2010.09.30 - Today's Current News - ***NO DISCUSSION HERE PLEASE***

Casey Defense To Search Docs For New Witness

http://www.wesh.com/r/25229491/detail.html

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Anthony&#8217;s lawyers are hoping to find a credible volunteer who will say that he or she searched in an area where Caylee Anthony&#8217;s remains were later found but nothing was discovered at the time.

Prosecutors already have several sworn statements from volunteers who say that the area was submerged, increasing the likelihood that the remains were placed there before the rains came and Casey Anthony was locked up.

WESH Video Report:

Casey Defense To Search Docs For New Witness

http://www.wesh.com/video/25230134/detail.html

Casey Anthony: WESH examines &#8216;New Defense Strategy&#8217; &#8212; but is it new?

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/en...tvguy+(TV+Guy)&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

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Kealing turned to local attorney Richard Hornsby to explain that strategy: Point to a third party that put Caylee&#8217;s remains in the woods. &#8220;It rebuts what the state has been saying this whole time,&#8221; Hornsby said.

Yet that strategy could fall apart and hurt the defense if DNA of a third party isn&#8217;t found, Hornsby added.

2010.09.30 - ISSUES WITH JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL:
Duct Tape Debate Reignited in Casey Anthony Case


http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1009/30/ijvm.01.html

Plus, what killed Caylee Anthony? Shocking new details emerge from the Casey Anthony case. It`s all about the duct tape tonight, and we`re taking your calls on the shocking new developments: 1-877-JVM-SAYS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASEY ANTHONY, MURDER SUSPECT: Come on!

CINDY ANTHONY, CASEY`S MOM: Casey, hold on, sweetheart.

CASEY ANTHONY: Nobody`s letting me speak. You want me to talk, and...

CINDY ANTHONY: All right. I`ll listen.

CASEY ANTHONY: Give me three seconds to say something. I`m not in control.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: It`s the battle of the duct tape. It all boils down to this moment. Was her mother`s face the last thing little Caylee saw in the final moments of her life? Did Casey Anthony lean over little Caylee and put duct tape over her mouth to suffocate her? The prosecution says yes.

The defense is desperately trying to get that image out of our minds. At the very center of this debate, Dr. Jan Garavaglia, who -- Dr. G, that`s what they call her. I can`t pronounce it. They`ve got a phonetic spelling up here that`s more complicated than the original.

Dr. G conducted Caylee`s autopsy and is the star of her own TV show, "Dr. G, Medical Examiner." It premieres October 4 at 9 p.m. on Discovery Health. Check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA, MEDICAL EXAMINER: He hasn`t been feeling well for the past week, and now he`s dead. What is going on?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Dr. G, you just saw her right there, she was grilled by the defense this week.

So has Casey, who faces the death penalty if convicted, come up with a lifesaving new story line? Her defense dream team now says the renowned medical examiner handed them a gift.

Straight out to Jayne Weintraub.

Jayne, what is the significance of the duct tape? If it wasn`t put over Caylee`s mouth, what could that do to help the defense?

JAYNE WEINTRAUB, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, it further the position that there is no cause of death. We still don`t know why it`s deemed a homicide because, without a cause of death or a manner of death, how did she die? They need to prove with specificity in order to prove up you their case and get the death penalty.

And they`re not going to be able to do it. The difference is, the medical examiner said that the duct tape was affixed to the lower part of the skull. Lower could be here or here. Remember, there`s no skin whatsoever. What does that mean? If there`s no skin and the skin decomposed and left the body, then imagine that the duct tape is not going to be exactly in the same place either.

So the prosecution is taking a huge leap in assuming that the lower part of the skull would have meant originally it was here. They`re guessing. They`re grabbing at straws. That`s not a way to go after a first-degree murder conviction.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I don`t know about that. The debate over exactly where the duct tape was found and whether it was the weapon used to kill little Caylee has reignited. And it all begins with Roy Kronk. Remember the meter reader?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROY KRONK, FOUND CAYLEE`S BODY: On Thursday, December 11, in the course of my duties as a county employee, I discovered and reported to my management and appropriate authorities the remains of a human body located in the wooded area close to the suburban drive in East Orange County.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK. Roy Kronk`s attorney says Roy is sure the tape was on the skull and over the mouth when he discovered the remains. But the defense is saying the tape was not adhered to any part of this child, just some of her hair.

Now, Dr. G says it was clearly placed prior to decomposition -- decomposition over the lower skull, but that there was no visible soft tissue on that tape.

So, Dr. Bill Manion, you`re the forensic pathologist and assistant medical examiner, is it possible the tape originally was over Caylee`s mouth but, because the remains were down there, buried possibly for months, under the water, that all the tissue is decomposed, and it moved a little bit?

DR. BILL MANION, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: To me, it`s hard to believe that there wouldn`t be some trace evidence, some he epithelial cells on that adherent part of the tape.

The other thing I remember from the case is that her body was apparently decomposing before it was disposed of. As a body decomposes, there could be a purging, and fluids could come out of the mouth. And someone may have panicked and put tape over the mouth to keep the body from purging. So that to me is another possibility.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Levi Page, you`ve been watching this so much and blogging about it. Do you buy this notion that there`s any other reason why that tape would be even near her skull, other than to wrap the child`s mouth?

LEVI PAGE, CRIME BLOGGER: No, Jane, I don`t. I think there`s no logical explanation to say that the tape was put on the mouth on this child postmortem after she died.

And that heart-shaped sticker that was on the tape is just so bratty and psychopathic. It just matches the character of Casey Anthony. She killed her daughter, first-degree murder. That`s what the evidence shows, and she put that heart-shaped sticker on there to show that she thought that Caylee was a doll. She was done with her. She killed her.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I know Jayne Weintraub is shaking her head. We`re going to get into this on the other side. Right on the other side. Stay right where you are. More on the duct tape. It`s an interesting defense. Will it stick?

And a college freshman secretly videotaped having sex with another man. Now he`s dead. Is his roommate responsible for his suicide?

Plus, another bombshell picture of Anna Nicole Smith. We got it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASEY ANTHONY, MURDER SUSPECT: Come on!

CINDY ANTHONY, CASEY`S MOM: Casey, hold on, sweetheart.

CASEY ANTHONY: Nobody`s letting me speak. You want me to talk, and...

CINDY ANTHONY: All right. I`ll listen.

CASEY ANTHONY: Give me three seconds to say something. I`m not in control.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: But now the defense team for Casey Anthony is talking, and we`re back talking about the duct tape debate in the Casey Anthony case. Was it placed over Caylee`s mouth, and was it the weapon used to kill little Caylee?

We just heard Levi Page says it`s common sense that obviously the duct tape that`s near the jaw was used to cover her mouth. Jayne Weintraub, you were shaking your head.

WEINTRAUB: And I was, because two things. One, the only person -- let`s remember what the evidence is and not what the flap is. The evidence is that the duct tape was not over her mouth. And, No. 2, there was no skin on it, which means there was -- it was not affixed to the skin before the skin decomposed.

But more importantly, remember in the case who had anything to do with duct tape? Roy Kronk.

PAGE: No. The Anthonys.

HONOWITZ: But he didn`t have duct tape in his house. The duct tape came from their house.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Let`s hear...

PAGE: But let`s remember, the flyers -- the flyers that were used to hang missing Caylee flyers, the duct tape that was used was matched to the duct tape that was over her mouth.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK.

WEINTRAUB: No, that`s not true.

PAGE: It is.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`ve got to go to Stacey Honowitz. Stacey Honowitz, former prosecutor.

PAGE: It it`s true. It`s the same brand.

WEINTRAUB: Same brand doesn`t mean it`s the same tape.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: If she was in the ground for months, if cops are right and she was in the ground or underwater from summer to Christmas, then obviously, the duct tape is going to move.

HONOWITZ: Jane, I can guarantee...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Go ahead.

HONOWITZ: I can guarantee you that in the deposition you got a little piece of the action today when Jose Baez said, she handed us a gem. I can guarantee you that when she takes that stand or even in deposition and a prosecutor says to her, "Isn`t it common sense or isn`t it true, not just common sense, but isn`t it scientifically true that, if this child was in the ground, that the duct tape could have moved? We don`t know how far off it was from the mouth. We don`t know what the movement was. We don`t know what kind of cells were there." So certainly, these are questions that a prosecutor is prepared to go forward with in court.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Rose, South Carolina, your question or thought, ma`am.

CALLER: Yes. I`ve been watching since the beginning, and I think Cindy and Casey had a big fight, where Cindy thought that Casey wasn`t being a good mother. So she took Casey to spite her mother, and the baby, Caylee, kept getting in her way. And she kept giving her chloroform. And I think she overdosed on it and Casey opened the trunk one day and...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK. Let me get (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in, because you raise a good point. Dr. Bill Manion, forensic pathologist, it -- there`s chloroform evidence here. They found a syringe inside a bottle that had traces of chloroform. Couldn`t the defense in some way try to point to, well, it was accidental? It was accidental?

MANION: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes. Some -- it`s been known that some parents, some babysitters, will use chloroform to anesthetize a child and keep them sleeping for hours while they either go out or goof off or do something.

I also want to emphasize, remember Dr. G hasn`t said that this child died from the tape across her mouth. Dr. G has said the death is from unknown origin. So to me, this is a big prosecution theory, but I don`t see Dr. G buying into it yet.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right.

MANION: And the chloroform defense is certainly viable.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Fabulous panel, thank you so much. We`re going to stay on top of that one obviously.

Feds to seek forfeiture of planes, trucks and cash linked to 800 pounds of marijuana at Umatilla airport

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...ust-high-profile-lawy20101001,0,3145731.story

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TAVARES &#8212; As authorities trumpeted arrests in the largest pot bust in Lake County in five years, investigators said they would seek forfeitures of two planes, three pickup trucks and $30,000 confiscated by deputy sheriffs who found nearly 800 pounds of marijuana at the Umatilla airport.

The case is notable in another respect: Two of the suspects have hired high-profile lawyers, Cheney Mason, a member of Casey Anthony's defense team, and Donald Lykkebak, who defended lovesick astronaut Lisa Nowak.