The Case Against Casey Anthony: Motions Hearing Tuesday and the Circus Continues

The case against Casey Anthony will return to court Tuesday, November 25. The State's Attorney will argue for a gag motion for all those involved. This motion will be opposed by defense attorney Jose Baez, the Orlando Sentinel, and WFTV.

In addition, the defense has filed motions for discovery. They are asking for Amscot records for employees as well as work schedules. They are also seeking records of the calendars and time lines compiled by investigators. Also being sought are crime scene reports and photographs.

Yet another motion requests "all bench notes, reports, and photographs concerning any forensic evidence the FBI has received and processed in this case," documentation of the chain of evidence for the evidence, as well as the microscopic slides, including the hair studies. The defense wants all the records from the "Body Farm" studies and all communications about the result. The defense is also asking for all tips received as well as K9 information including the training manual and veterinary records.

Finally, Baez has made a motion to be able to bring his laptop into the jail for his conferences with Casey. He claims the new policy allows only public defenders to bring laptops into jail.

It should be a fascinating hearing.

The Circus Continues

With their new spokesperson, Michelle Bart, George and Cindy Anthony have continued to state that Caylee is alive. On Sunday, November 16, Ms. Bart announced that she planned to hold a press conference to show evidence that Caylee is still alive. She indicated that leads placed the toddler had been seen at the Orlando airport during a three day period.

Later that day, after the weekly family vigil for Caylee, Bart announced that the presser had been moved until later in the week so that the Anthony attorney, Mark Nejame, could be present. Eventually, the presser was cancelled when NeJame resigned as their attorney. In a letter that was gracious and thoughful, NeJame pointed out that

"I believe that the singular person out of the 6 billion people in the world who holds the key to finding Caylee is her mother, Casey Anthony. Although I was quite successful in resolving a multitude of matters, I am unable to go further to help George and Cindy find Caylee in my current role. I can only provide my best advice and must respect any client's prerogative to do what they deem is best, whether they choose to follow my guidance or not. However, there is little value or use I can provide to any client if they choose to act and comment at will.
In the end, the Anthonys publisized a picture of a little girl they thought may be Caylee. The family PI is investigating the lead.

In his letter, NeJame stated that he respected the Anthonys' right to believe that Caylee is alive, and with that I would agree. However, I do believe that the family needs to remember the rights of others to their own privacy. I certainly hope that they leave the leads to the PI and not subject other families to not have their children's pictures spread throughout the press and the internet.

There is so much more that happened this week. The OCSO announced they will no longer follow tips on live searches. WESH reported that

Sheriff's Office spokesman Carlos Padilla said they are confident that FBI lab tests on evidence found in Casey Anthony's car prove Caylee is dead. He said that is backed up by the grand jury's murder indictment of Casey Anthony. "We cannot continue to look when we have no evidence whatsover that she's alive," he said.

The battle will continue. The OCSO will move on to other cases while the State's Attorney and his staff prepare for trial. George and Cindy will continue in their own search with the help of the KidFinders Network, which has now come under scrutiny by the press.

Part of the circus this week has been the accusations made against Dennis Milstead, a co-founder of the organization along with his wife Sherri. WFTV's Kathy Belich confronted the couple in Orlando with mug shots of him and his criminal record.

Then, Dr. Henry Lee joined the defense team and inspected Casey's car.

Leonard Padilla has been offered $200,000 for the video rights to the dive search. That money would sure hire a good amount of dive time!

The FBI videos of interviews with George and Cindy Anthony were released. For those who viewed them all, we learned more about Casey, Cindy and George. If you are following the case, most of them will provide new information.

I'm sure there is more, I do hope some of you will add to my collection.

For Caylee's sake, I wish that the events leading up to the trial of her mother Casey for murder would be more dignified. It almost seems as though people forget sometimes that in this entire situation, this little girl's memory needs to be treated with utmost dignity.

Fort Mill TimesCF News 13

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