Casey Anthony's Defense Team: Slinging the Mud at Roy Kronk

I've been following this case for so long, that I was really enjoying the brief hiatus in press coverage and motion-filing. With some free time, I've been able to do some Christmas shopping and sewing. I've also been reading up and getting ready for the hearing on December 11 for the fraud case against Casey Anthony. Thanks to Bill Sheaffer's new blog for WFTV, I've learned a great deal about both the fraud trial and the criminal trial. I consider it a "must read."

This past week, articles kept cropping up about the fact that the deposition of Roy Kronk, the meter reader who discovered the remains of Caylee Marie Anthony would be taking place on Thursday, November 19. Then, on Wednesday, the day before the deposition, curious articles appeared in the local media.

WESH's headline read:
Anthonys Say They Only Want Truth From Kronk

The article stated that:

He is the man who brought the search for Caylee to a close last December. Sources said the defense for Caylee's mother, Casey Anthony, has done a lot of digging, asking a lot of questions about Kronk's past.

Brad Conway is the messenger here:

The Anthonys' attorney said Kronk's personal life and the circumstances of discovering the remains are different things. George and Cindy Anthony's attorney said all they want is the truth from Kronk and not dirt about his past.

"They have been vilified unfairly. They know what it's like to be under a microscope unfairly and they don't want that to happen to someone who found their granddaughter," attorney Brad Conway said.

I was taken aback to read this. I recalled the interviews LE had with Cindy and George and how they were always trying to feed the authorities tidbits about Casey's friends. Jesse Grund, Amy Huizenga, Tony Lazarro, and Ricardo Morales all became suspicious collaborators in some grand scheme to frame their daughter for the murder of little Caylee. In recently released e-mails between Cindy Anthony and Dominic Casey, there were mentions of digging up dirt on Jesse Grund's father, the Rev. Richard Grund in terms of pornography and other evil doings.

Well, yesterday evening, I had my answer to the question of why these articles sent off an alert in my brain. The headlines read as follows:

From WKMG:
New Anthony Defense Team Member Seen
P.I. Looking Into Past Of Man Who Found Caylee's Remains

The man who found the remains of Caylee Anthony was deposed on Thursday by Casey Anthony's defense team, which has added a private investigator to its lineup....

A new member of the defense team was seen entering the courtroom on Thursday. Mort Smith is a Chicago-based private investigator who teaches at DePaul University, the same school where fellow defense team member Andrea Lyon teaches. Smith has been digging into Kronk's personal life for the past several months in an effort to uncover information that might discredit the former meter reader, or at least cast doubt on his story of how he found Caylee.

WESH
Anthony Motion Wants Kronk Treated As Suspect
Defense: Roy Kronk 'Ignored' As Suspect In Caylee's Death

CFNews13
Defense Says Kronk May Have Killed Caylee

WKMG
Motion: Kronk Could Have Killed Caylee

Apparently, Mr. Smith has visited Kronk's ex-wives, child, ex-girlfriend and has come up with the requisite amount of dirt and the Baez Law Firm and Andrea Lyon want Judge Strickland to allow them to throw it at Mr. Kronk at trial.

Now I am understanding the ominous foreshadowing of the Anthony family statement! It surely fits in with what the defense is trying to do. They want reasonable doubt. They have now decided that Mr. Kronk will be the next person to be thrown under the proverbial bus.

Late this evening, the Orlando Sentinel published a statement from Roy Kronk's attorney:

Following is the complete and unedited statement issued by Roy Kronk's attorney, David Evans, about allegations made by Casey Anthony's defense team. The statement was e-mailed shortly before 6:30 p.m. Thursday:

Today, the Casey Anthony defense team commenced, but did not complete, the deposition of Roy Kronk in the State v. Casey Anthony case. Shortly after adjourning the deposition, the Anthony defense team filed a Motion, Memorandum of Law, and accompanying materials suggesting that Roy Kronk, the individual who found Caylee Anthony's remains and repeatedly reported his find to law enforcement agencies, should be considered a suspect in the murder of Caylee Anthony.

Mr. Kronk is a witness, not a suspect. He voluntarily appeared today and truthfully responded to all questions asked by Anthony's attorney. He has cooperated fully with law enforcement from Day One. He has nothing to hide, and has hidden nothing.

It is the nature of criminal defense to attempt to find someone to blame for a crime other than the person charged. Mr. Kronk has understood from the beginning that the defense might attempt to cast suspicions in his direction--because that's what defense attorneys do. In their zeal to defend Casey Anthony, defense counsel has filed papers with the Court that are filled with allegations that have no basis in fact and falsely accuse Mr. Kronk of various types of bad behavior.

The State will respond to these papers in due course in the criminal proceedings. As for Mr. Kronk, he vehemently denies the allegations against him and is confident that he will be vindicated. In the meantime, as he stated early on in this case, no good deed goes unpunished.

David Evans,

Attorney for Roy Kronk

The motion and memorandum of law have been posted by Fox35, however, it is very blurry and I can't read it properly. I am hoping to have all the material together to read sometime tomorrow.

Motion
Memorandum of Law

In the meantime, please read the latest entry at THE HINKY METER. It's a fairly hilarious version of how Roy Kronk could be the culprit in this case.

Katfish Ponders Recognized by the MSM

As many of you know, my blogging friend katfish has been attending the hearings (and mini-trial) at a historic Galesburg, IL courthouse for accused spree killer Nicholas Sheley and reporting on the proceedings. I have to say, she's been doing a fantastic job and T&T has been honored to run her coverage of the Sheley case.

Recently, a local mainstream media paper, The Zephyr, recognized katfish's efforts. The article appeared on the paper's front page on November 5th. Last week, the article appeared online so I can finally link to it.

Here is a small snippet from the article:

Before Sheley's arrest and the subsequent hearings in Knox County Circuit Court Fisher had never attended an actual court proceeding in person. She had watched hours upon hours of televised courtroom activity on Court TV until that cable channel redefined itself last year. It was then that she first began watching streaming video of courtroom action over the Internet, something that still captures much of her time. “There was nothing like the 'in the courtroom feel' of televised trials until I began attending real courtroom trials myself.” But almost no one has been a more dedicated attendee of the many various hearings regarding Sheley than Fisher.

“From the beginning family and friends of Ronald Randall have conscientiously attended hearings along with a number of regular newspaper, radio and television reporters. I have come to know all the principals involved in the Sheley case, his defense lawyers, the prosecuting attorneys, and the judges. I try to take meticulous notes in the courtroom and I have done a lot of legal research so I now feel pretty comfortable with the legal jargon. I want my blog to be an accurate and objective record of what goes on in court and to that end I try to keep my own feelings out of it as much as possible.”

T&T congratulates katfish on this well deserved recognition.

Nine Years Ago Today....

Lauren Sarene Key, late summer, 2000.

Nine years ago today, in the early afternoon of November 8th, four-year-old Lauren Sarene Key ended up dead at the bottom of Inspiration Point, a 120-foot sheer cliff face in Ranch Palos Verdes. That day, Lauren was on a court-ordered visitation with her father, Cameron Brown, who drove her to the Abalone Cove parking lot where they set out on an approximate one-mile hike. To this day, only two people know what really happened to cause Lauren to lose her life in such a dangerous place. Her father, Cameron Brown and Lauren.

Much later that night back at the Sheriff's station, Brown was interviewed by LA Co. Sheriff's Homicide detectives for approximately three hours. According to Detective Jeffery Leslie, Brown gave three slightly different versions as to what happened to Lauren on the southeast section of Inspiration Point. That single interview would be the one and only time Brown cooperated with authorities investigating the death of his daughter.

Brown was arrested on first degree murder charges in 2003. Because of the special circumstances of lying-in-wait and murder for financial gain bail was denied. He's been in the custody of LA Co. Sheriff's ever since. Two hung juries later, (all jurors from both trials agreed that Brown was guilty of something, they just couldn't decide on what charge) Brown is still waiting to find out if DDA Craig Hum will bring this case to trial a third time.

On October 29th, Brown's defense team missed a court ordered date to file motions to argue for Brown to be released on bail and/or to have the case dismissed all together. Judge Michael Pastor ordered a new date of December 17th, 2009, for the filing of defense motions.

People who knew Lauren described her as a bright light who talked up a storm. She enjoyed going to church and being around other people. She was a very sociable child who enjoyed connecting with others. Lauren was a "girly-girl" who also enjoyed playing dress-up and playing with her dolls. She was not a tomboy who played rough-house with other children or knew how to swim. Supposedly, Lauren did not like to go on hikes. Please take a moment to light a candle in remembrance of little Lauren today.

Quick links to T&T's coverage of Brown's retrial.

First Christian-Newsom Torture-Murder Trial on TruTV

GUEST ENTRY FROM DAVID in TENNESSEE!

On Monday, November 9, starting at 9 am ET, Tru TV's In Session will show the taped replay of the August trial of Letalvis Cobbins for the torture-murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. Here is my first article outlining the case. It has an account of the Cobbins trial.

This is my summary of the trial of Lemaricus Davidson, who was the ringleader in this horrific crime. He was convicted and sentenced to death. It was the first death sentence handed down in Knox County since 1997.

A few days ago, a juror in the Davidson trial posted an account of the jury deliberations in a Knoxville-based sports forum. He tells how the jury analyzed the evidence and arrived at the guilty verdict and the death sentence in the sentencing phase. Here is the link.

This week after next, Tru TV's In Session will move from New York to Atlanta. There will be new anchors except for former host Vinnie Politan, who is returning. Beth Karas will remain as a correspondent. The Cobbins trial will be covered next week by the usual hosts.

David From Tennessee

Thank you so much David, for keeping T&T readers up-to-date on the defendants trials in the Christian-Newsom murders. You coverage of these cases has been much appreciated. Sprocket.

Casey Anthony's Lawyers: Going through the motions, Newly Released Discovery

I've been skimming motions for the criminal case and haven't had the energy to really go through them in depth because I have the feeling that the defense is merely "going through the motions" to get them on the record in hopes for an appeal down the road.

I promise I'll review them in more depth when a hearing date is set. I've also been collecting the motions for the fraud trial and will post my opinions about them prior to the newly rescheduled hearing on December 11.

Right now, though, I'd like to briefly discuss some aspects of the Motion To Dismiss Defective Indictment. The main argument that the defense makes is that the indictment lacks "facts" which says that it does not contain enough facts to formulate a defense.

To remind you, the Grand Jury met on October 14, 2008 and heard evidence from LE and George Anthony, her father. After 43 minutes of deliberation, they returned the indictment and Casey was arrested for the last time.

At that time, LE had no body. The testimony before the Grand Jury is secret and has only been released to the State's Attorneys due to the fact that there seem to be discrepancies in George Anthony's prior deposition and what he said to the Grand Jury. Obviously, these facts could not be included in the indictment.

As appendices to the motion, the defense included the indictment against Casey and a copy of the indictment against Patrick Gonzalez, Sr. for comparison. Of all the indictments available, the defense chose this case, probably because the whole crime was caught on videotape! If you read through the indictment, it does have more detailed information, but not much at all, certainly not enough to allow the defense to build their case on those facts.

Still wondering if this well written motion and brief, more than likely penned by Andrea Lyon, held any water,I went to the local TV stations. Both of their legal analysts blew the motion off.

Reading Hal Boedeker' s blog on November 3, 2009, I found the following quotes:

***The defense's claim that the indictment is defective is "laughable," WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said. "When is the defense ever going to get serious?" he asked.

***WKMG-Channel 6 anchor Erick Weber said: "Now the defense is attacking that criminal indictment, claiming the document is defective. According to Anthony's attorneys, the indictment does not include any specific facts about how the crime was committed. Without any facts to refute, Anthony cannot formulate a defense, her attorneys argue."

*** WESH-Channel 2's Bob Kealing highlighted this from the defense team: "The state's intention to seek the death penalty in order to gain a tactical advantage over the defense is in bad faith."

Kealing's take on what will happen to the motion: "It would seem pretty unlikely that the judge would just toss a grand jury indictment that was based, in part, on testimony of Casey's own father. But that's what [defense attorney Jose] Baez and company are asking."

I was still wondering, so I did something I rarely do. I contacted a lawyer. This guy is recently retired and has worked mostly in civil litigation. However, a number of years ago, he did take and pass the Florida Bar exam on a whim. At the present time, he's thinking of relocating to Florida to practice as a defense attorney, so he's been reviewing his Florida law. He knows absolutely nothing about this case, so I thought his opinion might be of help.

He called me back not long after I sent him a copy of the motion. His response was literally, "No way Jose" is this motion going anywhere!

At this point, I'd like to go back to the main complaint in the motion, that:

Without any facts to refute, Miss Anthony cannot formulate a defense.

Let's consider here. This case was placed in the hands of defense attorney Jose Baez all the way back in July, 2008. Between that time and the time of the indictment, Baez had stated to the press more than once that Casey had "compelling" reasons for not telling her story and that the facts would come out at trial. We kept hearing about "junk science" could not prove that there had really been a dead body in the trunk of Casey's abandoned car. George Anthony pointed out in one memorable clip that the "dead body in the car" was somebody else. Cindy Anthony kept claiming it was rotten pizza that caused the stench.

There are now plenty more facts out here in public with all the discovery that has been released due to the Florida Sunshine Laws. We had many pages released today with yet more "facts" that the defense can now refute.

The two main findings that will surely be "bombshells" in the case are the finding of chloroform in the Gatoraide bottle along with syringes as well as the discovery of coffin flies both on the paper towels in the trunk and on the remains.

Today, WESH reported the following:

The forensic report was dated Sept. 22, 2009. Inside the trunk and a trash bag from Anthony's car, investigators recovered a large number of so-called coffin flies, which are gnats that feed on human decomposition.

Forensic botanist Neal Haskell concluded that a large number of the insects found on paper towels inside a trash bag meant there was decompositional fluid on the towels.

"Given the association of the towels with the car, it seems most likely that the paper toweling was used in an attempt to clean the decompositional fluids purged from the remains in the trunk of the car," the report stated.

In addition Haskell said the insects found in Caylee's skeletanized remains and near the body indicated insects started colonizing there in late June or early July 2008.

WFTV reported that:

There was very damning evidence found at the scene where Caylee's remains were found inside a Disney bag, including a bottle of Cool Blue Gatorade, but when they opened it they found instead a substance containing chloroform and cleaning fluid and a syringe holding a substance containing the potentially deadly chloroform.

Records show the Gatorade bottle they found was partially full of a fluid that was later through testing determined to contain chloroform and cleaning fluid. Inside the bottle was a plastic pouch containing a syringe where investigators also found chloroform.

During earlier investigators, computer searches were found on Casey Anthony’s computer on how to make chloroform months before Caylee disappeared and investigators found a web page about chloroform in Casey's ex-boyfriend's computer, which he says she could have seen, months before investigators say she went online researching chloroform.

Mr. Baez, Ms. Lyon, Ms. Kenney-Baden, Mr. Macaluso, I think there are enough facts out there that you can use to build your defense.

Perhaps the problem is that none of the facts work to the defense's benefit. I suppose you expect the State to provide you with the defense.

As a final note, I'd like to mention Mr. Macaluso's statement last summer that he had PROOF that Caylee's remains were placed there by another party and that Casey was innocent. He now has until February to present his proof to the court. I'd like to remind people that it was Linda Drane-Burdick who recommended that date to the court. Ms. Burdick is giving the defense enough time to hang themselves on their own petard.

Asylum For The Senator

As you may remember, the Senator was arrested in April under the Jersey’s data protection laws after he published details of a police investigation into a registered nurse which he believed showed that the person remained a danger to the public and had been ignored by the authorities.

It’s been an interesting few weeks following Stuart Syvret!

We must begin back on October 21 when he authored the following e-mail to the judiciary:

From: Stuart Syvret

Sent: 21 October 2009 14:00

To: David Le Heuze; 'Stephen Baker'; Jonathan Bertram; William Redgrave

Cc: William Bailhache

Subject: Forgetfulness.

Importance: High.

Dear Mr. Le Heuze, Advocate Baker, Mr. Bertram, Mr. Redgrave

I do apologise. You know, these exercises are so complex and demanding, the most obvious of things can escape one's mind!

I can't actually be in court at 2.00 pm this afternoon - as I'm in London - where I have come to seek and secure some heavyweight legal advice. Who knows - perhaps some expertise that might even approach Advocate Baker's mastery of the subject?

Naturally, the people I'm hoping to secure advice from are very learned and very busy, so it has taken longer than I expected. Oh - I nearly forgot - I am also discussing the case with a number of Members of Parliament.

But - as this afternoon's event is merely a directions hearing, there isn't actually a specific requirement for the accused to be present.

Not - frankly - that it would make one atom of difference if I were present; Advocate Baker and the Jersey judiciary are going to undertake the extraordinary and unprecedented step of having the extant - and previously un-resisted defence case - that of public interest disclosure, based upon the catastrophic failure of the 1999 investigation into "Nurse M" - suddenly ruled "inadmissible" - because Advocate Baker and his Jersey oligarchy paymasters simply have no answer to the defence case - whatsoever.

Oh - silly me! I nearly forgot another reason for my presence in London. I'm in the process of finalising my legal action for personal damages against UK Justice Secretary Jack Straw, which I will have served in the next few days. After all, Mr. Straw himself has accepted, on-the-record, that he does carry responsibility for good governance and the proper administration of justice in the Crown Dependencies.

As I'm sure you'll recognise - he has very badly failed to carry out those duties - in a number of cases - not merely mine. For example - there can't be many places in the world that won't prosecute a child battering maniac - preferring instead to leave him in charge of the Education Department.

But, I imagine, such decisions free-up resources to enable the very obviously necessary prosecution of an elected representative of the people of Jersey - for trying to stop their grandmothers getting murdered.

Once again - do please accept my apologies for forgetting to alert you to my absence earlier.

After all - we can all be very forgetful about the most obvious of things - can't we?

For example like a judge turning up to hear a case - and having to borrow the relevant law book from the accused.

Or - oh so easily - the prosecution lawyer, allowing it to escape his mind that - in fact - he was aware of very significant items of evidence relevant to the defence - so didn’t declare or disclose them.

Fortunately, I was able to prompt Advocate Baker and remind him of the existence of that evidence, which he was then able to remember - for example - the fact that Mick Gradwell spent over half his time in Jersey doing nothing except “investigate” me and Lenny Harper.

And that Gradwell had two full-time cops - Mark Cane and Julia Jackson - doing nothing except investigate me - at the behest of Bill Bailhache - in a desperate search for something - anything - that could be used to side-track and discredit me.

You see - even though such evidenced facts are plainly of the most central importance to my abuse of process application - the prosecution unfortunately forgot about them.

It's easily done, I'll concede.

Indeed - why - only this morning I was e-mailed two further items of evidence - which the prosecution had forgotten - hitherto - to make me aware of - let alone disclose.

But - we're all forgetful, once in a while - don't you agree?

So once again, please accept my apologies for forgetting to alert you earlier to my absence.

See you in court next time.

Regards.

Stuart.

OK, yes it was sarcastic and cocky, but consider the incredible frustration Stuart has had to deal with; what with all the dirty tricks and illegal cover-ups and perversion of justice perpetrated by the powers in Jersey, that he has uncovered.

Well as expected, the oligarchy went further insane and on the very same day, the legislature repealed the Human Rights (Jersey) Law 2000! Wait, it gets better and as Stuart says, “you can’t make this stuff up!” By that afternoon it had become a criminal offense not to turn up to a court hearing that one didn’t have to turn up to and an arrest warrant has been issued for Senator Stuart Syvret for contempt of court by Jersey's Magistrate's Court.

British Liberal Democrat MP, John Hemming, offered Stuart sanctuary. Hemming has informed Jersey authorities that any attempt to extradite Syvret will be done “over his dead body!”

“He is staying at my London flat as my guest and they can arrest him over my dead body,” Mr. Hemming said. “He is a brave and principled politician, but the authorities are prosecuting him rather than investigating the allegations about the nurse. We should not allow him to be prosecuted in a kangaroo court.”

Love him or hate him, the Senator firmly believes in his convictions and principles and I respect his doggedness and determination!

On the other hand, when will the powers that be in Jersey finally realize that the rest of us have figured out their motives? Game up!

Senator Stuart Syvret Blog

Channel Television

The Independent

The Telegraph

Melissa Huckaby Has New, High Profile Lawyer

~Sandra Cantu

~Melissa Huckaby

It’s been seven months since 8-year-old Sandra Cantu went missing from her Tracy, California home. The last images of the pretty little girl, captured on video, show Sandra joyfully skipping through the trailer park where she lived. A week later her body was found stuffed in a suitcase and tossed into a drainage pond and Melissa Huckaby was arrested for Sandra’s kidnapping, rape with a foreign object, and murder.

San Francisco attorney Michael Burt has now joined Sam Baher for the defense. Burt is considered highly qualified as a death penalty attorney and has defended several high profile criminals including Lyle Menedez, Charles Ng, “Night Stalker" Richard Ramirez as well as others. Michael Burt’s resume may be found here. Burt’s fees will be paid from a special fund from the Public Defender’s Office.

In a hearing Friday, Sam Baher motion to dismiss the indictment against Huckaby as well as a motion to suppress evidence were ordered sealed by Judge Linda Lofthus as they contain information from the grand jury transcripts.

Prior to the hearing, Behar met privately with the judge and Lofthus told prosecutor Thomas Testa, “I’m very pleased to reveal this. Mr. Behar is making tremendous progress.” She also noted that Behar’s other cases are done and he is now working 24/7 on the Huckaby case.

Testa, who has been repeatedly frustrated by the defense delay tactics was unimpressed and said, “Unlike Mr. Behar, I do have other cases, other special circumstances cases that are percolating.”

It had been expected that Loftus would set a trial date during Friday's hearing however, Michael Burt was unavailable, and Huckaby’s public defender, Sam Behar, said he didn't feel comfortable going forward without him.

There will be another status hearing on December 4 and - as we have heard many times in the past - a trail date is expected to be set. Behar said Burt would be present for the hearing and will “be able to provide enough information” to choose a trial date.

A hearing on the motion to suppress evidence will be held February 12.

While Huckaby is entitled to a proper defense as our justice system dictates, I can’t help but believe that for Sandra’s family the lengthy wait for justice and closure must seem interminable.

Recordnet

Examiner.com

Mercury News

Tracy Press