Casey Anthony Trial: Day 30
It’s day 30 at Casey Anthony’s first degree murder trial. The Defense has brought the man who found the remains of Anthony’s daughter, as well as Anthony’s family, to the stand.
FOX News Radio’s Eben Brown is at the Orange County Courthouse in Orlando, FL:
FOX Producer Kathleen Reuschle spent the day in the courtroom and has this summary of Day 30’s proceedings:
Jurors got their first look at Roy Kronk today – the meter reader who discovered Caylee’s remains and the man defense attorney Jose Baez billed as “morally bankrupt” in his opening statement. While the defense theorized Kronk had found and controlled Caylee’s remains for many months in a scheme to cash in on his “lottery ticket”, on the stand today Kronk was adamant that he “never technically found anything” when he made his first call to a tipline on August 11, 2008 – 4 months before Caylee’s body would be found. He was careful to say he saw “what appeared to be” a skull in the woods- but was not sure what it was made of – he denied standing above it or touching it. He told jurors when he went back to the area and ultimately did find Caylee’s body on December 11, 2008 he could not be sure it was in the same spot he saw the item before, due to the change in the water levels in the area. He also couldn’t say whether it was in the same bag or not. However jurors got to hear the 3 calls Kronk made into tiplines in August where he describes the area clearly including the rotten log nearby and a white stone.
Defense J Cheney Mason seized on the various versions of Kronk’s story and took time to detail the inconsistencies between statements he made to police and in depositions, at one point saying to Kronk, “forget the statements, what’s the truth?!?”
Mason shifted gears from comparing the August and December encounters with the remains to pinning Kronk down about how much he picked up or moved the skull. Kronk said he made a mistake in his statement to police when he said the skull rolled out of a bag. Instead he says, he lifted the bag up 4 ft, held it at arm’s length and shook it 3 times- but says nothing fell out. He looked down and saw the skull and placed his meter reader stick into the eye socket and pivoted it up without lifting it off the ground. Any movement of the skull, the defense hopes, will raise doubt with the jury about where the duct tape was positioned.
Kronk denied defense assertions he was trying to cash in – saying he didn’t remember any discussions about a reward or asking officials if he was entitled to a reward. He said he joked with his supervisor they should “play the lotto” that day, and “jokingly” said he wanted to keep the discovery quiet so his ex-wife wouldn’t find out about the money. He denied calling his son to tell him he would be rich and famous. The defense entered into evidence a receipt for car repairs Kronk had done to fix his clutch the day before Caylee’s remains were found – totaling $889.00. Kronk admitted he “jokingly” told detectives in an interview “Roy needs to eat too.”
Kronk helped the Defense prove the Orange County Sheriff’s office acted incompetently in its investigation when he testified the deputy they sent out to meet him on Suburban Drive in August got within 6-8 feet of the area he thought he saw a skull, turned around, slipped in the mud and “chewed him out” for wasting county money and time.
The defense then called Roy’s coworker and supervisor who both testified Kronk oddly never told them he called a tipline 4 times in August to report the skull incident. Alex Roberts, the supervisor testified Kronk didn’t read any meters the day he found Caylee’s body. He said when he found him on Suburban Drive he was “smoking nervously” and leaning against his truck.
The entire Anthony family also took the stand today. George Anthony denied he had an affair with Krystal Holloway – a volunteer who helped their efforts to find Caylee. He admitted he went to her house, wrote her a letter and a text message – but said it was to “console” her and “cheer her up” because he believed she had a brain tumor and wanted to show “compassion.” He denied ever telling her Caylee’s death was an accident that snowballed out of control and said he would never confide in anybody other than his wife or son.
Cindy Anthony took the stand and denied sending private investigators Dominic Casey or James Hoover to the woods on Suburban Drive to look for Caylee’s body. She also denied telling detective Yuri Melich that she had her “guys” search the area and they had found nothing.
However when Lee Anthony took the stand he directly contradicted his mother and said she had indeed told him she sent the private investigators into the woods to look for Caylee after she got a tip from a psychic the body might be there. Lee said this upset him a great deal because it was the first time his family entertained the idea of looking for a dead Caylee.
Yuri Melich then took the stand and refuted Cindy’s statements as well – and read directly from his report, “she stated she had people walk the area a month ago and there was nothing in the area then.”
Jurors were seen taking extensive notes throughout the day – looking closely at the transcripts of Roy Kronk’s phone calls into the tip line and following the Anthony family with their eyes. Casey was seen taking notes and filling out a packet at the defense table.
At the end of the day the Judge indicated he will inquire with the defendant that if she chooses NOT to take the stand – he must make sure it is her decision and her decision alone.
The defense said they have half a dozen witnesses left to call in their case. Dr. Sally Karioth will be called tomorrow as a grief expert who will speak generally on the topic since she has not examined Casey. The defense proffered 2 corrections officers and Casey’s ex-fiance this afternoon – and while the Judge ruled the corrections officers’ testimony is irrelevant he said he would decide whether or not to admit Mr. Grund’s statements regarding what Casey told him about her brother “staring” at her and “groping” her at night. The defense explained to the court the testimony goes to their “theory of defense” RE Casey’s abuse explains her lying and odd behavior in the wake of her daughter’s death.
At 8:30 am death penalty qualified defense attorney Ann Finnell will argue her motion for mistrial by phone. In wake of the July 20th Miami federal judge ruling declaring Florida’s death penalty scheme unconstitutional Finnell will argue Casey has a right to a non-death penalty qualified jury.
