses all along, and it came from akfhome27 when she left a comment on my YouTube video of Suburban Drive. The video can also be viewed on my blog.

Are those nothing more than mere coincidences that can readily be shrugged off? One could easily think so, except I have one more thing to show you. This one came to me by way of Laura, a frequent contributor here. Wait until you get a load of this…

Laura Googled 8905 Suburban Drive and this is what she came up with…

At first glance, it really seems innocuous enough, but look at that number again. 8905. Wasn’t Caylee’s birthday on Sunday, August 9? Wasn’t she born in 2005? Isn’t that 8/9/05? Isn’t that where the body was found?

Driving Miss Casey Part 1 (YouTube link)

Driving Miss Casey Part 2 (YouTube link)

P.S. I love you

Among the items released today are four interview transcripts from 2008, police statements, and scads of letters sent to Casey. A jail spokesperson said there was no indication that Casey read all letters, which leads me to believe it is jail policy to scan all letters regardless of who they are addressed to - incoming and outgoing.

TRANSCRIPTS

Rick Plesea

Richard Grund

Nathan Lezniewicz

Debbie Polisano

LETTERS & MISC.

Document 1

Document 2

Document 3

Document 4

Document 5

Meanwhile, there's enough literature in today's discovery to keep everyone busy for a week or so. When I am ready to discern all documents, I doubt I will pay much attention to the letters addressed to Casey. They are not important, but some of them should be good for a few chuckles.

An Observation

Someone on one of my other sites mentioned something that, I think, is very interesting. Most of us know by now that Casey and her friends played in the woods across from Hidden Oaks Elementary School. One of her friends, KioMarie Cruz, stated that the area was also a burial ground for pets. Today, those woods are separated by a chain link fence. So are the woods on the north side of Suburban Drive.

From my own observations of the area, and from video footage I've shot, the land directly across the street from the school is the only place elevated enough to keep from flooding. Because of this, I maintain it was the spot where neighborhood children played, before the fence was installed. They did not play close to where Caylee's bones were found.

From Pipkin50:

"... I would like to remind everyone who is interested in this case that Casey went past these same woods for 6 years while attending elementary school. Basically, for her entire life she had observed this particular area of woods go unattended by the land owner---making it a perfect place, in her mind, to dispose of a body. 'Close to home' =down the street in the woods 'safe' = protected with 3 layers of bags."

That's a compelling thought. Living close to Hidden Oaks, Casey walked that path almost every day during the school year. I know some people think Casey said 'close to Hope' and that may be true, but it's not necessarily relevant because Caylee was found close to home and close to Hope, short for Hopespring or Hidden Oaks Elementary School, which is a stretch in my opinion. 'Holt' has also been tossed around.

Do you think that, because she walked by those woods every day, she was very familiar with that precise spot? It's solitary, and I would say, very uninviting and downright spooky to young children. As I said, the woods on the school side (north) are separated from the street by a fence, and there is a sidewalk on that side only, not on the south side where the body was found. From my trips to the neighborhood, I have not seen any children walking on the south side of Suburban as they leave school, particularly in that area where snakes and other vermin abound. Prior to December 11, 2008 and beyond, were children told by their parents and teachers to avoid that place because of inherent dangers, and to always stay on the sidewalk? Has it been drilled into them? Remember, that's also the age when children have wild imaginations and the boogeyman exists. Was it the perfect spot because no one ever went in there? Until Roy Kronk came along?

Could this observation be presented by the prosecution at trial, or is it too vague and not relevant?

Hot off the grill...

It's been almost two years since my friend Rick died. He drank himself to death. No matter how much I tried to rescue him from the bottle, he wanted no help, and in the end, it was alcohol that pushed him to an early grave. Years earlier, Rick ran an NCAA Basketball Tournament betting sheet where you pick 32 of the 64 team field, eliminating each bracket until only 2 teams remain to play the championship game. In this particular bet, there were two winners to split the pot. I was one of them. When it came time to collect, Rick made every excuse in the book. He forgot to bring the money. He forgot where he put it. After several weeks of this, I hit him with the truth, "You don't have the money. You spent it on booze."

Yup, he wasted money that didn't belong to him. Such is the life of an alcoholic. Of course, we now know where Todd Macaluso stands in the legal community after stepping down from Casey's defense team for writing worthless checks from a client’s trust account. It reminded me so much of Rick. I'm glad Todd entered the Alternative Discipline Program, which addresses the substance abuse and mental health problems of attorneys when disciplinary action is taken in the California State Bar Court.

304 days ago, Todd Macaluso stood before the Ninth Circuit Court of Florida, in front of Judge Stan Strickland, and made this blanket statement:

“There is substantial evidence that we’ve found … that the body or remains of Caylee Anthony were placed there after Casey Anthony was locked up. It proves that somebody else placed the remains in the area.”

For ten months, we were led to believe this would be the tack the defense would take at trial, based on statements made by TES searchers, off-record, who said the land where Caylee was found three months later was not flooded in September when they searched. What made this so senseless was the undisputed fact regarding summer weather in Central Florida. Roy Kronk said under oath that the woods were too flooded to enter in mid-August of 2008. Soon after he reported his sighting, T.S. Fay rolled into town, adding over 12" of rain to an already flooded and low-lying location. Come September, no one could go in there to search, and TES leader Tim Miller instructed his teams to keep away from areas under water; that it may destroy evidence.

I believe Cheney Mason was smart enough to recognize that, because yesterday, he did an abrupt about-face. Huh? What's this all about? In a post-hearing press conference, Mason said:

"They did not search the exact areas where the body was found. So everything they said before that is not relevant."

Did Brother Cheney speak out of school? Is he spanking the numero uno defense attorney, Jose Baez, by taking the lead, or is it part of an orchestrated effort because of one simple truth - the area was too flooded to search and the State has the proof to back it up? I think the answer is yes. The area WAS flooded and the statement of Macaluso past must be erased from the memory bank of future defense maneuvers. Of course, we won't discuss plant and insect forensic evidence at the moment. That comes later.

On July 16 of 2009, Jose Baez and Andrea D. Lyon filed two motions. One was to certify Tim Miller as a material witness and/or to subpoena him for documents in the possession of TES. The motion makes several claims:

1. "This area [8750 block of Suburban Drive] was searched by several individuals, including Orange County law enforcement and TES volunteers, between July and December 2008."
2. "Several searchers have made statements to Orange County law enforcement and to the media stating either that they searched the 8750 block of Suburban Drive with TES, or they encountered TES searchers in that area."
3. "... that Orange County law enforcement provided TES with documents identifying the area in question as an area of interest; that witnesses have made various statements (including in a sworn interview) to the effect that they searched the area in question on behalf of TES or saw TES searchers in that area..."

In another defense motion filed November 23 of 2009, the defense had this to say:

"The Defense, through its own independent investigation, has interviewed several TES searchers who not only searched the area where the remains were found, but who were not among the thirty-two (32) identified by TES."

This was the now famous motion containing the statements of Joseph Jordanand Laura Buchanan, in which the bold claim was made that:

"The signed statements from Joe Jordan and Laura Buchanan, included with this Memorandum of Law, indicate that there were several people who searched the Suburban Drive neighborhood but were not among the thirty-two (32) names disclosed by TES.

Why did the defense decide to run diametrically opposed to previous statements and motions? Clearly, this is something Cheney Mason conjured up because Jose Baez and Andrea Lyon filed motions that are contrary to this new revelation. They are also motions this defense did not win, and there lies the crux. Since this didn't work, let's try something else. Gone with the old, in with the new, and most certainly, Mason is not naive to the ins and outs of criminal defense strategies. Here's the brand new slant:

“What do you have that shows she was not there in June?” WFTV reporter Kathi Belich asked him.

“That's when Caylee was missing. We don't know when she disappeared,” he replied.

AHA! The linguistic switch! No one knows when Caylee disappeared. As President Clinton once responded, "It all depends on what your definition of isis," there are discrepancies in the meanings of missing and disappearing. I guess we could establish the fact that my keys may be missing if I lost them, but they certainly didn't disappear because they would have to be where I left them, unless, of course, they were taken by someone else. Then, they would have disappeared and they are missing. Got that? You see, it's all in the semantics. Instead of admitting it can't win the flooding argument, the defense concedes by manipulating the verbiage. What it will attempt to prove in court is that Casey lost Caylee, but she didn't disappear. It was precisely like losing a set of keys, only she wasn't where Casey last left her. Let's see... was that at Sawgrass, or was it at Jay Blanchard Park? Oh. She lost her at Sawgrass, but she disappeared from Blanchard. Today, Casey misses her more than anything else. Gotcha!

No matter what twist the defense tries, the prosecution is going to present evidence that shows Casey never lost her. She never went missing or disappeared in her mind because she knew exactly where she left her all along; in the woods on the southern side of Suburban Drive, 8750 block. What interests me now is one simple question about why the defense still needs those TES documents. If Cheney Mason has concluded that no one searched in those woods, what difference should it make? Has someone else, another TES member or an independent searcher, stepped forward; someone who looked inside at an earlier or later date when the ground was dry enough? Or is there a slim possibility that a searcher joined the TES team in order to conveniently dispose of a body? If that's the defense plan, then I could almost justify wanting to go through those records, especially now that Roy Kronk is no longer under a defense microscope as a suspect, as Cheney said. That's whole different story, too.

Whatever it is, it's a pickle. When Judge Belvin Perry denied the defense access to the illegal tape recording made by Joe Jordan, Mason knew it would have to shift gears. Jordan's defense statement was unreliable and would hold no credibility in court. Would Laura Buchanan's words be enough? I doubt it, but hopefully, we'll know more answers after the July 15 hearing, when the issue of TES records is heard, or by August 31, when the defense must present its list of witnesses. Most likely, what Mason uttered yesterday is just a new way to create an element of doubt; another soft-shoe shuffle. Personally, I think it's nothing more than hot air, something Mason and the summer months of Florida are famous for. And, they're all wet.

Two Years Later

Yesterday afternoon, I took a ride down to Suburban Drive to shoot a video of the site where Caylee Marie Anthony was found. It's been two years since she was tossed into those dark and lonely woods like a bag of trash and I wanted to give you another glimpse at how it might have looked back then. I knew before going there that the area where her bones were discovered had been cleared out and that it would never look the same as then. The last time I was there, on April 24, most of the foliage was still dead from winter and what I would guess to be some kind of defoliant. As you will see, it doesn't look like that any more.

Needless to say, I was out of the house and off the computer most of the day. No time to play silly games. When I returned, I had to edit the numerous scenes I shot to make it transition well and make sense.

I know I'm a day late, but better late than never...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DIANA!

Where did Kyron go?



Kyron Horman has been missing over two weeks now. His stepmother said she last saw him walking to his classroom at 8:45 AM on June 4 after looking at exhibits at Skyline Elementary School's science fair, where he is a student.

This became a criminal investigation on June 14. Authorities have put out flyers in hopes of generating positive leads.

Three Page Flyer

As of now, the focus of the investigation seems to have shifted to his stepmother, Terri Moulton Horman, after her story about what she did on the day of his disappearance didn't match her cell phone records, which placed her at or near Sauvie Island, north of the school. Because of this discrepancy, authorities have been combing bodies of water around the area where he was reported missing.

Remember that Kyron's stepmother has not been named a suspect or a person of interest, so she's not implicated in his disappearance.

The following image is a map from Kyron's house to the school, and from the school to Sauvie Island.

The next image will give you a better idea of the Sauvie Island location.

Sauvie Island

See: FBI

See: FBI

X

Those persnickety cell phone pings again

You would think by now the whole world knows about Casey Anthony. You'd also guess that most people know a thing or two about cell phone pings and how they will be used as evidence against her when her trial gets underway next May. It shouldn't take a brain surgeon to realize that the words "cell phone pings" have become synonymous with Casey, where she was, and how those words trigger thoughts about a missing child, now dead.

That's why it seems peculiar that the focus of the search for missing 7-year-oldKyron Richard Horman centers on his stepmother's cell phone records. Terri Moulton Horman told authorities she last saw her stepson at school on June 4, when she saw him walking toward his classroom. She said she took him around the school to look at the many science projects. At 8:45 AM, she left. When he didn't get of the school bus later that afternoon, she called the police.

Now, investigators have determined that Moulton Horman was not where she said she was, or her cell phone wasn't according to pings. Her cell phone records show that the day Kyron was last seen, she was at Sauvie Island, 5 miles from his school. Since June 10, rescuers have been searching all over that island for any evidence that the second-grader may have been there.

Ironically, it was the same nonchalant attitude that gave police immediate suspicion in the case against Casey, where she was forced to admit she hadn't seen her daughter in a month and didn't seem to care. Moulton Horman raised suspicions in a flash for having claimed to have gone to the gym right after she reported him missing.

"Hitting the gym," she wrote on her Facebook wall. Eh, so what, she could have added. Poor Kyron.

Anyone with information is asked to please call the Multnomah County Sheriff TIP-Line at

503-261-2847

Caylee Marie Anthony

There are no public memorials scheduled for today that I am aware of, so in honor of Caylee, here is what I wrote last June 16.

"As much as you love Caylee, please... just don't forget the others."

- Richard Grund

Caylee loved butterflies, so it was no surprise that at the end of the memorial held on June 16 at Jay Blanchard Park, a basket holding butterflies was released to the skies along with balloons - with each balloon honoring a missing or murdered person. One of the butterflies flew right to the floral arrangement at the front of the pavilion.

In the beginning, Richard Grund said he was asked to hold the memorial on Suburban Drive but he said no, that was where something happened to Caylee and it's not how he wants to remember her. He wants to remember her running around and swinging, just like in that park. Then, he spoke of Caylee. He mentioned those who could not attend and he read a message from Marc Klaas, father of Polly Klaas and now a child advocate who established the KlaasKids Foundation. He spoke of his son, Jesse, who loved Caylee like his own daughter, even when he found out he wasn't her father. Most of all, he spoke of all children and how we must do everything we can to stop the innocent murders and crimes against our youth, here and around the world.

Children are born as babes in the woods. They are free from sin. How can anyone harm a child? This was his message to the few who came to listen; some who were a part of Caylee throughout her short life. They were friends, neighbors and strangers, but on this day, we were all together to remember the little angel named Caylee Marie Anthony and her presence was felt by all of us.

I'd guess there were about 40 people; not a big crowd, but a very comfortable one. Everyone was nice. One of the things I noticed was that these were ordinary people, the types you'd sit next to in church or at a casual restaurant, the ones you'd feel very comfortable with and easy to strike up a conversation with as you mill about. I had a chance to thank Richard for his dedication to Caylee and her memory. I spoke with Lois Peter and told her we had met the day Leonard Padilla was with the dive team. "As a matter of fact," I said, "you were at the top of my first blog post about this case. You were wearing your Caylee t-shirt."

"Back then," she responded, "I was coming to the park every day."

I spoke to a friend of hers who told me that her son was messed up on drugs and she had the chance to adopt his child, now four years old. She said she lives near the Anthonys and that place where she still cannot bring herself to drive by to this day. I thought about how her child will never get to meet Caylee now. She said another son went to school with Casey and no one would have believed this.

When the basket of butterflies was opened, only one flew out, the one that went to the flowers and stayed even when everyone was invited to take a rose. In the end, I took a carnation I will keep in a book with a note explaining where it came from. Dakota Skii wondered why the other butterflies were staying still. Were they dead? she wondered? No, I responded. They were a little shocked and dormant. That's their way of defending themselves and it was calming to her, reassured that the frail and beautiful creatures were safe from harm.

In the end, I was reassured, too, because everyone there was no different from anyone else. These were people who were moved by Caylee and it was a love fest of sorts. Everyone gathered to pay homage to her and to greet each other with open arms. It was not the largest crowd, but every heart was huge and I could feel it.

The memorial was organized by In Memory of Caylee Marie Anthony.

The following photographs were taken by me. I shot 72 pictures and selected many to show you. I hope each one tells a little story about what it was like and how comforting each person in attendance was. If you have any questions, please ask me. Each picture can be enlarged by clicking on it. It will open in a new page. Click it again. Thank you for taking the time to read this and take a look.

The images are in descending order - the way I took them.

The originals can be found HERE.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Photos © David B. Knechel 2009 – All rights reserved

A Bad Day

Soon after I entered the courtroom, I knew something was amiss. No Casey. She was always present prior to everyone else entering. Then came the whispers and the calls for Cindy and Brad Conway to follow Jose Baez out the door. Soon after, they returned and Judge Perry entered. Cheney Mason waived the presence of his client. It wasn’t until the post-hearing press conference with the defense that we’ve all grown accustomed to that we found out why she wasn’t there. I guess some felt a little sorry about her fall, while others shouted out with joy. Me? I came to watch, listen and learn.

When the hearing came to order, the first business of the day dealt with Casey’s privacy at the jail, particularly when it comes to expert witnesses. The defense premise is understandable enough. They don’t want to show the state their hand by exposing names of professionals who come calling on Miss Casey. Only, there’s a problem with it. There’s no real case study available where this sort of order has taken place, in other words, no mention of exemption in law; and according to Cheney Mason, Florida Statute 119.011 only deals with state witnesses. He wanted the court to seal her witness log so the state and public can’t view her experts after they visit. An Orange County corrections attorney was on hand to make clear that the jail is subject to state public records laws. Meanwhile, a case Mason did cite caused the judge to take the motion under advisement and he will rule on it next week.

What I feel it will come down to is the same decision rendered by Judge Strickland at an earlier hearing; that there is a clear-cut separation of power issue. In other words, the judicial branch cannot rule over the executive branch, which runs the jail. Mason stated that due process trumps all, but the county lawyer pointed out that there are no exemptions to the rules. We’ll see.

Next, the judge led the defense to the motions to reconsider earlier rulings made by Judge Strickland. On the plate, Joe Jordan was the first topic du jour. Were Caylee’s remains at the Suburban site when the state says they were? Cheney Mason said that Jordan contradicted that in his interview with defense PI Mort Smith. On the other hand, he surreptitiously recorded the meeting and provided it to the state. The main problem with this is that it is so against the law in Florida to record someone without their knowledge. Only during trial can elements of the interview be brought up, in which case, it will be up to the jury to decide whether to believe Mort Smith or Joe Jordan if they contradict each other, which they will. In the end, the judge denied the motion and asked the defense,“Are you alleging that there was some taint on Strickland’s prior rulings or are you trying to get a second bite of the apple?”

The defense wanted George Anthony’s grand jury testimony. Since Assistant State Prosecutor Jeff Ashton asked for it and received it, why couldn’t the defense? In response, Ashton maintained that grand jury testimony must remain intact and it can’t be used by either side at trial. Despite Judge Perry’s denial of the motion, he left open the door to refile a more proper motion.

In the motion to strike aggravating circumstances, Casey’s team argued that it wants more of an explanation from the prosecution over why the state is seeking the death penalty. The prosecution had filed a notice listing five legal reasons why the harsh penalty applies in her case:

The murder was committed during aggravated child abuse, for which Casey is also charged
The murder was especially atrocious
The murder was committed in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner
The victim was younger than 12 years old
The victim was particularly vulnerable because her killer was her mother

The defense asked for more of an explanation. The judge said the state had complied with his order and the motion was denied. At the same time, he said that the list may be expounded on during the penalty phase, which of course, would mean after Casey’s conviction. Until then, the state can explain itself during the trial.

Get it done!

In an earlier motion, Judge Strickland ordered law enforcement to turn over evidence. This is about the multitude of tips the defense demanded after submitted an Attorney’s Demand for Discovery. Linda Drane Burdick said the information has been waiting at the sheriff’s office for the defense to pick up, which then nullified the motion. Baez lamented that the defense is indigent and Perry said to go pick it up and invoice the state. Baez said it was somewhere around $1,500.00 and the judge authorized $2,000.00 just in case the amount is higher. Because of issues like this languishing, Judge Perry reminded both sides that work on this case has been going on for nearly 2 years. He said, “Let’s get it done!”

This is something that seems to irk the judge. He said that the case should have been able to go to trial by January had things been done in a timely manner.

The defense then asked for bench (lab) notes and forensic evidence , specifically results and findings from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. They want e-mails between Yuri Melich and Arvad Vass. Oak Ridge, of course, came up with the machine that can smell death, meaning the chemical decomposition found in Casey’s trunk. This is a new science and untested. The judge brought up an interesting correlation with a DUI case in Florida where the defense attorney asked for the source codes of a breathalyzer machine. The judge in the case ordered the manufacturer to comply. The company said the information is a secret, like the recipe for KFC. The bottom line here is that, while Judge Perry did not order Oak Ridge to comply, it may be an issue later on. At the moment, it’s not relevant. That’s because the defense hasn’t deposed Arvad Vass. The judge said that was tantamount to placing the cart before the horse. Jeff Ashton reminded the court that the issue is with the lab and not the state. The motion to force the state to comply had no relevancy. In the end, the judge did deny the motion without prejudice, meaning a more concise motion on the matter could be filed after depositions are taken.

Finally, the defense told the judge that the state had added 45 more witnesses to its list and it felt there wouldn’t be enough time to interview them all. Judge Perry will take it under advisement and he told the attorneys that there are still motions pending. Let’s try to work out some dates.

I don’t know why I’m reminded of this. OK, maybe I do know, and I think it’s something to note. Call it one of life’s quirks. A prisoner awaiting a walk  down  the Green Mile is offered one last meal, within reason, of course. The prisoner requests a giant plate filled with a wide assortment of raw sushi. The guard tells him eating all that uncooked fish isn’t healthy for him. Huh? It’s his final meal. How ironic that today, Casey took a horrible spill and all the court employees in attendance felt an urge to come to her rescue; to comfort her and to ease the pain. All the while, the state is trying to put her to death. I’m not asking for a judgement call. It’s just an observation about another one of life’s quirks.