Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Casey Anthony: Hearing Monday

Mark Monday, April 5, on your calendar. Judge Stan Strickland has set that date to deal with the defense motion to get all the TES records.

In the past, I have reviewed all the motions dealing with the issue. Most pertinent is the article I wrote on March 15. It's a good place to do one's homework before viewing the hearing.

This hearing could be a major showdown between Tim Miller's attorney Mark NeJame and Jose Baez. In his MOTION TO MODIFY THE COURT'S ORDER ON DEFENDANT'S APPLICATION FOR SUBPOENA DUCES TECUM FOR DOCUMENTS IN THE POSESSION OF TEXAS EQUUSEARCH, Baez claimed that he had discovered searchers not provided by TES.

The first searcher Baez claims to have "found" is Joseph Jordan. The other searcher is Laura Buchanan, who claims to have searched the area on September 3, 2008.

With the recent document dump, we have learned a great deal about the Joseph Jordan situation. In his first interview, Jordan stated that he had never searched with Laura Buchanan, even though Mort Smith, the defense PI had presented supposed TES paperwork stating so. Mr. Joseph decided to record the interview because something wasn't right to him about it. He then called the States' Attorney office and reported his actions. The recording was subsequently placed under seal by the court. None of those involved pressed charges against Jordan.

Jordan also indicated that Ms. Buchanan had called him and identified herself as LE from Kentucky and had searched with him. She encouraged him to call Jose Baez. He asked her not to call him again. Apparently, it was Buchanan who provided his contact information to the defense.

Joseph Jordan Interview 1
Joseph Jordan Interview 2

In NeJame's reply, the most important part concerning the issue is that

10. That a meeting was scheduled with a representative from Mr. Baez' office approximately 6 months ago to review and inspect all the 4,000 searcher records. This meeting was cancelled by counsel for Casey Anthony and no attempts were ever made by the defense to reschedule, although the documents have remained available throughout....

NeJame also filed another motion, RESPONSE TO DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO MODIFY THE COURT'S ORDER ON DEFENDANT'S APPLICATION FOR SUBPOENA DUCES TECUM FOR DOCUMENTS IN THE POSESSION OF TEXAS EQUUSEARCH.

Here, NeJame goes into more detail about Baez' cancellation of the meeting to review the TES documents. Baez had hired a company called The Presentation Group to photocopy all the documents. That option was absolutely not in Judge Strickland's order!

NeJame also indicated that Joseph Jordan's name most certainly was on the list of 32 searchers.

Again, I highly recommend reading his well-written motion to appreciate what we may hear on Monday! The hearing is scheduled for 10 AM.

WESH

8 comments:

donchais said...

I'll bring the popcorn!

FRG said...

Ritanita,
Great article!!! It will be a day to remember for sure. BTW I have a question, who will be arguing, Cheney Mason or JB??? I didn't like the new attorney (he is a joke to me, he was very disrespectful with JS) and I am looking forward to see how NeJame will argue with this new guy.
I barely can't wait. Is it Monday yet? LOL

ritanita said...

There's no way to say who will argue the motion here. I have a suspicion it will be Mr. Baez, since he filed he motion.

There's a lot more to his original motion than the issue of the "found" searchers. It makes some arguments as to why all the paperwork should be handed over to the defense.

Unfortunately, Baez used the example of the two "found" searchers to bolster his argument.

As for Cheney Mason, I am reserving judgement on him. I'm hoping that he brings direction and order to the defense.

Based on Mark NeJame's two responses to the motion, he is going to be ready to roll over the defense arguments with a steam-roller. He used some very colorful adjectives in describing Baez' motion and subsequent actions.

ritanita said...

Doncchais, does popcorn go better with white or red wine?

donchais said...

ritanita, yes!

Anonymous said...

FRG, I agree with you about Cheney Mason. His "good old boy" tactics in the Nelson Serrano case irritated the heck out of me! Sometimes his chair was (disrespectfully in my opinion) cocked back so far in his chair I thought he'd fall on his wallet!

Ritanita, I know what you mean about hopefully bringing some order to the defense's case. I don't know if his strengths lie in that area, but it surely is needed. I don't want Casey to have grounds for appeal based on ineffective representation of counsel!

SeniorMoments

Anonymous said...

In Vincent Bugliosi's book "Outrage," on the Simpson trial, he referred to myths about defense lawyers. Vince wrote: "But for years I have been referring to criminal defense attorneys, even many high-priced ones in major, nationally publicized criminal cases, as "professional undertakers," who come into court with their well-oiled and polished spades and literally bury their clients. I am not being facetious when I tell you that in many cases their clients would have been better off if their lawyers had just sat there at the counsel table and never opened their mouths."

Will Casey Anthony's Dream Team turn out to be "professional undertakers?" Cheney Mason is reputed to be a winner as a defense attorney, but Nelson Serrano, mentioned above, is on Death Row.

David From TN

shari said...

Everyone please remember that NeJame and Mason are probably friendly to each other as they both have been around this town a long time and would obviously know each other well. NeJame will probably make mincemeat out of Baez, but never underestimate Cheney Mason....He is sly (with his good ole boy persona) like a fox. He's one very talented lawyer. Baez should be glad that Mason is on his side and NOT the one he would have to argue against.