The defense begins introducing its case on the 3rd anniversary of Caylee's Disappearance

The state of Florida has presented its case of murder against Casey Anthony.
Now, it's her defense's turn to try and convince the jury that the 25-year-old mother is not a killer.
Also important to note, according to the Defense's opening statement, today is the anniversary of Caylee's drowning. They say George was the first to find Caylee drowned in the Anthony family pool. People having been dressing in pink/purple for Caylee. Ashton has on a purple shirt and tie.

Geraldo Bloise: CSI for OCSO-recall of this witness

-investigated Tony Lazzaro's car
-checked car for bodily fluids using alternate light source
-car tested negative
 -Bloise moved into the Anthony home after search warrant. He collected clothes. Didn't check George and Cindy's bedroom.
 -checked Casey's clothing in the closet to make sure there were no suspicious bodily fluids
-believes he did a thorough job
-found no stains on pants Casey was last wearing when she was seen with Caylee
-these pants were found in trunk of Casey's car
-Baez asks if Bloise talks while doing his inspection. He says no because he is by himself. Everyone (jurors, judge, Casey) all laugh

Cross Examination
-Burdick points out Cindy washed the pants.
-asks if Lazarro's car smelled like a dead body ? Answer no.

Re-direct
-asked if there had been trash in the car for 3 weeks. No.

Heather Seubert: unit chief at FBI lab. In 2008 she was in DNA unit
- expert in serology (examining bio fluids) court and jury recognize her as such
-swabbed stains on spare tire cover and they were negative for presence of blood
-also tested right side of trunk liner and again no blood was found.

*personal note:Not understanding the need to look for blood. Nobody said blood would be found*

- tested other clothing as well and they were negative for the presence of blood as well
-She also tested shovel for stains. Tested negative for the presence of blood.
-DNA profile was not generated from the shovel

George is shaking. Looks like he is going to cry. Bows his head down and leans it on his left hand fingers. He looks really stressed.  Casey writes down notes. Maybe a love note to Baez?

Baez brings out his clipboard again!

-lengthy explanation of DNA. Extremely boring! Baez really seems to be dragging this out and just losing his case right now!

-Talking about looking at 13 pieces of a DNA and copying them, etc.

Jury leaves courtroom:
-swabbing from shovel revealed an X DNA type. Which normally would reveal female DNA but she cannot be conclusive about that.  Ashton wants to know what is the relevance? Baez says the relevance is that there is something there. Nothing more.

Judge Perry tells Mr Ashton to calm down and then tells him to sit down. Casey reacts with raised eyebrows and slight smile.


Jury is back:
-Now talking about duct tape submitted to FBI lab from Medical Examiners office
-DNA result from top side of tape. Below FBI threshold reporting policy. Excludes Casey Anthony's DNA as well as Caylee Anthony
-witness writes on clipboard to help jurors understand what the heck she is talking about. Courtroom is just looking and whispers are seen. Everyone looks bored.
-Baez even asked if jury could raise their hands if they are confused. Perry: Let's not.
-Seubert says all of Anthony family could be excluded from analysis collected from duct tape.
- DNA matched an FBI technician.
-Seubert says it's possible contamination could have covered up any other DNA. But it would have to a lot of DNA covering up a tiny sample
-elements can destroy DNA
-Can you get DNA from an item that's under water? Seubert says possible but there are lots of factors that could hinder results.

This witness just likes to hear herself talk as well.

-Baez is asking if duct tape was put on "firmly" wouldn't there be skin cells? Seubert says think about ripping off bandaid.
-Seubert says she tested adhesive side of duct tape and results were inconclusive. Casey and Caylee were excluded.
-tested Caylee's shorts. No blood or semen.
-tested shirt remains as well. Positive for possible presence of blood. No DNA obtained.
-Blanket showed possible presence of blood. No DNA obtained.
-Laundry bag,another blanket showed positive but no semen. Baez strikes ref. of blanket. Not in evidence and has nothing to do with this 
-No blood on Caylee's doll. Cindy did wipe this previous to law enforcement arriving at house.


Baez talks about another report and Judge Perry asks if it's a long report. Baez says just a couple of minutes then they can have lunch.

-Baez asks if she conducted paternity test for Lee Anthony in regards to Caylee Anthony-Sidebar-recess for lunch



Jury not present

-Ashton says they have no good faith basis for asking about paternity tests for Caylee. Ashton is extremely upset at Baez.
Judge Perry says no questions leading to the inference police asked about Lee. Judge says he doesn't know what was in their minds...
Judge Perry tells attorneys they don't need to raise their voices or change inflections. He says he can hear just fine.

A family came to the courthouse to release balloons for Caylee.

Before jury comes in Casey is seen smiling, laughing, and "flirting" with attorneys.

-tested the car seat that was in the Pontiac Sunfire. Examined for blood and resulted in Negative.

Cross Examination
-Seubert says her tests can ONLY say if there was blood or not. Not show if it's decomp fluid.
-Seubert tells jury as body decomposes the likelihood of finding DNA goes down

Lengthy sidebar has jurors watching attorneys and rocking in their chairs.
Ashton and Baez walk away with big smiles on their faces. Court continues
This witness asks alot of questions and addresses the lawyers more than they address her!

-Ashton says reality is nothing can be taken from this correct? Seubert says the results in her report showed "inconclusive"
-Ashton says just because there was no blood at a crime scene doesn't mean there wasn't a crime. Seubert agrees

Re-direct
-if body is in plastic bag, fluids can leak onto carpet
-Seubert can't say how far in decomposing process DNA results would stop. Just that it starts to diminish
-It's 2:44 and Heather Seubert is done. She started testifying around 9:30am
 Recess till 3:05

Update: Press conference for "surprise" defense witness Vasco Thompson has been cancelled.

Robin Maynard: in 2008 was CSI with OCSO- recall
-collected item 313. Cardboard mat with pink heart shaped sticker
--The sticker was collected in what's called lane 6- about 45 feet from baseline

Another witness that had no point! Excused!

Ron Murdock: recall. OCSO Supervisor in Forensics Unit 
-Murdock is showing where lane 6 was (where heart shaped sticker and cardboard were collected)
-Murdock shows on his map the sticker was found about 30 feet from where skull was discovered.
witness excused! 

Jennifer Welch-CSI OCSO -Recall
-no bones found past lane 6
-identified trash found in different lanes in scene
-Welch says no bones were collected after lane 6 (45ft away) she is identifying trash collected and saying whether or not it was tested.

Cross Examination
-site could be classified as a trash dump

Lorie Gottesman: FBI Laboratory Division Supervisory Forensic Examiner
-accepted as expert witness
-received the 3 duct tape pieces that were found with Caylee, from the Medical Examiner's office
-Gottesman says there was no evidence of sticker on tape. Not fragments or residue.
 -It was Gottesman's DNA found on tape
-Gottesman says she wore gloves and handled everything with care. She doesn't know how her DNA got on the tape or when


Cross Examination
-compared bags to bags in Anthony home
-plastic bags collected from Anthony home to bags found at crime scene.State asks maybe/maybe not a match? Gottesman says right.


*note to Baez:

I understand attempting to discredit the witnesses and the Prosecution...However Mr. Baez, remember your opening statements...YOU opened the door to have a burden of proof upon YOUR team regarding the circumstances in which what events took place. Not to school you (some more), but you need to hurry up with your current witnesses or refocus, because you are confusing and boring everyone involved...myself included.

 

Cary Oien:  FBI analysist

-accepted as an expert in hair and fiber analysis                                                                                     -In 2008 Oien says he was managing trace evidence unit that included Karen Lowe and Stephen Shaw. -Found human hair on shovel                     

Cross Examination

-Don't know what hair means, how long it was in shovel, just that it was Caucasian

Court done for the day! That was painful and excrutiating to watch!

Day 12 Casey Anthony Trial

More forensic evidence is being heard today. Prosecution says they expect to be done with all their witnesses by June 17.

Recall of Geraldo Bloise: Lead CSI

-received garbage bag that was in Casey's trunk
-placed wet garbage items in "Dry Room" for 2 days then removed and placed in evidence locker
-smelled like "normal trash", but did not smell like the car did
-contained 37 items which included : empty cigarette box, clothes hanger, napkins, velveeta cheese box, aluminum foil, Arm & Hammer, laundry detergent bottle, soda cans, 4 dryer sheets, bottle of crystal light, pizza box, receipt from FUSION ultra lounge, and papers from Full Sail University
-detailed for the jury all 37 items

Cross Examination
-Did not think he ruined any evidence by having evidence dried

Re-Direct
-Items need to be dried because it's better conditioned to be examined. If wet , there is a concern of mold
Re-Cross
-Questions were objected and sustained regarding DNA collection. Out of witnesses scope.

Recall of Dr. Arpad Vass
-shown correct air collection can as opposed to the one that he was shown yesterday

Cross Examination
-Baez: "You testified about a can you did not examine yesterday?" Vass: "I saw a can"
-Sidebar
- Baez Asks did Vass misidentify yesterday because he's not used to evidence since he works in a research lab not a forensics lab.
-Objection!

Dr. Michael Richenbach: FBI Forensic Chemist
-has testified as an expert witness 10-15 times
-detected odor when opened can of air sample
- Chemicals consistent of chloroform was identified on spare tire cover and trunk liner. Residue of chloroform identified. Small amount.

Cross Examination
-Chloroform has been detected in detergents and other household items
-Items that he has detected chloroform in were in very small amounts such as what he found in the trunk
-Baez asked if a bathing suit could give those results but It was objected/sustained

Re-direct
-mostly has tested chloroform in liquids
-Surprised to have gotten any result at all. Normally he says they would disappear
-Ashton asked how tire cover was packaged. It was in cardboard box which would allow chloroform to leakout bc it's not airtight.

Re-cross
-never tested for chloroform in air samples.


Jason Forgey: Sheriff's Dog Handler
-Ran down training of dogs
-The dog is trained to detect cadavers (human decomposition) The dog would sit when alerting
-dog detected decomposition in the Anthony family home and in her car
-has trained dogs to find drowning victims
-trained around: dumpsters, food, decomposing animals, horse rings (where horses are trained)
-Geris (the dog) was trained in another independent location other than the sheriff's office. It lasted a week.
- Reviewed Gerus' training log as well as his certification

When the court resumed from lunch recess, Casey was looking through defense paperwork. Does she think she really can help? I guess she is desperate for her defense team to step their game up.

-Defense questioned the dogs' certification. State wants to put it in evidence
-Judge admitted them into evidence
-On Gerus' training log notes he has had 187 finds. On one day in 8 searches, where there were 8 targets, he got 8 finds.
-Gerus has been on several cadaver calls Real world - +200 training - almost 500 says
-In 2008 the number of hits (searches) skyrocketed because of this case.

Sources say Lee Anthony just arrived at courthouse and told officials that he may be called as a witness
 -Against Baez' objections, video showing Gerus at an actual search in 2006, will be shown to the jury
-The infrared video is a helicopter view of Gerus and Forgey locating a body inside a retention pond. In the video, viewer is able to see Gerus, Forgey , and the body as infrared lights. Forgey said it was very dark and there alot of tall grass. It actually was pretty cool!

Casey was just looking through paperwork and glancing at the video. She didn't seem interested.

Gerus and Casey
-Forgey was told there was a vehicle they wanted them to look at. Forgey says when he got there he could smell human decomp in the bays (car)
-Forgey says Gerus jumped into car trying to get to trunk. He went into a down position (final alert) at rear right tail light bumper area
-At the Anthony family home, Gerus did a sweep in the backyard because techs were concerned about some areas.
-was allowed to search off lead (without a leash).  Went past sheds, above ground pool, and turned to the area of concern (indentation in ground), Gerus passed the indentation. Final trained alert was given near the play area and playhouse.
-Jury was shown picture of play area and Forgey highlighted where Gerus made final alert.

Casey did not get upset when seeing pic of play house or talk about daughters bones being collected.

-Another cadaver dog (Bones) was then brought over to the backyard. Dog came from Osceola County. From personal experience it would be about half hour trip.

Cross Examination : Forgey faces jury. Turns head towards Baez when answering

-agrees with Baez that backyard is much smaller than courtroom
-Forgey agrees Baez is losing him and possibility of Jury with the way he is questioning.
-could be odor, decomp fluid, or false alert when cadaver dogs. Unless he visually knows it or doctor finds something there, he don't know which of those three it could be.
-Didn't videotape because "we couldn't predict where we are today. Not a common practice"
-handbook says it is recommended to videotape searches for jury to view
-"I don't have anything in my regulations, my policies, procedures, that say I have to do that (videotape).So I did not do that"
-Baez says dogs aim to please handlers.
-after CSI did their search and found nothing, Gerus was called again and did not have an alert.
-Did not write police report on this false alert
-Dog did not give alert on Suburban Drive where Caylee was found
-didn't allow Gerus to go to location because it had been tainted by all the forensic people
-Forgey says he knew Gerus would alert to the exact area remains were found- so he didn't let him search. His only goal was to find the remaining bones that were missing.
-He did not find small # of bones missing.

Baez became argumentative because witness chose to volunteer how many bones were missing. He told Forgey that he is not an expert and cannot testify on the fact that there were a small number of bones missing.

Re-direct
-Forgey says he and his dogs have been involved in more than 3,000 real world searches. Very few taped
-Believes nothing was found on the second time, because CSI had already swept through the area
-Forgey says whatever the dog was alerting to was on the surface (Anthony home) so after it was scraped it was either gone or diminished.
- Forgey says he dog wouldn't alert to trash, cheese, a package that once held chicken.

Re-cross
- Baez asks Forgey you don't really know if Caylee's dead body was in back yard or if it was a false alert. Forgey says he doesn't know.
-Baez says he is testifying on his speculation.
-"I know what I smelled in the car" Forgey says clear as day - he smelled human decomposition.

Baez is extremely argumentative with this witness!

Question: Why is he arguing the dead body in the backyard?! Isn't Casey's defense that Caylee drowned in the backyard!!

Next witness first up tomm. will be Bones' dog handler.