Casey Anthony Hearing: Day 2

Witness: Sgt. Reginald Hosey, OCSO

Jose Baez took Hosey through the events at the Anthony house the night of July 15, 2008. Hosey was the supervisor responsible for 14 deputies. Hosey explained that Cpl. Rendon Fletcher was the first to arrive at the scene. Andriana Acevedo and Ryan Eberlin came next. Then, Hosey himself arrived after Cpl. Fletcher called him to say that this seemed to be more than a stolen vehicle call.
He arrived at 10:00 PM.

Once he got there, he realized that there were concerns about the fact that there was now a missing child. At this time, about 45 minutes after the last 911 call, there was no primary focus. They had the car (loaned to Casey), the stolen credit cards, then Caylee.

Hosey testified that he did not cuff Casey. Deputy Eberlin used his own discretion in cuffing her. When he heard that Eberlin had cuffed Casey, and he told him to take them off.

Apparently, at the time of his deposition, he did not remember about the handcuffing. He said he learned it from the media and Baez challenged Hosey on the rules of sequestration. Hosey said he spoke to no one about it and then said that he sat in front of the tv. Something may have come on.

Judge Perry reminded Mr. Baez to ask when he heard the media reports. Hosey said he heard it before yesterday. Yesterday's news did not effect him.

Hosey spoke with Melich that evening, although he doesn't remember the time.

At 12:45 AM, he reported the case to missing children. Baez tried to get Hosey to say Melich told him to have Casey uncuffed. Hosey didn't recall who told him to uncuff her.

There was a lot of talk about "unarrest expedite" and that Hosey didn't tell Eberlin to write one. (I'm thinking about the chaos Baez mentioned yesterday.)

I sure hope Linda Drane Burdick can straighten this out!

She elicited from Hosey that he was in charge of more than one scene that night. He spent a lot of time on his phone directing his deputies. Among other things, he directed Adriana Acevedo to take Casey to Sawgrass to verify the address.

Drane Burdick is trying to establish that Hosey had a great deal of activity going on this night, not all of it at the Anthony House.

He also sent Dep. Ryan Williams to retrieve Casey's cell phone at Tony Lazzaro's home.

Hosey reviewed his phone calls and communications he made that night.

Hosey did have contact with Casey Anthony at the scene. The parents had said her behavior was erratic and there was the issue of the car. The focus changed when Cindy Anthony brought up the missing child.

He took a short walk with Casey and she told him her parents wanted to take Caylee away from her. She told Hosey that her daughter was fine. Therefore, Hosey believed the situation to be a typical domestic call, that it was a dispute between a mother and a daughter about a child. (Personally, I would have been thinking that Casey had hidden Caylee away to thwart her parents’ threats.)

Linda Drane Burdick then went through the many details of how Casey was treated by Sgt. Hosey. We had enough examples of these. He treated her pleasantly and Casey said she was willing to help. Casey said it was just her mother causing problems for her.

Drane Burdick also pointed out that the "unarrest" policy does not pertain to people temporarily detained, but not arrested. The fact is, there was never an arrest report filed.

Baez questioned Hosey about his lack of memory of everything that happened. Hosey made it clear that the information Cindy Anthony gave him is what made the focus shift from theft to a missing child.

Having seen the Anthony family in motion over the past couple of years plus, when I think of their behavior, I can easily visualize the chaos at that home that night. Even George and Cindy, when reviewing that night, had very different stories to tell and various lapses in memory. Hosey, managing this call and others at the same time must have been a very busy man. He was probably running on auto-pilot, aided by his years of LE experience.

Witness Sgt. John Allen: OSCO

Baez elicited from John Allen the fact that he never told George or Cindy Anthony that Casey wasn't coming back.

Drane Burdick did not present any witnesses. She did mention a call Casey made which has been stipulated to. (I'm wondering if this is the first call Casey made home which is infamous?)

Motion to Suppress Statements Made to George, Cindy, Lee Anthony, Robyn Adams and Sylvia Hernandez.
Maya Derkovic is not included as the state will not use her in their case in chief.

Witness: George Anthony

Baez asked George about his state of mind during the days after Casey's arrest. George gave a brief description of the state of chaos and confusion which his life had become. His overwhelming concern with finding his granddaughter.

He was in daily contact with the Sheriff's Office. They talked a little about Casey, but his focus was to bring Caylee home. George was aware that as of the 17th, Casey had obtained Baez' representation. Baez visited their home on the 18th. After that, his relationship with law enforcement became strained. According to George, LE was questioning why she had gotten a lawyer so soon.

George originally said he "bonded" with LE and felt they sought him out more than his wife because of that bond. Lee was very outspoken and tried to help find Caylee.

The central message Baez was trying to elicit was all about how LE wanted him to speak with Casey to get as much information from Casey about Caylee as possible. (I would assume that the information they wanted from Casey was where the living child was, or where she had actually last seen her.)

There were video visitations just after Casey was arrested. Baez tried to get George to say that Yuri Melich set up the initial video visitation, but George couldn't testify to that.

On July 24, George had an interview with LE. Baez pointed out that Yuri Melich told him that the "truth lies with Casey." George agreed with that; after all, Casey was her mother

Baez went into great detail about the portion of the interview where Yuri Melich talked about Jose Baez. George said that perhaps LE wanted to use George to go around him to get to his daughter. Drane Burdick objected and when he started again, Burdick objected again. He was trying to get George's opinion on what LE wanted from him.

Just a reminder here, at that point, LE was looking for a living Caylee. At that time, Melich reminded George that he had the right to speak with his own daughter without her attorney present if she agreed. As we all know, the meeting was scheduled but never took place.

In his line of questioning, it was clear that Baez was trying to get George to admit that Melich was trying to get him to get Casey to get a lawyer who would be more amenable to working with them.

George went back to his LE experience to demonstrate that Casey's welfare was at risk if she were placed in general population. This was sort of a "carrot" to lure George into becoming an Agent of the State to keep her in protective custody.

George made an excellent point that all he cared about was Caylee. He was also concerned for Casey, but he at least knew where she was..

Baez went on and on, reading the text of his interview with LE and having George say a couple of words in agreement. Drane Burdick objected a number of times because Baez was attempting to have George opine on the motivation of LE in helping him see and speak to his daughter.

I just keep remembering all the hope we had that Caylee was alive and being held by kidnappers or that Casey had "stashed" her somewhere to keep her away from her parents. From the very beginning, Baez was treating this as a murder case. My question is, was LE trying to find a child or solve a murder at that point in time. I personally believe they had left all their options open at the time.

The remainder of the morning dealt in excruciating detail, with the meeting LE tried to set up between George Anthony and Casey. The questions went on and on forever, it seemed. The basic facts were that Baez was out of town (in New York, visiting with Geraldo). George testified that he didn't know that. Apparently, Gabriel Adam was visiting that day and talked Casey out of the meeting.

George told Baez that he couldn't "count on his fingers and toes" the number of times LE asked him to talk to Casey. He desperately wanted to find his granddaughter.

Finally to end the morning, Baez played the tape of George being driven in the car to the jail. Baez kept pausing and asking George, “did you hear....?” George would say yes. I tuned it out since I’d heard that audio before. Here it is if you want to listen for yourself!

When the audio ended, Judge Perry called for the lunch break. I’m hoping that Linda Drane Burdick starts out the afternoon questioning.

Note: when announcing plans for tomorrow, Judge Perry mentioned they would have to take a break around 10:30. It dawned on me that this hearing will now extend all the way into tomorrow!

Here’s the bad news. I have to have a bit of surgery tomorrow morning. Hopefully, I’ll be home by the time InSession ends for the day and I can watch the ending of the hearing before watching the beginning! It depends on how “out of it” I am from that darned general anaesthesia! I’ll do my very best to finish my coverage as soon as I can.

Linda Drane Burdick began her cross examination of George Anthony immediately after the lunch break. She started out giving a time line of major events early in the case beginning with Casey's initial arrest. She asked George whether or not he remembered them.

He had little recollection of testifying at the bond hearing and the hearing for the protective order. (the jail visitation videos)
Prior to Casey's arrest, he spoke very little with her about Caylee's disappearance. After her incarceration, the family set up a command center within a week after Casey's arrest. At the same time, they also set up a tip hot line. All of this was in conjunction with Kidfinders and “a lot” of other organizations.

He also did a lot of media, voluntarily and involuntarily. He met Dominic Casey (who was working for Baez as an investigator). George claimed he didn’t know exactly what Casey’s role was.

Lee Anthony had started an independent investigation of his own, although George was vague on what Lee actually did.

All in all, the Anthony family was doing quite an investigation on their own.

When Drane Burdick asked if they were attempting to get Casey to write letters to them to send through Baez. George said he had no idea what his wife and son were doing. George said Baez read some things to them from Casey in his office.

Drane Burdick also mentioned the video visitations the family had with Casey. George Anthony believed it was he who had arranged them.

At that point, he got testy with Drane Burdick and asked for a moment. Apparently, he was staring at blank papers to get his mind focused.

Then, Drane Burdick brought up the hearing for a protective order again. It seems that George Anthony had asked Jose Baez to file the motion so that he could see his daughter without the video being made public. His goal was to find Caylee and he needed information from his daughter to accomplish that. He and his family would then be able to see Casey regardless of the communication he promised with LE. (He promised that any leads he got from Casey would be passed on to them.)

George claimed he never went back to see his daughter was because he knew the videos would be released.

The family had a goal at that time that coincided with the goal of LE, to find Caylee.

George said he would have “sold his soul to the devil” to find Caylee at their time. (I imagine he considers OCSO and the FBI as devils.)

Drane Burdick also got George to admit that if LE had taken the position that it was a family issue and they weren't touching it, he would have continued to search on his own.

George then went off on a rant. Judge Perry calmed him down and refused to allow George to address him directly to make a complaint to Perry. George then shook his head.

Drane Burdick went into all the times George Anthony tried to contact his daughter.
There was even one occasion where Yuri Melich refused George's request because he didn't want to be put in "that" position. The was also testimony as to the times the OCSO and the FBI couldn't help him to talk to his daughter either. (All of this refers to the independent Anthony Family Investigation. The fact is, the family members were the Agents of the Family.)

Linda Drane Burdick then asked the big question: “So, who's agent are you?” George answered that he was an agent for the OSCO, the FBI, all of them. He said he only realized this in retrospect.

I'm not buying this. He just went on a huge rant about how he and his family would do whatever it took, legally or illegally, to get answers from Casey.

Back at the hearing for the protective order, George Anthony told the Court that if the videos were sealed, anything he found out, he would share it with LE.

Drane Burdick ended with the strong note that George Anthony was an agent for Caylee Anthony.

Jose Baez then conducted re-direct examination.

Baez brought up that he and George have butted heads over Casey. (George wanted to see his daughter, Baez didn't want anything on videotape for obvious reasons.)

As far as I can see, the only time George believed that he was an Agent of the State was during the days when he got help from LE to set up a private meeting with Casey and it didn’t work out. I also wonder if he only feels that way now because LE didn’t help him meet his impossible dream, to find a live Caylee.

Baez then attempted to get in testimony that Mark Hawkins wore an FBI wire when he went to Baez' office and the Anthony house in October, 2008. Mark was Casey’s California connection whom she called shortly before her case broke in the news.

This information never made it into testimony because Baez’ motion only covers up to August 14, 2008.

Baez then asked all sorts of "schmoozy and sentimental" questions that made George cry. One that set him off was when Baez asked him if he (Baez) told him that by not going to court one day, he could save Casey’s life, would he do it. Linda Drane Burdick objected but the judge overruled it. Baez then upped the ante on the question by adding that if he had ben subpoenaed to testify, and he were told it would save Casey or Caylee's life if he didn't show up, would he not show up. George answered he would not. He’d take the consequences to save a life. (Too bad one of those lives is beyond saving.)

Witness: Gabriel Adam: Former attorney with the Baez Law Firm

Adam was a lawyer with the Baez Law Firm at the time the case broke. There was a meeting about a meeting between George Anthony and Casey Anthony he attended. Apparently, the contents of the testimony would reveal information from the client, Casey Anthony.

Baez attempted to ask questions he Adam didn’t want to answer due to attorney-client privilege. Judge Perry intervened here and explained to Baez that he cannot use the privilege as a shield and them turn it into a sword. Once it is breached, the door is wide open. (I would think an attorney would know not to do that sort of thing.)

Adam then told the story of how he was kept waiting to visit Casey at the jail. It was the night that George was supposed to visit Casey. On his way to visit Casey, he ran into Sgt. Allen. The conversation involved an attempted visit by George Anthony without counsel being present. He told Allen that meeting would not happen.

Linda Drane Burdick brought out that the meeting never did occur.

Judge Perry asked Adam a few questions of his own. He helped made it clear that Casey had reached out to her father for a visit. Adam met with Casey and then told Allen there would be no meeting.

Witness: Lee Anthony

Lee had a lot of contact with LE after Caylee went missing. They had a daily meeting with the family and contact by e-mail and phone calls on a daily basis.

Their "catch phrase" was we can't talk to Casey, but you can.

The questioning of Lee followed along similar lines with his father, but were much shorter in duration.

It was clear from Lee’s testimony that the family was concerned that Baez was keeping Casey from talking to LE to help find her child. And, the goal of the family was to find Caylee.

I can't figure out how cooperating with LE to find a missing child becomes being an AGENT OF THE STATE.

Baez, first of all, asked if LE had bad-mouthed him. (my words) Lee said that the only thing they said was that Baez didn't return phone calls or cooperate in any way in the investigation.

He wanted to know if LE told him what to say to Casey. Baez then played a composite of 6 video clips of his visit with his sister.

The first clip was of Lee explaining how to get letters out through the court. He pointed out that Jose works for her and he is not obligated to pass information along to the family.

Lee stated that no one told him this, it was his own "train of thought.”

Lee said that Baez first focus was Casey, then Caylee. He also said that Baez’ first focus was really himself.

Lee listed his focuses as Caylee, Casey, Mom, Dad, Himself. He didn't give a s*** about anyone else. Casey agreed with this.

Lee also informed her that Baez had never returned a single call to the police department.

Sgt. Allen and Cpl. Melich were Lee’s source for this information. They wanted to open a line of communication to help find Caylee and Baez was keeping them from talking to her.

(I think you get the idea of their conversations, if you haven't seen them already, possibly a few times.)

Baez kept asking Lee of exactly what information he received from LE. This was even down to the date Caylee visited with her great-grandfather.

I can't figure out how cooperating with LE to find a missing child becomes being an AGENT OF THE STATE.

Baez then gave Lee the notes he took while conferring with LE about what to ask Casey prior to their first video-visitation. Then, he offered an e-mail dated July 26, 2008 as an exhibit. It contained what information he and the family had learned from Casey during their visits.

There was then discussion of Lee's interview with Cpl. Edwards.

Linda Drane Burdick then cross-examined Lee. She begin by mentioning that he was the first person Casey told that Caylee was missing. Upon hearing this, Cindy intervened and LE showed up to investigate.

Lee went into a state similar to "white noise" upon hearing this from his sister. He decided at that point that this was a problem and he was going to help solve the problem. Even if LE were not involved, he was going to solve this problem.

One of the first thing he did was start taking notes. He went on the computer to gather information on his own, independent of LE. He also went over to Tony Lazzaro to collect Casey's belongings. He talked to them for some time. He found a bunch of receipts after a couple of days.

Prior to her arrest, he had little time to talk to Casey. Lee shared information with his family, LE, and Mr. Baez. His investigation was independent of everyone.

He was not the one working with LE to record himself talking to Tony Lazarro. (To give Lee credit, he had a genuine laugh over that.)

He also worked with Dominic Casey, an investigator working for Mr. Baez. Casey even offered him an apprenticeship!

Lee's goal was to find Caylee. He did all these things, independent of LE to find Caylee or the people who took Caylee.

There was a great deal more questioning, but it became clear that Lee never considered himself an agent of the State. He was doing everything he could to find Caylee and save his sister.

Next, Baez began carping that Lee came into his office and copied the receipts pinned to the wall. Lee turned them over to LE and they were later turned over to the State with a subpoena.

Was Baez trying to say that Lee was not only an agent of the state, but a spy?

Lee's allegiance was one-sided. For Caylee.

Witness: Sgt. Dennis Moonsammy OCSO

Dennis Moonsammy was told to go to Lima Dorm and get a letter from Casey Anthony. This was the letter to Sheriff Beary asking to be able to meet in private with her father.

He gave the letter to Major Johnson.

Witness: Marlene Baker, Orange County Jail Employee

She works at the jail. Casey Anthony gave her a letter.

The sergeant informed her she would be getting a letter from Ms. Anthony. She put in on a desk and called for Sgt. Moonsammy to get it. He called someone more senior at the jail.

Witness: Sgt. John Allen OCSO

Jose Baez then called John Allen back to the stand and started asking what seemed to be random questions.

There was some talk of a meeting at the courthouse that never took place on August 14.

Allen said he never told George or Lee to write "the letter".

He never told Lee that Casey could write a letter to her through the court system. In fact, he didn't know there was such a mail system.

He told the family that the he only way they could talk to Casey was with arrangements with her lawyer.

The only arrangements he made with the jail about the video visitations was he asked them to record them. It was a bit confusing, but he also said it was Yuri Melich who asked them to record them.

Baez then asked if he ever make any negative comments about him? Linda Drane Burdick’s objection was sustained

This is so weird. Baez kept asking about who told who he was not doing a proper job representing Casey. Allen said the Anthony’s were always complaining to HIM about Baez.

In all Allen's years he's never set up such a meeting as was discussed earlier.

At this point, the hearing came to an end for the day. Judge Perry asked how long it would take (and I am assuming arguments for this motion) and Baez said 2 hours!

Court will be in session at 8:45 tomorrow morning! It will go all day with a break for some other business the judge has to take care of.

From what I could make out from the conference at the bench, it sounds like they will possibly hear the Motion to Strike Kathi Belich from the defense witness list first, but I can’t be sure.

I won’t be with you tomorrow, as I mentioned up above. I will be serenely unconscious early in the day and hopefully I will catch the entire hearing bit by bit.

See you all in court sometime tomorrow, perhaps a bit woozy!