Let's give 'em something to talk about

There are tons of letters and e-mails to leaf through in the latest discovery released this afternoon. There's Dominic Casey with psychics and Cindy writing to a daughter who never answers back.

Not only that... I got an honorable mention, too! This particular one appears in the 'Letters to Casey' section, written May 11, soon after Judge Stan Strickland stepped down and the whole fiasco still weighed heavily on my mind. Needless to say, I wasn't very forgiving of Casey's defense back then. I have since mellowed a little over that gross error in judgement, but, for sure, I'll never completely figure out why the defense did it to begin with. Oh, I have a very good idea, alright, but I'll save that story for another day.

This appears on page 20383:

more letters

Mom letter after courthouse fall

mail fraud

betrayed

e-mails

Casey Anthony has some visitors

Here are 8 pages of names of people who paid Casey a visit or two in jail. Of course, her lawyers are expected to be there, but who are the other people? Take a look and see what you can find.

This is the entire list from mid-October 2008 to last Saturday.

Anthony Offical-ATTY visits through July 24

It can also be viewed HERE.

This should give us lots to talk about.

Click to enlarge images

I don’t give a dime

The following images are pages 1 & 2 of Casey Anthony's 21 page Resident Account Summary courtesy of the Orange County Corrections Department, otherwise known as the jail, or if you are so inclined, 33rd Street. Actually, there's one I'm going to show you first:

Click on images to enlarge

Although it's a matter of public record, I blurred out most of the name and all of the address of the person who sent Casey $10.00. I see no reason to publicize it. I left her last name because it appears on page 1 of the following:

She is the last person to send Casey any money, and that was back on the 12th of June. If you look at page 2 below, you'll see two deposits made by George - $100 on June 5 and $50 on June 3. In letters released two months earlier, Casey wrote that her father may have sexually molested her. It probably took that much time for him to get around to read and discern them before he cut out her generous stipend. The last deposit made by Cindy was on May 11 for $115.

One thing you'll notice is a $1.50 Daily Subsistence Fee. The actual cost to sustain one inmate is $11.00 each day, but that doesn't include all of the overhead. In all, it's $80 - 85.00 per day if all costs are figured into it. The fluctuation is due to the number of inmates housed in the facility at any given time. Right now, the population is lower than normal, but that can change at any moment. Also, out of that $1.50, half goes straight to the county and the other half goes to the jail.

There are other charges, too. She is billed $5.00 for any and all prescriptions, for instance. All of these fees add up and they are subtracted from her balance. That explains why she is $41.51 in the hole. The jail charges everyone who sits in a cell, and eventually, they have to pay for doing business with Orange County.

One of the interesting things I learned dealt with all those letters sent to Casey that were recently released in discovery. When letters are mailed to inmates, jail personnel, of course, screen them for contraband and to make sure no one has any escape plans. The same thing is true with most outgoing correspondence. I wondered if mail addressed to Casey goes directly to her or her attorney to decide what gets through. Let's just say Jose isn't the most popular lawyer at the jail. All mail is sent directly to her, but like I said, they are screened. This means some of them go through internal affairs and other investigators for analysis before they are delivered. Whether she opens and reads them or not is solely her decision to make. I am aware of letters that were not released with the others during discovery, and it's most likely due to being part of an open investigation, meaning they weren't passed on to her yet.

Some county jails are run by the sheriff's office. This one isn't. Its operated by the county. Although authorized to carry weapons, the corrections officers cannot make an arrest like a sheriff's deputy or police officer. Because the jail is on county property, OCSO must be called in when trouble arises. However, just like you and me, personnel can make citizen's arrests.

Following is a link to the entire 21 page document in PDF form. It can also be found HERE. You can see the names of donors and all other money added and subtracted since October 18, 2008. If more money comes in, part of it will be deducted to pay costs. Take a look at them and see if you recognize any names. Meanwhile, I have one more document from the jail to show you, and that will be coming up next.

Anthony Account Ledger as of 7-22-2010

Here is the Supplemental Motion for Protective Order Regarding a Telephone Recording of Robin Lunceford. It should make for an interesting discussion. Will Judge Perry release it or will he honor Jose Baez's request?

Debbie Does Defense

When Cindy Anthony stepped down from the witness stand inside courtroom 23, the room fell silent. While she walked back to her seat in the gallery, the judge asked the defense if it had any more witnesses. This was supposed to be Debbie Polisano's time to take the stand, since she missed the first call, but she was still absent. She was Cindy's supervisor at Gentiva. Judge Perry asked the defense what time the subpoena stated to be available and Jose said 2:00 PM. It was now 3:48. Instead of becoming angered, the judge allowed Lee to take the stand. A deputy went out and called him in.

As Cindy sat down in her chair, Mallory gave her a very loving kiss on the lips while embracing her and offering much-needed support as she quietly whispered in her ear. Cindy was visibly shaking and in tears. Her face was somewhat red. These were real emotions. This was not something any mother - any grandmother - would want to experience to begin with, let alone relive. Silently, I watched her despair, taking notes on paper and in my head, trying to understand what must have bounced around in her brain like a roller coaster ready to jump the tracks. No matter what, as human beings, we must admit that this is not a ride any of us would wish for; one she will tell again and again in her mind and in the courtroom. Needless to say, I don't envy her or anyone in her family. It is a ride to hell.

I took note of George's straight ahead gaze, one completely void of emotion. It was one that spoke volumes about a man who didn't want a part of this theater. I can't say why he seemed so distant, but everyone seems to know; the letters his own daughter wrote that implicated him and his son of some strange sort of sexually perverse behavior, the differences of opinions within his family and some of his friends over this entire mess, and God knows what else. The list may be long, but all I realized, as I sat there, was that these people didn't deserve any of this. No, not at all. No one does.

Lee sat on the stand testifying in his own inimitable style. He has a tendency to laugh when the need arises. I don't know if it's a nervous thing or whether it hits him when he feels like someone is backing him into a corner. It could be his way of remaining uplifted during times when he should be down. Some may think it's quirky, and I would find it most difficult to conjure up if my sister sat in the hot seat, facing a possible penalty of death, but that's me. To him, it's quite possibly a mechanism that helps him cope; helps him get through some, otherwise, very tough times.

He spoke of his arrival at the house, after his father called him on the phone and asked to go home because he felt his mother would need his support. That showed me the concern of a parent. Something was wrong, alright, but I don't doubt that no one knew what would be in store. Caylee wasn't considered missing at the time. To George, Caylee AND Casey were nowhere to be found. Did Cindy ever alert him to the fact that their daughter always had excuses for not putting Caylee on the phone? She's napping. She's at Disney. SeaWorld. If anyone thinks the nanny story was weaved during the third 911 call, Richard Grund was told of her "existence" long before. He told OCSO Corporal Yuri Melich in September of 2008 that Casey had brought up Zenaida Gonzalez sometime between March - May of 2006. (See: Richard Grund Interview)

Lee testified that when he got to the house, no one was to be found. Later, Cindy and Casey came home and the two of them were far from smiling. Cindy was quite frustrated. Where is Caylee? What is wrong with you? She was getting nowhere fast, so she asked him to talk to her. He took over and tried to elicit information, to no avail, so he decided to take a different approach. In a "last-ditch effort" before law enforcement would come to the house to question her, he wanted to know why they couldn't go get Caylee. Plain and simple. End of story. We go get her and call it a night. That's when she blurted out that she hadn't seen her daughter in 31 days, but I seriously doubt she was counting. Up until the moment Cindy found Casey at Tony Lazzaro's apartment, guess who was out partying every night, way too busy to remember days of the week, let alone worry about her daughter's whereabouts? She knew right where she was.

At 4:20 PM, a half hour after he began, Lee Anthony was excused by Judge Perry. He then asked the defense if their next witness had arrived. It took a minute or two before Debbie Polisano was found and brought in. She seemed to me to be a rather reluctant witness, since it was approaching 4:30, and to be well over two hours late to a court hearing is something most people don't think of doing. After her testimony, it became more of a "what was this defense thinking" by the line of questioning. This was Cheney Mason's witness to collect information that would be positive. When he asked her how it started, she told him Cindy needed to take care of family matters after her husband called. She said she needed to do that, to go home and pick up the car.

He asked her if she had a conversation with Cindy when she returned. Yes. Do you recall what she told you? Yes. "That they both (George and Cindy) found the car at an impound lot, that it had been there for a while, that she didn't know, she wasn't able to get hold of Casey, and the car seat and the baby's doll and the backpack were in the car."

"Did she tell you anything else?"

"She told me there was a terrible, terrible odor in the car."

"I'm sorry?"

"She told me there was a terrible odor in the car."

This is where Cheney Mason should have stopped asking questions. Instead, he continued and the damage went from bad to worse. "Did she say anything that, uh, that her husband George had said to her?"

"I asked her if she had opened the trunk and she didn't answer, and then................................ she said that, that she felt that it smelled like a dead body."

"Did she tell you that's what George told her?" And this latest revelation of the defense now investigating George becomes more clear. Is he to blame? Is he someone worth discrediting? Should the defense throw him under the bus with the rest of us?

"That George told her?"

"Yes, her husband, George." The latest target.

"I know................................ She didn't say George told her. She said they both knew that."

"I'm sorry, she what?"

"She didn't say George told her that."

"Yes?"

"She just said that they both knew that."

There you have it. The shape of things to come. Damning testimony. Mason later stated in his argument that Cindy had a long time for reflection before she made the 911 calls, because she went back to work and had to be told by her superior and her superior's superior to go home. He said that Cindy still talks like Caylee is alive today. In the end, it mattered not what Mason or Baez had to say. The judge ruled that the tapes were admissible at trial because the defendant will have an opportunity to cross-examine the witness who made the statements during those calls. They were not hearsay. They were excited utterances made by a desperate woman who wanted nothing more at that time than to hold her grandchild again, her grandchild who was now missing. When she handed Casey the phone, it was the first time she spun her web of lies to law enforcement. What she was so good at doing, or so she thought, could not convince detectives that she'd go get her daughter the next morning. Sadly, a part of Cindy is still waiting for the tomorrow that will never come.

When Debbie Polisano was officially excused, she walked to the gate that separates the court from the gallery. I watched her like a hawk because I wanted to see if there would be any exchange between her and her former employee. I saw none. As she opened the gate to walk through, she turned away from the Anthonys, almost as if it was purposely done that way as some sort of personal affront. As she walked toward the doors, she stared straight forward, and I got the distinct impression that there was some sort of parting of ways somewhere along the pike. Of course, I could be reading more into it than necessary. She might have been nervous, but once again, there was a silence that befell the courtroom, and I looked at this day as an eerie omen of things to come. While both defense attorneys had their moments, they fell well short of convincing the judge that they based their claims on case law. Before the second break, the state proffered an example of case law. Judge Perry was well aware of it. At that moment, I knew how the judge was going to rule. He did his homework.

♦

During the second break, I had the opportunity to talk to Cheney Mason about that particular case law that Burdick and the judge mentioned, something called Lurch v. State. I suggested, because Judge Perry had familiarized himself with the case, he already made his decision and it wasn't favorable for the defense. I told him he did a good job in there. He just said, "We'll see," and he walked back into the courtroom. My intent was not to irritate him at all and it didn't. It was just a commentary. Seconds later, I ran into Jeff Ashton. I asked him why he was late. Not so much why he was late, I explained, but was it the plan all along to have Linda question Cindy because her tone might sound less intimidating? He said, absolutely not! That was how it panned out. It could have been either of them, or Frank George, I suppose. There was never a plan like that. There never is, he said. It doesn't work that way. I thanked him and returned to the courtroom. There was still a lot of work to be done. The OBJECTION TO RELEASE OF DOCUMENTS RELATED TO INTENDED DEFENSE REVIEW OF EVIDENCE was still on the docket du jour. The defense was granted that one. What those experts were doing in town last week is considered work product. In the end, it wasn't a fiasco for the defense, but those recordings are not going to help at trial. Neither is Debbie Polisano.

On a final note, Fusian Ultra Lounge, Casey's old stomping grounds, is no more. In it's place is Fifty Brews Bar and Grill. The initial count has them pegged at 74 beers.

“I still think Caylee’s alive."

I decided to leave the house early yesterday because this hearing was going to be a real doozie. We had Mark NeJame representing Texas EquuSearch, and testimony from Cindy and Lee. As Bob Kealing from WESH reported days earlier, it was the first time in over a year that the Anthony family would be in the same place at the same time. George was there to lend his support.

When I arrived at the courthouse, around 1:00 PM, I ran into Bob. We discussed the case and rode up the elevator together, along with his camera operator and several other people. Also accompanying Bob was an intern from UNCW. He finishes his internship soon, so it was good that he got to go to a very important hearing. I pretty much hung around with that crowd and had a good chat with other reporters and Red Huber, the award winning photographer with theOrlando Sentinel. I also had a very good conversation with a certain court administrator who set my mind at ease over false allegations made against me. I'll leave it at that, but needless to say, no one was able to frighten me into staying away from the courthouse, and no one was on the lookout for a fictitious "gun-toting impersonator of the law" with a beautiful bald head.

It was around 1:30 when a deputy opened the courtroom doors and and called out to all media people. I was invited in with the others. Soon, Jose Baez and Cheney Mason entered and began to settle into their stations. Jose nodded and greeted some of the reporters and then waved to me, saying, "Hello, Dave."

Of course, I returned the gesture.

Moments later, Cindy and George entered with Brad Conway. I was in the second row and Cindy called me by name and asked if I would mind moving back a row. Of course, I didn't mind. No matter what, testifying in court is never a fun thing and I certainly wanted her to be as comfortable as possible.

After about 5 minutes, the door was opened to the public and everyone filed in. I had arrived early because of the crowd I anticipated. The courtroom and gallery soon filled up with spectators, and many went up the stairs to the balcony. I chose to sit behind the defense because I was with a media friend who sat there, and also for another very good reason. I wanted to be up close and personal to the most important people there, aside from Casey and all of the attorneys, meaning prosecution and defense. Besides, I see nothing wrong with sitting wherever I choose, whether anyone likes it or not, and in order to get the feel and mood of people, what better way than being near? I have never been one to believe that the side one sits on in a courtroom is the stand one takes, and as a writer, I need to approach a story from all angles, not just one.

I wondered where Lee was and, presto, just like that, there he was. He shuffled into the row with his girlfriend, Mallory, in the lead. After they both hugged George and Cindy he took a seat next to his mother, with Mallory to his right, directly in front of me. No matter what people may think, I found her to be a fresh-face in the courtroom. By that, I mean she had a clean and wholesome All-American look.

At 1:53, Casey entered the room. Seven minutes later, like clockwork, Chief Judge Belvin Perry walked in and took his seat behind the bench. The first issue of the day dealt with the reconsideration of a prior ruling made by Judge Strickland pertaining to Texas EquuSearch records. Judge Perry announced that both sides would have 5 minutes to address the issue. Within seconds, Baez asked for and was granted a sidebar with the judge, NeJame, Mason and Linda Drane Burdick. Jeff Ashton was not present at this time. 12 minutes later, the sidebar broke up, the attorneys walked back to their respective stations and the judge announced that Mr. Baez had withdrawn the TES motion. He said that the defense could inspect the documents again, they could take notes, and a special magistrate, Jim Glatt, would oversee the task. There would be no deadline, but he expected it to be done by some time next week, and a hearing would be set thereafter. With that, NeJame was excused and the court moved to the next motion, the 911 calls made by Cindy precisely two years earlier.

On May 10 of this year, the court asked for a response to an order regarding the theory of admissibility of those 911 calls. Yesterday, Linda Drane Burdick opened the issue by saying it should be treated like a motion in limine or else go to trial and file an objection of admissibility at that time, which would delay the trial. To give you an idea of the complexity, we must first understand this motion in limine. It's a motion used by attorneys in civil or criminal cases to preclude prejudicial or objectionable evidence before it is seen or heard by a jury. The primary advantage of the in limine motion is to avoid the futile attempt of trying to undo harm done where jurors have been exposed to damaging evidence, even where later stricken by the court.¹

There were three people set to testify, Cindy, Lee and Debbie Polisano, who was Cindy's supervisor at Gentiva, where she was a nurse. Lee had come with his erstwhile attorney, Tom Luka. Cindy was called to the stand first. Debbie Polisano was no where in sight. While sitting close to Cindy, I could plainly see she was very nervous. As she walked toward the witness box, Lee was asked to leave the courtroom and not discuss the case with anyone. This is a standard procedure and it eliminates the possibility of contriving the same or similar testimony given by the first witness.

Jose Baez asked the first questions. Mostly, the conversation centered on what transpired the day that led to the calls, from learning of the car at the tow yard to calling Casey with no response to finally finding her to frantically calling police. It was a nerve wracking day. She said that she took her lunch hour to pick the car up with George after he called to let her know. They met at the house. She took $500 with her. George never told her about the smell until they returned with Casey's car. He said he had to drive with the windows down because it was like something had died - like a dead body, in the car. George needed to go to work and Cindy took a few things out of the car to air out in the yard. She threw a pair of Casey's slacks in the washer and returned to work. She said that she didn't say anything to anyone at work about the smell of death, but did discuss the problem with her supervisor, Debbie Polisano, who was still nowhere to be found.

When she returned home around 6:00 PM, she took the slacks out of the washer and placed them in the dryer. She then went back to the car and again noticed the smell while removing dolls belonging to Caylee, and a bag. She put them in the back yard, too. This is when she found copies of Amy Huizenga's resumé. After calling Casey with no reply, she called Amy, who was at the Florida Mall. Meanwhile, George phoned Lee and asked him to go home to help his mother, as she attempted to locate his sister. Without going into all of the details, which we practically know by heart now, let's just go straight to the 911 calls. The first one came at 8:09 PM as Cindy pulled into Orlando PD's Southeast Community Police Office (SECPO) on Pershing Avenue. Unknown to her was that the office closed at 5:00 PM and it was now over three hours later. She told the dispatcher that Casey had stolen money and the car, but the car had been found. Casey sat next to her mother. Since it was not an emergency, she drove home and was instructed to call OCSO because it was out of Orlando's jurisdiction. This is because the Hopespring neighborhood off Chickasaw Trail is in an unincorporated area of the city and falls under county control.

Lee was waiting inside the house. The three of them conversed and during that time, Lee told his mother that he had smelled the car as he walked in the garage. The second 911 call was made around 8:44 PM, and Cindy testified that the dispatcher was lackadaisical about her claims and found it to be a non-urgent event. At this time, she was not aware that Caylee was missing. Meanwhile, Lee began talking to his sister about the situation. This is the conversation Cindy overheard that brought about the third 911 call at 9:41 PM. Casey hadn't seen her daughter in 31 days, she was abducted by a nanny named Zanny and Cindy was panicking fast.  Lee later testified that his mother pounded Casey's bed and screamed, "What have you done???!!!"

During this 911 call, Cindy testified yesterday that she did it out of desperation in order to force the police to arrive at the house faster. She said she had never smelled a decomposing body in a car before. Rotting and burned flesh, yes, but not from anyone expiring in a hospital or in the morgue, where bodies are refrigerated. She said she never put two and two together. She never felt that Caylee was the cause of the smell in the car.

When Linda Drane Burdick cross examined, she cited pages and sections from prior interviews; what she said during depositions with Corporals Eric Edwards and Yuri Melich, and FBI Special Agent Scott Bowen. Some of it didn't seem to line up with what she had just said. Suddenly, there were more instances of "I don't remember" than during the defense's more friendly engagement with her. She reiterated that she didn't connect Caylee with the smell. Burdick handed Cindy copies of the 911 transcripts in an attempt to refresh her memory and force her hand. (Jeff Ashton arrives at 3:13) Cindy knew that Casey had told Lee that they had to wait until the next day to pick up Caylee and this is when the 31 days came into the conversation that shocked Cindy. Burdick maintained that none of the three 911 calls were premeditated, particularly the last one, and that's what made it an excited utterance as opposed to hearsay. To make this clear, an excited utterance is a statement relating to a startling event or condition made while the declarant was under the stress of excitement caused by the event or condition. (See: Hearsay Exemptions if Witness is Able to Testify)

We took a 10 minute break at this time. While out in the hall talking to someone, Jose Baez passed by me on his way to the men's room. He patted me on my shoulder and I asked him one quick question. "Are you a baseball fan?"

"I LOVE IT!" he exclaimed, and continued on. It was just something I knew in my gut, it wasn't really important, but it does show he's got a life outside of this case.

When court resumed, Jose came back to rebut. Cindy made it clear that she wanted police to continue looking for a live Caylee, and that she made statements to law enforcement to force them to continue searching for her granddaughter. It was at this time she said, "I still think Caylee's alive."

A minute later, she was excused and Debbie Polisano was called. She was still not at the courthouse. The judge reminded the defense she was subpoenaed to testify and the subpoena stated 2:00 PM. Instead of getting angry, the judge shifted to Lee, who was outside awaiting his call. It was now 3:48 PM.

Here is where I will end it for the day. There's plenty more, but over the weekend, I want to explain more of the dynamics in the courtroom - family, attorney interactions and some of the people sitting in the gallery. I will also go more into why the 911 calls were allowed. There is something else. I have been saying all along that I felt Cindy was (and remains to this day) in denial. This is something that has been so difficult to absorb, I don't think any of us know how we would react if handed the same set of circumstances. Would any of us come out unscathed? I'm not making any excuses, but sitting where I did, I could see clearer than a TV screen, HD or not.