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.

Peterson Trial Witness List: 805 People

June 26, 2009: JOLIET — Saying Drew Peterson's attorneys were attempting to simplify disclosure evidence into "CliffsNotes," prosecutors thwarted the bid Thursday but will have to pare an 805-witness list down to the 50 most likely to testify.

John Connor, the chief of the major crime unit for the state's attorney, countered an eight-point motion from Peterson's defense team that would help the accused wife-killer's lawyers more easily navigate the thousands of pages of discovery evidence.

"I think what the counsel is asking us to do is give them CliffsNotes on this," Connor said, referring to the study guides that simplify books for students.

One of Peterson's attorneys, Joel Brodsky, argued that the first-degree murder indictment against Peterson was too vague.

He wanted prosecutors to provide detailed descriptions of such matters as how Peterson allegedly drowned his third wife, Kathleen Savio; whether he used any weapons or tools to kill her; exactly where and when the alleged 2004 murder occurred; and how Peterson may have gained entry to her home.

"Was it a key?" Brodsky asked. "Was it, 'Beam me up, Scotty'?"

Connor countered that all of the information Brodsky is entitled to can be found in the discovery evidence already handed over by prosecutors. But Brodsky said it was too much for him and Peterson's other attorneys to sift through.

Judge Stephen White denied all the requests in Brodsky's motion, but did tell Connor to come up with an approximate time Savio was last seen alive and about when her body was found.

Brodsky also took issue with the 805 men and women listed as possible witnesses against Peterson. Connor is supposed to come up with the 50 most likely to testify by July 10, but was not forbidden from calling the remaining 755 at trial, which is scheduled to start Aug. 24.

White also shot down Brodsky's request for Peterson to take possession of the evidence against him while he is in jail. White said Peterson could review the evidence in the presence of his attorneys, who have been granted unlimited jailhouse visits with their client.

Brodsky also asked whether three key witnesses against Peterson were compensated by the state police.

Brodsky named Peterson's former friends Len Wawczak and Paula Stark, who clandestinely recorded their conversations with Peterson for seven months at the behest of the state police, and Peterson's stepbrother, Thomas Morphey, who claims to have helped Peterson dispose of the body of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, in October 2007, as the witnesses he suspects may have profited from their statements.

Brodsky asked whether Stark, Wawczak or Morphey were paid money or given consideration in regard to criminal charges that may have faced them.

White said this issue would be resolved July 10.