Hearing Comes 1 Year After Caylee Found

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The next chapter in the case against Casey Anthony will play out in an Orange County courtroom on Friday -- the one-year anniversary of the discovery of Caylee Anthony's remains.

Anthony's defense team plans to argue six motions during a hearing, which began at 9:30 a.m.

Attorneys for Anthony, who is in court, are working to get the death penalty removed from the case.

"If their goal is to get the death penalty, they need to come up with that evidence ... It's way too weak," Attorney Richard Hornsby said.

Another motion from the defense seeks to destroy jail tapes made during visits to see Anthony.

Baez said Anthony has little to no privacy because jail officials steer him and his client into a room with cameras when they meet instead of a room without cameras, which would be expected based on attorney-client privilege.

Baez is expected to ask a judge to prevent jail officials from recording Anthony's visits with her lawyers and parents and destroy all recordings made in the past, but administrators said that would be destruction of public records.

Jail officials admit to assigning Baez a room for the visits, but they said he could request a different location.

Anthony is in the Orange County Jail awaiting trial in 2010 on a charge of first-degree murder in connection with the death of her daughter, Caylee.

Anthony said a nanny took Caylee, whose remains were found in a wooded area near the Anthony home one year ago -- on Dec. 11, 2008.

Taped Interviews To Be Released In Anthony Case

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The state attorney's office said it will release hours of audio taped police interviews with members of the team that bonded Casey Anthony out of jail.

A judge denied Casey Anthony's attorney Jose Baez's motion Thursday to seal those interviews.

In the coming days, the state attorney's office told WESH 2 they will release audio taped interviews with bail bondsmen Leonard Padilla and his team. That means the public will hear what they heard and saw from Casey Anthony long before the case goes to trial.

Of particular interest is the FBI interview with Tracy McLaughlin. After Casey Anthony's arrest, McLaughlin spent nine days with her in the Anthony home and sources said she developed a bond with her.

The spokeswoman for Lawson Lamar said they plan to release the tapes because they are part of the public record. She plans to do that late next week or the week after.

Also, some time after Labor Day, Andrea Lyon from Casey Anthony's legal team will make her first major statement in the case.

It will come in the form of a motion arguing there is insufficient evidence to support a murder charge against Casey Anthony.

Casey Anthony’s Defense Team Loses a Round!

Blogger News- Jose Baez has lost his motion to have Leonard Padilla and his team thrown off the witness list for the prosecution in the murder trial of little Caylee Anthony’s mother.

Casey Anthony is being held in the Orlando County jail until her trial while being charged with first degree murder of her 2 year old daughter and the death penalty on the table if she is found guilty.

When Leonard Padilla and his team, which included Tony Padilla, Tracy McLaughlin and Robert Dick, got Casey out of jail on bond they were around her a lot and apparently they heard conversations that Jose Baez would consider to be damaging to their case since he went through all this trouble to try and stop their testimonies from being heard.

Padilla denies he even worked for Baez. He said in fact Baez didn’t want him to work for him. “As far as signing any paperwork to be part of the defense team, I never signed anything like that,” said Padilla. “Jose was very adamant. He did not want any of us working for him.”

Padilla did say that Anthony never confessed anything to him but his employees Tracy was in close company with Anthony and had insight into her mindset. “When the time comes I’m sure Tracy’s going to shed a lot of light on what kind of person Casey is,” he said.

Circuit Court Judge Stan Strickland didn’t go along with Baez’s argument that the group was an extension of the defense counsel and covered by the attorney-client privilege. I say finally the judge has made a fair decision in this case.

In another motion the defense had filed for though Judge Strickland ruled in favor for was to allow the defense team access to the records of 32 searchers that searched within a couple of hundred yards of where Caylee’s remains were found. It is expected that the defense will use this to try saying that Caylee’s remains were put in the woods where she was found after Casey was jailed. He is hoping to find volunteers that will say they searched the area and did not see anything.

Tim Miller the head of Texas Equusearch explained before that the area where Caylee was found was underwater in November when his team of volunteers were searching and they did not look in that particular area. Miller has in fact released photos of the area during that time showing the area under water. Also the prosecutions office has testimony from a botanist stating that based on the plant growth in and around the remains found they would have had to be there at least for four months.

Casey Anthony's Father Storms News Conference

ORLANDO -- The father of Casey Anthony was so unhappy with his former attorney releasing photos of the scene where his granddaughter's remains were found, he stormed into the middle of a press conference Thursday.

Attorney Mark NeJame, along with his client, Tim Miller, held the press conference to talk about the photos. He also wanted to talk about defense attorney Jose Baez's efforts to force Miller, the head of EquuSearch, to make public the names of search volunteers.

In a legal motion NeJame filed Thursday, he said revealing their identities could "cause a chilling effect on future volunteers" who would want to help in searching for missing children. NeJame also released a letter he sent to the defense laying out his arguments for why EquuSearch should not be compelled to release their files.

In the motion, NeJame argues that none of the volunteers searched the area where Caylee Anthony's remains were found. The photos NeJame released Thursday showed the area where the remains were found were under water at the time of the search, on Nov. 7.

Baez has filed a number of motions, including one that tried to get EquuSearch to turn over maps, communications records and other information on searchers and their involvement with investigators. That motion was denied in January.

NeJame told the press he would hand out documents, disks of information and photos regarding EquuSearch's search for Caylee last year. He said the foliage in the search area was so thick, someone could be within inches of an item and not see it.

The defense has also filed a motion to make Miller a material witness. Judge Stan Strickland is expected to hear that motion in court on Friday at 9:30 a.m.

At one point George Anthony interrupted the news conference and demanded to talk with NeJame in private. After NeJame returned, he had no comment on the discussion.

In the press conference, NeJame said he doesn't object to Miller as a material witness, but continues to say that EquuSearch was acting as a private company, and was not hired by the Sheriff's Office.

Miller and NeJame have teamed up before. They recently held a press conference in Orlando to announce they would help in the search for missing Satsuma girl Haleigh Cummings.

During Friday's hearing, the defense wants to delay Casey's criminal check fraud trial until after the murder trial. They also want bounty hunter Leonard Padilla and his associates to not be able to talk about their conversations with Casey Anthony.

Lawyer: Caylee Remains Put In Woods After Casey In Jail

WHO DIDN'T SEE THIS COMING?

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The defense team for Casey Anthony, who is charged with murder in the death of her daughter, Caylee, said in court on Friday that there is evidence that proves Caylee's remains were placed in a wooded lot after Anthony was in jail.

"There is substantial evidence that we've found ... that the body or remains of Caylee Anthony was placed there after Casey Anthony was locked up," said Todd Macaluso, a defense attorney. "It proves that somebody else placed the remains in the area."

Macaluso did not disclose the evidence.

Anthony's attorneys argued at the hearing that testimony should be taken from the head of Texas EquuSearch, Timothy Miller, about the search for Caylee. The searchers looked near the wooded area where the toddler's body eventually was found in December. They also asked to be allowed to review records on thousands of volunteers who participated in the searches for the little girl last summer and fall.

The defense team hoped that testimony would show it would have been impossible for Anthony to dispose of Caylee's body in the woods because she was arrested and in jail two months before the discovery of the girl's remains.

Anthony's father, George Anthony, took the stand during the hearing during a motion heard about the dealings the Anthony family had with celebrity bounty hunter Leonard Padilla, who posted Anthony's bond after she was arrested on child neglect charges last summer.

Casey Anthony cried while her father was answering questions.

Anthony's defense team wants to prevent Padilla and his team of bail bondsmen from testifying for the state about what she told them about the case.

Orange County Circuit Judge Stan Strickland did allow the defense team to have access to the phone records of an ex-boyfriend of Casey Anthony. Strickland said the defense can see Tony Lazzaro's phone records from June 2008 to December 2008.

Casey Anthony, 23, is charged with killing her daughter, who disappeared last summer. Anthony has pleaded not guilty. Her trial is scheduled for next year.

At a news conference on Thursday, Mark NeJame, who is representing Miller, released photos, which he claimed show why the group called off a search of the area where Caylee's remains were later located.

The photos were taken from a helicopter in November, one month before Caylee's body was found in the wooded area of Suburban Drive near the Anthony family home.

NeJame said the photos show "a green wall of foliage" which could have easily prevented a searcher from finding Caylee's body. NeJame stepped down as the Anthony family's attorney in October 2008.

"One could literally be within inches of an item and be blocked due to the thick and massive underbrush and foliage," NeJame said in a letter sent to the state attorney's office and Anthony's defense team.

NeJame also said the photos show "standing water throughout the area."

"When the search was conducted, the areas where Caylee's remains were found were still in water, which is why the search in that specific place was called off by Tim Miller," Nejame's letter said.

A meter reader found the remains on Dec. 11.

The pictures are relevant to the case, because if Anthony's defense team can raise doubts about whether Caylee's body was already in the woods in August, September and November as people searched nearby, it could help her case.

"These pictures are important for everybody, for justice, for seeking the truth," Nejame said during a news conference Thursday afternoon. He said he is not taking a side in the case.

Caylee's grandfather, George Anthony, made a surprise appearance at the news conference, and asked NeJame to step outside for a conversation.

NeJame told Local 6 that George Anthony was told by his daughter's defense team that it felt the release of the photos was improper and that he should demand that NeJame to stop releasing information.

The two spoke for more than half an hour, and said they resolved the issue.

"I think the conversation we've just had clarifies some recent miscommunication and we're all on the same path in that regard, and we all want to know what happened to Caylee," Nejame said.

Caylee was reported missing by her grandmother, Cindy Anthony, in July 2008. The toddler was last seen in June 2008.

Casey Anthony is being held at the Orange County Jail on no bond.

Judge's Staff Releases Caylee Anthony Autopsy Report, But No Photos

Orlando Sentinel- Authorities were investigating for a brief time this afternoon whether autopsy photos of Caylee Marie Anthony were released today to a member of the public in violation of state law.

They were not released.

State Attorney's Office spokesman Randy Means expressed concern earlier today that two autopsy photos could have been accidentally released to a legal analyst for WFTV Channel 9, which was the first station to get the autopsy report of the slain 2-year-old from east Orange County.

Legal analyst Bill Shaeffer told the Orlando Sentinel the copy he received from the judge's office did not contain any autopsy photos. That copy was released about 30 minutes prior the release from the State Attorney's Office.

A judge today said the report should be released, despite complaints from Caylee's grandparents, because it is a public record under state law.

However, an exemption to the law specifically prohibits the release of autopsy photos.

After the judge's ruling, Shaeffer, a legal analyst for Channel 9, received a copy of the autopsy report from a person in Circuit Court Judge Stan Strickland's office, Means said.

The report he picked up may have included two autopsy photos, Means said. Shaeffer said the photos were not included in the report he received.

Other media outlets, including the Orlando Sentinel, obtained photo-less copies of the autopsy report from the State Attorney's Office.

Photos are not public in Florida under a law named after racing legend Dale Earnhardt, who died in 2001 during a crash at the Daytona 500.

Concerns about the possibility of Earnhardt's photos becoming public prompted Florida lawmakers to quickly pass the exemption.

Under the law, it is a felony for people to look at or copy autopsy photos and videos unless they can persuade a judge to let them do so.


Here are the links to the autopsy:
http://www.wftv.com/pdf/19801498/detail.html
http://www.wftv.com/pdf/19801734/detail.html
http://www.wftv.com/pdf/19801861/detail.html
http://www.wftv.com/pdf/19801867/detail.html