Thursday, March 18, 2010

Casey Anthony: Judge Unseals Motion

I know that you all are expecting an article about the hearing today, but I need to take some time to put my notes together and re-view the hearing and do some fact-checking before I publish on it. I have every hope of getting an artlcle up by the end of the weekend.

If you want to watch the hearing here are the links provided by WFTV:

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

In the meantime, Judge Stan Strickland signed an order to unseal the State's IN CAMERA SEALED MOTION TO DELAY DISCLOSURE.

The internet had been buzzing about the possible contents of the sealed motion for quite a while. I had been opining with my friends on all the possibilities. My hope had been that it was something totally new, and I got my wish!

Here is a brief summary of the motion:

1. The OSCO was informed by an inmate in the same jail as Casey Anthony that she and Casey had been in contact while in jail.

2. When interviewed on January 22, 2010, the inmate "relayed potentially relevant statements by the Defendant, and gave the name of another inmate who also had communication with the Defendant."

3. On January 27, the other inmate, who is now in a Federal Prison, was interviewed. She said that she had about 50 letters from Casey Anthony. She gave LE the name of the person who had posession of the letters.

5. The State's Attorneys for the case read the letters and found that they appear to have relevant statements. NONE of the statements is a confession.

6. To avoid future accusations of misconduct by the OCSO, the State Attorney asked the FDLE (Florida Department of Law Enforcement) to conduct the investigation.

7. The inmate explained how the correspondence came about and that it wasn't at the behest of LE. She also indicated that an Orange County Corrections officer may have helped in the communications.

Based on what I heard at the very end of the hearing today, I would expect the defense to file a motion for a protective order to have the letters sealed by the court.

Now, we can all start to opine as to what Casey wrote!

15 comments:

FRG said...

Ritanita,
You got your wish indeed!!!! I would NEVER, EVER expect KC would correspond to an inmate, I would think KC knows better and so her lawyers might have advised her NOT to write to anybody, including her parents. I still can't believe this is true, I have to see the with my own very eyes!!! Well, we can't be so very happy about it because it's not a confession so, we still will have to pay for KC's trial's expenses.
What did you think of the new attorney from Orlando joining KC's staff??? I will tell you what I felt about him... very "arrogant" and that's all KC's does NOT need one more to her list. I know you like AL but she is far from being likable, and I mean I am a layperson and you can tell me anything but he was trying to outsmart JS and it didn't sound good to me. Why would we have to take his word in his questioning at this hearing. It was a "show off" to me. I know people say he is good but not humane. IMHO.
Well, I will be waiting your new article.
I want to take a look at all of receipts JB is suppose to present and certainly I want to know what money was given from Todd Macaluso to KC, hopefully it's not illegal.
As usual incompetent JB didn't have handy the receipts to show how he spent KC's money. Another delay tactics.
Thanks Ritanita for your hard work. See you!!!

Anonymous said...

Ahh,geez!

Blu

FRG said...

Ritanita,
Anthony’s Letters To Inmates Will Be Released
Delay For Disclosure Of Contact Between Inmates Ends
http://www.wesh.com/news/22878005/detail.html
Snip:
“Communications between Anthony and other inmates are expected to be released Thursday afternoon.”
In case you didn't get any alert.

ritanita said...

FRG, I haven't even checked my e-mail yet!

I really don't believe that because at the hearing this morning, Judge Strickland gave Jose Baez 15 days to file a motion to seal them. He originally gave Baez 5 days, but Baez said that he needed time to read the documents and there was a large amount of them.

Watch for a motion to seal them followed by a motion from the Sentinel not to seal them.

Judge Strickland even reminded Baez that he had to notice the media (he has a tendency to "forget"). Usually, it's the Orlando Sentinel attorney who files those motions.

shari said...

To all concerned.........if I were on trial for murder, I would definitely want Cheney Mason. He is top notch, and one of Orlando's best criminal attys. He may seem arrogant, but I think it is just a great deal of confidence and experience. He will have trouble dealing with Baez and his lack of legal know-how. I still think he may become the main death penalty qualified atty. and Lyon will play less of a part until penalty phase. Just my opinion. She is better at the appeal level and penalty phases of trials. Casey seemed in a particularly jovial state of mind today.

FRG said...

Ritanita,
False alarm, I might have got so happy for nothing and I am sorry for my mistake.
Yes, JS gave him 15 days to seal them. Still don't believe KC wrote with her own writings to an inmate. That's a NO NO!!! If this is true, how can any lawyer to defend this dumb.

ritanita said...

I'm hoping that we have a status hearing soon! Between the TES stuff and those letters... I want to see it for sure!

As for Casey writing those letters, I simply can't believe it!

She's been thoroughly isolated for a long time. I guess she felt she needed a friend!

I'm listening to the fact that Baez took the $89,000 as a fee and still spent money on the case. I would imagine that he's back in his office quickly trying to put his receipts together!

Apparently, he still hasn't negotiated a financial settlement with Dominic Casey. It's been about a year since the Bar told him to do so! D. Casey wanted $90,000!

Back to my listening and reading!

FRG said...

Ritanita,
Good morning!!
I am not certain JB can put all the receipts together in a few hours, he is such a lousy lawyer and I so tired of him.
If JB made a deal with ABC, is it legal?
Another question is LKB has a deal with KC right? She claims she is pro bono, so why do you need any deal? You heard the hearing and LKB denied any deals now and in the future, no paid interviews... that's just very questionable to me. What did you make of that?

ritanita said...

FRG,

I would recommend you to Richard Hornsby's latest blog entry. He has comments underneath it that discusses the ABC situation.

http://blog.richardhornsby.com/

At the hearing last year concerning finances, Linda Kenney-Baden stated she had a separate retainer agreement with Casey.

At yesterday's hearing she said she had waived the agreement and was working pro bono since she had never received any payment. I think the retainer is the "deal" you are referring to here.

FRG said...

Ritanita,
Thank you!!! Yes, that's what I was talking about. I get lost with the words, sorry.
I will go back and read Mr. Hornsby blog. Thanks.

FRG said...

Ritanita,
Judge Grants Casey Anthony’s Indigent Status
http://www.wftv.com/news/22891038/detail.html

ritanita said...

I just got home from dinner and read all about it. Of course, we knew that would happen.

Even though we know the ending, the story of the hearing tells us much, much more about the case!

I'm about 1/2 done with my article and plan to have it up tomorrow!

katfish said...

Wow Ritanita, I don't think I had heard the $$ that DC wants from Baez for his work. Do you know, was DCasey hired by Baez just for the Caylee case or did they already have a working relationship? That's a lot of moola.

ritanita said...

That was part of the Bar complaint Casey made last year. Basically, he was told it was a civil court matter.

Baez was told to negotiate a fee with him.

I don't know what happened with this.

Casey had claimed that he would be paid when the $200,000 came in. When it did, he didn't get his money.

I don't know if D. Casey ever worked with Baez before. I have a strong feeling he didn't.

FRG said...

Ritanita,
I found this very interesting:
ABC News Under Fire For Payment To Murder Suspect
by DAVID FOLKENFLIK
March 19, 2010
Listen:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124913007

Snip:
"ABC News is facing sharp criticism over the disclosure that it paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to a Florida woman who now stands accused of killing her own daughter."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124913007&ps=cprs