Tune in for Coverage of the Case Against Casey Anthony on TruTV!

I've received word that Beth Karas will be on In Session on Monday, December 8 doing three one-hour specials on the case. They will be broadcast from 10-11, 12-1, and 2-3 ET. Beth will also be covering the hearing live on December 11.

The Case Against Casey Anthony: The Week in Review

After a busy weekend of poring over the latest document dump and the new information released the previous week, the Anthony camp fired back. Cindy Anthony announced on Monday, December 1, that her Yahoo e-mail account had been hacked.

According to Kathy Belich of WFTV, she received four suspicious e-mails from Cindy. She notified her by text message and then forwarded them to the FBI for further investigation.

The FBI asked Eyewitness News not to reveal the details of emails because of their investigation. They include exchanges between Cindy Anthony and her spokesman, her private investigator, and even the PR person for Kid Finders, angry with Eyewitness News after exposing their founder has a criminal background.

There has been talk all over the internet about this, needless to say. Some believe she was hacked, others think Cindy may have accidentally sent out those e-mails. Either way, I am amazed that she kept sensitive e-mails on a Yahoo account. There are also rumors that some of the information is sensitive to the defense case. Unfortunately, if a third party such as Cindy is privy to such information, it is no longer covered by attorney-client privilege. It will be interesting to see if anything comes out of the FBI investigation.

The Anthony family maintains there is a possibility that the "hackers" have ties to Ocala and possibly some of the protesters. According to Dominic Casey, Anthony's' private investigator:

"It would be a connection between Ocala and Orlando or several protesters that we did run background checks on throughout that period. As to me saying it would be attributed to them, not what I'm saying, but possibly an Ocala to Orlando," said Dominic Casey, Anthonys' private investigator.

Later Monday night, Dr. Lawrence Kobilinski reported on Nancy Grace that it was probable that the defense might have to ask for a delay in the trial as he had not yet had the opportunity to examine the evidence.

Dr. Koblinski is one of the three scientific experts to comprise the entire witness list for the defense. The evidence he needs to examine is the hair root showing decomposition. At present, the hair is housed at the FBI labs in Quantico, VA. At the hearing last week, Judge Strickland ruled he could make arrangements with the lab to examine the evidence. I should hope that Mr. Baez is working hard to make that happen. At the hearing, the prosecuting attorney stated that more testing could happen and the hair needed to stay in Virginia. Shipping the evidence to Orlando for examination and shipping it back and forth posed a danger to the chain of custody.

Dr. Kobilinski is based in New York City. If I recall correctly, it is about a five hour drive or train ride to Quantico. Mr. Baez would be to an advantage cost-wise to send Dr. Kobilinski to Virginia instead of Orlando, FBI willing.

Tuesday began with an announcement by Leonard Padilla that he intends to return to Blanchard Park on Christmas Day with Jesse Grund's father, Richard for a vigil for Caylee. He also announced that he had already raised $50,000 from private donors to continue the search he began in November.

The Anthony family returned the ball by making an announcement that they had "big" news!

First, "...members of Kid Finders said they've had a third witness come forward to tell them they also saw a little girl who looked like Caylee in an Orlando mall last month.

Then, "Caylee's grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony, said a big development in the case is on the way. George Anthony wouldn't elaborate much further, but said a team of private investigators are working on a new lead that could lead to the discovery of the girl. "

According to George,

"There is just a lot of positive things that are still happening. A lot more people are coming forward because they can see some progress of bringing Caylee home and it's pretty awesome stuff. I can't be too specific with you but we believe we're close," he said. "

Apparently, any brown-haired, 3-year-old little girl is fair game for the Anthony family. As for me, I'm still waiting to see the photograph of Casey, Caylee, and "Zanny" that they have been hunting for somewhere out there.

Also on Tuesday, it was reported on WFTV that the family had still not reported the alleged hacking incident to police despite the assertion by Dominic Casey that "they are outraged and planned to report the intrusion to the Marion County Sheriff's Office."

After a break on Wednesday with no publicity about the case, Thursday thundered in with the release of 7 DVD's by the OCSO jail. They show the visits between Casey and her parents and her brother, Lee. These visits occurred in July and August during her first incarceration on felony child abuse charges and before she was bailed out by Leonard Padilla. Since her arrest on murder charges, Casey has had no visits from her family. Viewing the videos clearly explains why!

Casey shows her control over the entire situation. Her parents tip-toe around her, possibly to avoid angering her and shutting her down. In the long run, they learn nothing new and those of us watching learn about how Casey operates. Listening to Casey talk to her brother Lee is like listening to a foreign language. I'm going to have to learn Anthoneese!

I'm looking forward to seeing the analysis of some of these tapes when they are hashed out on In Session Monday!

The week closed out on Friday with the announcement that the State will not seek the death penalty in the case.

Prosecutors last month told WESH 2 News they were not sure they had enough aggravating circumstances to convince a jury to recommend the death penalty. In its notice to the court on Friday, the state attorney’s office simply wrote that “it is not in the best interest of the people of the State of Florida to pursue the death penalty.”

The Anthony family fired back with a statement through their representative.

"In response to the state's intent not to seek the death penalty came as no surprise to us this afternoon," the statement said. "Our family believes Caylee Marie is still alive and our efforts have not lost focus to the objective of bringing her home. Today's announcement only supports our theory that our granddaughter is still with us, and we will continue investigating all tips and leads that support our position despite what the authorities continue to say."

Hello? She's still facing life without parole! The only difference I can find is that Jose Baez will probably continue as her lead attorney. In addition, George and Cindy Anthony, as well as their spokesperson Michelle Bart are rapidly losing credibility with their constant "exciting news" press releases. It's hard to believe them anymore. They've gone to that particular well too many times.

The final news of the week came when it was announced that prosecution had added to their witness list. The new total is 144 witnesses. The revised list has not been published yet. It should be interesting to see what names have been added.

WFTV

WESH

CNN Find Caylee Blog

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

CBS12.com
My Fox Orlando
Local 5.com
CNN Find Caylee Blog