The day began with two blows to the defense. Judge Perry agreed to excuse Lee Anthony from the rule of witness sequestration so that he can be allowed to sit in the courtroom during trial. Also, after reviewing George Anthony's grand jury testimony, the judge ruled there was nothing inconsistent there compared to his trial testimony and denied the defense's request to be given that transcript.
Cindy Anthony then returned to the stand. Linda Drane-Burdick picked up where she left off on Saturday -- the July 3, 2008 posting by Cindy on myspace, "My Caylee Is Missing." Cindy says it was just a "figure of speech" when she posted Caylee was missing -- she had no idea at the time that Caylee was actually missing.
Casey continued to make one excuse after another for not coming home, including that "Jules" (the cancer-stricken mom of "Jeff the boyfriend") was getting married spur of the moment -- in a hospital chapel, no less. Next, she told her mom something was wrong with her car and Jeff was looking at it; they'd have to get it fixed. All this time, she also made excuses for why Cindy couldn't speak to Caylee.
During this time, Cindy said George asked about Casey and Caylee every day. They both were anxious for them to come home, especially Caylee. But they were never to see little Caylee again.
Cindy talked about receiving the notice from the wrecker service and picking up Casey's car. When they got it home, Cindy found Caylee's favorite little doll sitting in the car seat, the way Caylee would've sat in it, she said. Why would Caylee's doll be in the car if Caylee died at home? Wouldn't her favorite doll have been with her, in the house? We better not hear Baez say Casey put it in the car seat and pretended it was Caylee after the "accidental drowning." I wouldn't be surprised if he claimed that as part of her "imaginary" world.
Caylee's little doll smelled so terribly that Cindy used some Clorox wipes to clean its plastic face and hands and Febrezed its fabric body. She used a whole can of Febreze on the car as well, trying to get rid of the stench.
Cindy has had experience debriding wounds and with the odor of rotting flesh in the morgue from nursing school. She said she didn't make any connection between the smell in the car and an actual dead body because George had told her about the garbage bag. She was satisfied that had caused the smell.
Cindy found Amy Huizenga's resumes in Casey's car and called the number listed. Amy was at a mall, and Cindy went and picked her up. We've heard the account of what happened next already, so I won't go into detail about their going to Tony's apartment and Casey's then leaving with them. I did find it very curious that Cindy threw in how "surprised" she was that Amy knew exactly which apartment to go to. Made me think that she still believes Casey's friends might have been involved.
When Cindy realized she was going to get nowhere with Casey, she called 911 -- three times. The first two calls were to report the car as stolen, attempting to scare Casey into producing Caylee for her. But of course Casey couldn't do that since poor little Caylee was dead. She kept insisting Caylee was with Zanny and she didn't want to disturb her sleep; she'd pick her up the next day. Cindy wasn't buying it and neither was Lee. Casey eventually "confided" in Lee that that Caylee had been "kidnapped" a month earlier by Zanny the Nanny.
All three 911 calls were played for the jury. The third call, of course, is the one in which Cindy reported Caylee missing. Cindy was doubled over, her head on the witness stand, sobbing uncontrollably but quietly as that tape was played. She clearly started making the connection between the car odor and Caylee's absence at the time of that call. "Something is wrong...it smells like there's been a dead body in the damn car!"
The panic in Cindy's voice is heartbreaking, especially when George arrives and she calls out to him, "George, Caylee is missing!" Compare and contrast her reaction and that of her daughter in the 911 call. When the operator speaks to Casey, she is cool as a cucumber, telling them that she's been looking for Caylee on her own. "I've tried to go through other resources to find her, which was stupid."
Linda Drane Burdick played Casey's first call home from jail for the jury. That call is the best example of who Casey Anthony really is, and I don't think that fact is lost on the jury. She is belligerent, hateful, disrespectful, selfish. She said to her mom, "I just saw your nice little cameo on TV. You don't know what my involvement is?" When Cindy brings Caylee up, Casey's response is, "I don't fucking know where she's at!"
Casey's main concern was getting Tony's phone number so she could call him. She told Lee, "I talked to my mother and it was a fucking waste." She told him, "Don't bother coming for the bond hearing." Lee put Casey's friend, Christina, on the phone. She asked Casey why she wanted to talk to Tony. With as much snark and contempt as she could manage, Casey said, "Because he's my boyfriend??? And I got arrested on a fucking whim today???"
Christina tells Casey that if anything happens to Caylee, she'll just die. Casey's cold-hearted response was, "Oh. My. God. Calling you guys -- a huge waste!" She goes on to tell Christina that, "They're going to pin it on me if they can't find her." Christina asks Casey why she isn't upset and crying. She said, "I'm not sitting here fucking crying every two seconds...I have to stay composed."
Christina assured Casey that her family was with her 100%. Casey said no, they weren't; that she'd watched the news and nobody in her family was on her side. "All they care about is getting Caylee back," she said. As an afterthought, when she realized how that must sound, she tossed in very unconvincingly that, of course, that's what she wanted, too.
Will the real Casey Anthony please stand up?
During cross exam by Jose Baez, Cindy said Casey was a loving mother and that Caylee absolutely adored her. Baez tried to show that Cindy and George knew Casey was pregnant long before Cindy's brother's wedding, when the brother asked if she were. Cindy insisted they didn't know. She said Casey had a lot of problems with her period and with bloating and that she'd recently taken a sedentary job. She attributed the weight gain to those factors.
Then Baez has Casey stand and asks Cindy to come down from the witness stand and take a look at her. He pointed out that Casey has been sedentary in jail the past 2+ years. "Is her belly protruding now?" After motioning for Casey to turn to the side so she could get a better look, Cindy replied, "She's not as big as she was at that time, no." Casey had sort of a funny look on her face as she sat back down and said something to Dorothy Clay Sims. I think she may have taken offense to Cindy's having said she wasn't "as big," as if she were big...just not as big.
Baez asks her about Casey's nonexistent friends and their associates. Cindy believed they were real at the time. She gave up on Zanny being real only a few weeks prior to trial. She testified that she had looked for Zanny up until that time.
Cindy testified that she took the ladder off of the pool after she and Caylee finished swimming on Father's Day. At some point later, she found the gate unlocked and the ladder on the pool. Baez elicited that there were no bars or childproof locks on the sliding glass doors in the home; that Caylee could have gotten out of the house; and that Caylee loved to swim
Baez played the portion of the 911 call where Cindy calls out to George that Caylee is missing. Baez asked if she could hear George's voice on the call. Cindy tried to explain that he parked at the street and she was close to the house while on the phone, so George's voice wasn't picked up on the recording. But Baez wants just a yes or no answer and Cindy concedes that no, George's voice is not heard on the recording. Baez is trying to establish that George had no excited reaction because he already knew Caylee was gone.
Then Baez moved on to accusing the Anthonys of making money off of Caylee's death. "You trademarked her name?" "Yes." "Did you make money off this case?" "We've lost money." He asked about receiving $20k from CBS. Cindy said their attorney at the time set that up so he could get paid. They paid him and paid bills with the rest, she said. The Anthonys went to New York to discuss a book deal (also set up through attorney). "Have you tried to make a living as director of the Caylee Foundation?" "No, sir."
Now, if this isn't the pot calling the kettle black! There sits his client, slapped in the last few weeks with a notice of failure to pay taxes of over $60k on her income (how much must she have received from selling photos/videos for taxes to be that much?!) and he wants to accuse someone else of making money off Caylee's death? Hypocritical much?
On redirect by Drane Burdick, Cindy testified that she provided Caylee's food, clothing and shelter. LDB asked Cindy whether Casey's weight has fluctuated in jail (remember, she was relatively chunky looking at one point). Baez had asked Cindy about Caylee's father. Cindy told LDB she asked right away after learning Casey was pregnant and Casey told her Jesse was the father; Cindy told George about Casey having said that.
Cindy told LDB in regard to the open gate and ladder that George had not left the gate open. Cindy said Caylee was not able to reach the gate lock. LDB asked, "If Caylee couldn't reach the gate lock and George hadn't opened it, who does that leave in the house who could unlock the gate?" Answer: Casey Anthony.
Cindy testified on redirect that the smell in the car was like nothing she'd ever smelled before. LDB asked if it were worse than odor of rotting flesh she'd encountered in her nursing career. Cindy said yes, because it was a bigger surface.
LDB cleared up a couple of other issues: Cindy couldn't remember exactly what George said when she called out to him that Caylee was missing during 911 call, but she remembers he was quite upset. She testified that the trademarking of Caylee's name was to avoid exploitation by strangers.
On re-cross, Cindy testified that the odor in the car was "overwhelming" and worse than any garbage or dead flesh she'd ever smelled. She said the odor was closest in smell to rotting flesh.
Cindy testified that upon reaching George while on the 911 call, she collapsed in his arms. Once he got her picked up, he started to cry and was just as upset as Cindy was.
Judge Perry: "I am not stopping anymore for you to get files."
Amy Huizenga is the state's next witness, but the defense is unprepared for her. Baez says they need to retrieve her file. The judge is not pleased at all with this. He reminds Baez that he cleared an entire locked hallway for their file storage. "Have you stored any files there?" Baez says they have not. The judge tells him that if they recess early because of that, he will "work you all day Saturday." He said he was gonna get that time back.
The judge said they'd take just direct testimony and the defense could cross examine the next morning. "But let me make it clear -- if you want files, you better put them in there. I am NOT stopping anymore for you to get files. You're not sequestered. You can go home every night. The jurors can't, and they want to work."
Frank George conducts the state's direct exam of Amy Huizenga:
Amy now works in the theater department of a cruise ship. She met Casey on New Year's Eve, going into 2008. Ricardo Morales is one of Amy's best friends. Once Casey began dating him, Amy got to know Casey even better. They became very close friends by February. She saw Caylee once in a while -- if Casey was at Ricardo and JP's place, Caylee was with her.
There were many times Casey couldn't go out with Amy because she didn't have someone to watch Caylee, although sometimes she'd bring her along. Caylee would sleep in Ricardo's room while the adults hung out.
Around mid-May Casey and Amy made plans to live together. They talked about various apartments, but it always fell through. In late June, early July, Casey told Amy that her parents were moving out of the Anthony home and that Amy could move in there with her. Amy wanted to meet Cindy and thought Cindy might want to meet her too since she'd be living with her daughter and granddaughter, but Casey never introduced them.
Amy testified that Casey had a tense, strained relationship with her mother and that problems arose when Casey wanted to go out and her mom couldn't watch Caylee. Casey would tell Amy that her mom was crazy; that she wanted some space between them.
Amy wrecked her car and moved in with Ricardo and JP June 5/6 because they lived near her employment. Casey was to give Amy a ride to Jacksonville to buy a car. Amy called the morning they were to go to be sure Casey was up. Casey told her something was wrong with her dad and they were taking him to the hospital. Later, Casey called her and wanted Amy to go to Fusion with her, but Amy didn't go.
Amy wanted to work at Universal and hoped Casey would help her get a job there. She emailed her resume to Casey. (Cindy later found it in Casey's car and used the number on it to contact Amy and ultimately locate Casey.)
Beginning the second week or so of June, Amy didn't see Casey for about three weeks. During that time, Casey mentioned getting two flat tires, running out of gas and an extremely bad smell from her car. Amy got a text from Casey saying, "There was definitely part of a dead animal plastered to the frame of my car." She had been talking about the odor for about a week.
Around June 30, Casey unexpectedly showed up at Ricardo's to see Amy and wanted to stay with her. Amy didn't feel comfortable with it since it wasn't her place, but Casey ended up staying about a week. She was driving Tony's Jeep. While there, Casey talked about strife with her mom. Amy recalled the issue being that Cindy wanted to see Caylee and Casey was trying to keep her away from Cindy because of the problems between them.
Amy still thought she'd be moving in with Casey, but the dates kept changing. Casey gave various excuses such as landscaping being done, workers in the house, etc. Eventually, Casey told Amy that Bank of America allowed a certain time frame for Cindy to rescind the paperwork giving the house to Casey, and that Cindy had decided not to give it to her.
A few days before Will Waters' July 4th party, Amy invited Casey to attend with her. Casey said she didn't have a sitter for Caylee. Amy told her to bring Caylee along, that it would be fun to have her there. Casey showed up for the party, but Caylee wasn't with her. Casey said Caylee was with at Sea World with the nanny.
Amy awoke July 5th to find Casey happily typing away on her computer. She was thrilled because Tony was coming home from his NY trip.
On July 16th, when Cindy found Amy's number and called her, Amy was initially hesitant about letting her pick Amy up from the mall to find Casey. Casey had told her many times her mom was crazy, so she was kind of worried about that. She did end up going with Cindy, though, and knocked on the door of Tony's apartment while Cindy stayed out of view. She motion for Casey to come outside.
When Casey came outside, Cindy was very confrontational and angry with her (a "massive explosion" between mother and daughter, Amy said). Cindy immediately demanded to know where Caylee was. Casey told her she was with the nanny.
Cindy continued to try to get answers about Caylee after they all got in the car. Amy said Casey's demeanor was mostly one of sitting cross-armed, glaring, like a teen who knew she'd done something wrong.
Cross exam of Amy Huizenga will begin Wednesday morning.
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