The trial of the century

The trial of Casey Anthony. Anthony (born March 19, 1986) faces murder charges for the death of her daughter, Caylee Anthony. Caylee was last seen in June 2008, but the search did not begin until a month later, when she was reported missing by her grandmother, Cindy Anthony. Remains were found near the Anthony home on Dec. 11, 2008 that were later identified as Caylee's. Jury selection for Anthony's trial began on May 9, 2011 and the trial is expected to last 6 weeks.

I began watching this horrific case unfold on the Nancy Grace show back when Cindy Anthony called 911 asking for the police to come and arrest her daughter Casey. Other words Cindy said at that time were that her grandaughter was missing and that “it smelled like there was a dead body in the dam car”

The 911 operator asked to speak to Casey and when her mom told Casey to pick up the phone she could be heard in the background asking “what do they want to talk to me for?”

A lot has happened since July 2008 when Casey spoke to that 911 operator and admitted that her 2 year old daughter had been missing for 31 days. She later told police she had been conducting her own investigation and that the nanny had taken the child. Casey claimed a nanny named Zenaida Fernandez Gonzalas had been babysitting the child off and on for a couple of years while she worked at Universal in Orlando as an events coordinator. The nanny, the apartment where she lived and the job evaporated as lies eventually and the one real person with that actual name is sueing for deformation of her character. At one point Cindy Anthony said to her “you’re cute but you’re not a ten” as Casey had described her. However, the description was found to be similar to a woman that Caseys father had been having an affair with. George Anthony then holed up in a cheap hotel and wrote a suicide letter but he was found and returned home. Some think the reason that he wanted to die was because he was the one who killed Caylee.

 By then the police had confiscated the family computer and found Google had been asked how to break a neck, how to make weapons using household goods as well as how to make chloroform. Four people in that home had access to that computer. Later traces of chloroform were found in the trunk of Caseys car leading people to think that Casey had been using the sleep drug as a babysitter at least once but most believe it had been used frequently so she could party with her friends.

One theory is that Casey used it once too often or maybe too much at once. An expert will testify the strength of the chloroform was 10,000 times stronger than he had ever seen and an accumulation could cause brain damage or death. Some think Casey may have been drunk or wacked out on drugs and slept in after a night of partying and failed to retrieve Caylee out of the trunk where she may have died in the heat of a 104º Florida summer day.

Either way Casey tried to slow down the search by saying she felt that Caylee was alive and nearby. She was the daughter of a cop and probably knew the more decomposed the body - the more difficult it was to determine the cause of death and the more chances of the body not being found at all.

Meanwhile cadaver dogs were sent in to the Anthonys backyard where they hit on 2 spots.

A neighbour came forth with the info that Casey had borrowed a shovel from him around the time that Caylee went missing. As well, telephone pings to the Anthony home came in fast and furious the afternoon that Caylee was last seen alive by her grandparents. Presumably the child was dead within hours of her leaving home and Casey panicked and called her parents several times but they weren’t at home.

During this time Casey got a tattoo applied on her back that said “Bella Vita” (a beautiful life) and although the tattoo artist asked about Caylee she didn’t tell him that her daughter was missing. To her parents she said “she’s with the nanny” and to the friends she said “she’s with my parents” and she made sure they would'nt communicate with each other and compare notes.

Casey Anthony was in jail when a meter reader stumbled upon the body, triple bagged and with duct tape covering the mouth area. Directly over the mouth was a heart shaped sticker exactly like the sheet of stickers found in the Anthony home with a few missing.

Added mysteries to this case is that the meter reader had previously called 911 twice prior to this claiming to have found a body in the same location. His ex wife testified that her husband had used duct tape on her before she divorced him, casting suspicion upon him. Searchers claimed to have searched that area and there was no body there at the time.

When Anthony was first arrested for stealing money from her grandmother in the nursing home and cashing stolen cheques a bounty hunter named Leonard Padilla took an interest in her. He decided to help. He and I believe his son or nephew bailed her out and although she was free for a week he says she never once asked to go out searching for her daughter. She never spoke of her daughter or even looked at pictures of Caylee except to point out herself in some of the pictures in the room. He does not speak well of her to this day, instead referring to her as a cold callus psyco.

Authorities also found a hair in the trunk of Caseys car that dna proved to be a hair from little Caylee Anthony. The hair had a “death ring” near the root area proving that it had fallen from her head after she was dead. This is a natural occurance after a person is already dead and an expert will testify to this during the trial. A death stain was also photographed of what looks like a small child in the fetal position in the lining of the trunk.

Another expert will testify there were coffin flies in that trunk as well as another type of fly that comes from a wooded area and not normally found in a city driven car.

The evidence seems overwhelming, but much is circumstantial or “junk science” just as dna was considered to be just a few short years ago.

I’m sure I’ve left out some details; I’m writing this from memory.

I’ve been watching the jury selection unfold for the past 3 days. During this time Casey Anthony has gone from a happily smiling woman who continually flirts with her lawyers to a sullen sick puppy.

The selection of suitable jurors is growing slimmer by the day and yesterday 50 prospective jurors were sent packing when one of them spoke openly to the press regarding the case. She had been mistakenly summoned for jury duty although she had been amongst the group who had searched for Caylee and had been removed from the Anthonys property by George Anthony so shouldn’t even have been on the juror list.

Another possible juror was fined $450. for attempting to get out of jury duty. And then there were a lot of other excuses as nobody has up to 6 weeks to devote to being sequestered in a hotel with no tv or computer.

Some admitted they had already decided that she was guilty.

Judge Belvin Perry mentioned trying to find homeless people who have a drivers license which is the requirement to serve on a jury in the state of Florida.

Anthony appeared to be having a little tiff with her attorney; some say a lovers spat. Jose Baez, her attorney was overheard saying to her “you’re acting like a 2 yr old” which were unfortunate words since her daughter was just 2 when she disappeared. She replied “really?” and he said “really” Strange conversation of a lawyer and his client who is facing the death penalty.

He may have been referring to her constant primping and adjusting her hair or the fake crying and later that day they were seated apart and differently.

Then she began to feel ill and apparently she was unable to unclench her hand and so was escorted out of the courtroom for 15 minutes.

Some say she was crying but I don’t know how anyone can cry without tears. She dabbed at her eyes and nose with a tissue as though she was crying but I think this girl is a liar and an actress through and through.

Maybe it’s all just finally getting to her. She refused a visit from her mom on mothers day and her parents havent been in the courtroom with their usual support this week. Her brother hasn’t been around either since she accused him and their dad of sexual abuse. And now her lawyer is angry at her, possibly because of the fake crying routine she does only when theres a packed courtroom.

It all seems like a slam dunk but guess it’s more complicated than that.

Jose Baez claims that all the answers will be heard within the first minutes of his opening statement. Some think Casey is going to throw her dad under the bus with accusations that he’s the one who did it, which I believe is just plain crazy.

I’ll be watching this trial every day hoping for justice for Caylee.