Judge Stan Strickland has ruled that the fraud trial for Casey Anthony will be scheduled for sometime in the near future. In a ruling released this morning, Strickland stated:
After considering all of the factors and argument of counsel, this Court feels that the best resolution is to set the matter for trial in the near future. In terms of legal skill and analysis, this case is rather simple. Few witnesses will be called, and, excluding jury selection, should not take more than a day or two. The Defendant argued that the real problem in this matter will be the jury selection which may be protracted. While this Court agrees, that is not a sufficient reason to delay this matter until after the murder trial. Further, the State has offered to go "non-jury", with a simple bench trial.
In the ruling, Judge Strickland seemed to be strongly influenced by the difficulties Amy Huizenga has gone through due to the case.
The issues involved in the hearing on the 21st are now all resolved. We can expect to be hearing more from the defense after Labor Day, when Andrea Lyon will be submitting motions concerning the death penalty.
Read the judge's ORDER
Thursday, September 3, 2009
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6 comments:
I am waiting in anticipation to see what options Jose will choose in defending Casey on these charges.
I think it strengthens the state's case getting this conviction out of the way and off the radar before the murder charges.
Most definitely would have a biased jury. I would think that she would go for a bench trial.
The choice of what to do with this situation is pretty much up to Casey. I wonder if she will insist on a full jury trial over a plea or a bench trial. Since she lives on her own moral planet, perhaps she thinks she has a good reason for taking the checks and an get off.
If she elects the jury trial, I'm sure we'll see volumes and volumes asking for a change of venue to delay.
I just finished listening to the DP "trial" in the Michael King case and a previous conviction IS another aggrevator the State can add to its list.
Bench trial would be the easiest, quickest, and least likely to get attention. It depends on how much press coverage Baez and his defense team want to garner. There isn't alot of sympathy in "O" town for this woman....so a jury trial would be a precursor of things to come. That could give Baez et.al a reason to be granted a change of venue...as he could say "look what happened during her check fraud trial".
What could be her possible defense? There is videotape of her committing the crime, fer gawd's sake! I will never understand why Baez just doesn't plea her out (especially on this charge) and maybe it will be forgotten by the time of her trial.
Pepper,
At this point, I think that Baez just might be willing to change the plea since, as you point out, there really isn't a defense.
I think that Baez was hoping that the trial would be postponed for one big reason:
A felony conviction will be considered another aggravating factor if the trial goes to the death penalty phase.
The big factor here will be Casey herself. She could prove to be stubborn and refuse a plea. She might think that her defense could be that she would "lie, cheat, or steal" to find her daughter.
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