FILICIDE (jury said not): Florida: Casey Anthony declared not guilty by jury

By John Stevens :  6th July 201

The sensational acquittal of Casey Anthony sparked outrage across the U.S. today with one legal expert comparing the trial’s outcome to the infamous verdict in the OJ Simpson case.With the 25-year-old defendant poised to sell her story for millions, commentators savaged the jury for failing to find her guilty of the murder of her daughter Caylee.
Former Michigan Prosecutor Carl Marlinga said the verdict was: 'Like the OJ Simpson case - a clear failure of the jury system.'
'Just because we say the jury system we have is the best, that doesn’t make it perfect.'
Meanwhile TV presenter and legal expert Nancy Grace said 'the devil was dancing' after the jury returned not guilty verdicts.

Cleared: Verdict: Casey Anthony stands with her lawyer Jose Baez as she is sensationally found not guilty of all but four lesser charges

Delighted: Casey Anthony shows her excitement as she is found not guilty

Relief: Casey Anthony celebrates with her defence lawyer after their victory, which has stunned America

Caylee Anthony: Her mother Casey has been acquitted of all charges except misleading the police investigation

No firm deals have been struck to tell Anthony's story, although talk shows, book publishers and film makers will be lining up to secure interviews and rights to a story that has gripped and fascinated a nation.
A jury of seven woman and five men took ten hours to clear her of charges of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter of a child.
Anthony smiled with delight as she was cleared of the murder of Caylee, after one of the most controversial verdicts in recent history.
Hundreds of people outside the Orange County Courtroom in Orlando, Florida, gasped yesterday as the verdict was made public.
Anthony had been accused of drugging her young daughter, suffocating her and dumping her body in overgrown woodland.
The verdict, which came as a surprise to many following the case, drew a dramatic line under a compelling trial, which has seen a family torn apart by accusations of rape and incest.
Speaking to the Detroit Free Press, former prosecutor Mr Marlinga said he was 'shocked.....stunned and a little bit sickened' by the jury's decision'.
He said: 'I’ve probably never seen a better circumstantial case.
'Juries have to find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.That doesn’t mean beyond all doubt.'
He added the prosecution overplayed Anthony as a party girl.

 

He said: 'A guilty person would have kept a low-profile, would have immediately reported the supposed kidnapping and immediately disposed of the body.

'They tried to pretend that the weakness was a strength. Sometimes the prosecution tries to whistle past the graveyard.
'They could have painted a more coherent case that the girl died as the result of child abuse.'
Anthony, who had been facing the death penalty, hugged defence attorney Jose Baez when the jury's verdict was revealed. As the jury left, she burst into tears.

Confident: Defence attorney Cheney Mason gestures toward reporters peering through a restaurant window across the street from the Orange County Courthouse

The jury accepted Anthony's account of events that Caylee drowned in the family pool on June 16.
She had initially claimed her daughter had been kidnapped, but on the opening day of the trial, the defence team made the surprise claim that the toddler had died in an accident.
The defence accused Anthony's father George Anthony of sexually abusing her as a child, and suggested the dysfunctional relationship explained Casey's behaviour after her own daughter's death. Mr Baez acknowledged Anthony's actions as 'bizarre' and 'inappropriate'.
Four days after the defence claim Caylee died, Anthonyparaded in a 'hot body' contest at a nightclub and friends said she showed no signs of distress, anxiety or depression.
Mr Baez had told the court that Mr Anthony had a role in disposing of the body and bullied his daughter into keeping it all secret.
On the final day of the trial, ABC news reported Anthony silently mouthing either 'it's not his fault' or 'because it's his fault' while prosecutors said she was trying to pin the death on her father.
After jurors heard Anthony's mother Cindy may have left a ladder in the pool where the child allegedly drowned, prosecutors said: 'Casey Anthony would have you believe that this is all her mother's fault anyway for leaving the ladder down, let's twist the knife in my mum a little bit more.'
Casey reportedly mouthed: 'I never said anything like that, it wouldn't have been my mum.'
After such a harrowing trial it has emerged that George and Cindy Anthony are not sure if they would welcome Casey back into the family. Following the surprise verdict, they walked out of the courtroom in silence.

THE VERDICT

Anthony faced seven charges
First-degree murder NOT GUILTY
Aggravated child abuse NOT GUILTY
Aggravated manslaughter of a child NOT GUILTY
Four counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer:
-That she worked at Universal Orlando in 2008 GUILTY
-That she left Caylee with a babysitter named Zenaida Fernandez Gonzalez GUILTY
-That she told Jeffrey Hopkins and Juliette Lewis that Caylee was missing GUILTY
-That she received a phone call from Caylee on July 15 2008 GUILTY

In a statement they said: 'While the family may never know what has happened to Caylee Marie Anthony, they now have closure for this chapter of their life. They will now begin the long process of rebuilding their lives.
'Despite the baseless defence chosen by Casey Anthony, the family believes that the jury made a fair decision based on the evidence presented, the testimony presented, the scientific information presented and the rules that were given to them by the Honourable Judge Perry to guide them.

'The family hopes that they will be given the time by the media to reflect on this verdict and decide the best way to move forward privately.'

Their lawyer said it was too early to say if they would welcome Casey back. The couple are reported to be in hiding after receiving death threats.
Dodging the larger charges of murder and child abuse, Casey was found guilty of four lesser counts of lying to investigators, which carry a maximum of one year per count.
As she has already served three years in jail, she is likely to walk free almost immediately. Last night she returned to Orange County jail, where she will wait for sentencing on Thursday at 9am.
As Casey walked into the courtroom to hear her fate at just after 2pm she looked very nervous. She bit her nails anxiously as she spoke to Mr Baez, while her parents watched quietly from the audience.
But as the clerk of the court read the verdicts, her eyes turned red as she tried to fight back the tears. Once all the verdicts were read out she hugged Mr Baez and began to cry.
Later, as the judge spoke to the jury, she could be seen mouthing 'Thank you' to Mr Baez and smiling, before the whole defence team hugged in tears as the session ended.
In a bizarre speech given after the verdict, Mr Baez appeared shaken with emotion as he shamelessly declared that his defence had 'saved a life'.

Approaching the judge: Casey and Mr Baez approach the podium to hear Judge Belvin Perry confirm that she is not guilty of murder charges

Group hug: Casey's defence team embrace each other and Casey after the tension of the six-week trial is dramatically lifted

Overwhelmed: Casey is overcome with emotion following her acquittal of murder charges. Smiling but also emotionally drained, she is helped by a member of the defence team

EVEN THE CLERK COULD NOT BELIEVE IT

The clerk who read the verdict in the Casey Anthony murder trial was left speechless today when she saw the 'not guilty' verdict.
Judge Belvin Perry handed the clerk the verdict to read to the Orlando court, saying: ‘Will the defendant rise along with counsel. Madame clerk you may publish the verdicts.’
The clerk, accepted the printed verdicts and began reading.
But she was immediately rendered speechless after seeing the jury’s verdict.
After an uncomfortable silence she appeared to regain her composure and declared Anthony not guilty.

He told the media he was 'very happy for Casey. I'm ecstatic for her and I want her to be able to grieve and grow and somehow get her life back together' but spent much of the speech focused on how the moment felt for him.
He used to opportunity to speak out against Casey's 'trial by media' and the death penalty, which he labelled 'disgusting', before saying: 'I want to thank everyone who stood behind me and supported me throughout this time.'

STATE PROSECUTOR QUITS AFTER CASE

Jeff Ashton, one of the three prosecutors who led the case against Anthony, announced tonight that he will retire at the end of the week.
Mr Ashton, 53, has prosecuted for the Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office for 30 years.
His reputation and experience was in stark contrast to that of Jose Baez, Anthony's lead defence attorney, who was admitted to the Florida Bar only three years ago.

The speech then reached its climax as, holding back tears, Mr Baez declared that he was especially proud that when he went home that evening when his daughter 'will ask me what did you do today and I can say I saved a life'.
Prosecutors issued a pointed statement after the verdict, saying that despite the not guilty finding 'we kept our promise that we would be finding and proving the truth' about Caylee’s murder.
Appearing outside the courthouse, Lawson Lamar, state attorney in the Ninth Judicial Circuit of Florida, paid tribute to the 'precision case' compiled by his team and by investigators, but said that the six months it took to find Caylee’s remains, by which time they had decomposed, ultimately cost them the case.
He said: 'I never, ever criticise a jury. There is the task of deciding what to believe.
'Reasonable doubt goes to each and every element in a case, especially in a case like this, which is a mosaic to prove, with no smoking gun and a tiny victim who was reduced by time and the elements to skeletal remains.

Party time: Casey Anthony defence attorneys Jose Baez, left, and Cheney Mason, right, enjoy drinks with other members of the defence team

Stonefaced: Cindy and George Anthony were the first to leave the courtroom, with their attorney Mark Lippman, after their daughter was found not guilty of murder

'This was a "dry bones" case - very, very difficult to prove…The delay in recovering little Caylee’s remains worked to our considerable disadvantage.'
'We are disappointed with the verdict today and surprised, because we know the facts and we put in every piece of evidence that existed. Our team did an exemplary job.'
Despite Anthony’s claim that Caylee’s death was a pool drowning accident, Mr Lamar still referred to it as a 'homicide'.
He said: 'This case has never been about the defendant, particularly. It has always been about seeking justice for Caylee and speaking on her behalf… We kept our promise that we would be finding and proving the truth about this child homicide.'

Disbelief: Spectators react to the news that Casey Anthony is innocent

Shock: Disbelief can be seen on the faces of people in the crowd outside the Orange County Courthouse. One spectator held up a sign calling Casey a 'Baby Killer'

Aghast: Nancy Antolini looks overwhelmed after hearing the verdict as she stands outside the court house

Fascination: Crowds of hundreds gathered at the Orange County Courthouse to hear the verdict

Mr Lamarr said that lead prosecutor Linda Drane-Burdick put together a 'precision case' and colleague Jeff Ashton 'presented wonderful scientific evidence.'
He insisted that the state had 'gathered the facts' but adding nonetheless: 'I’d like to thank the jury for their contribution to justice. The task they were asked to complete was difficult.'
He said: 'We did our job. The jury did their job. This is justice in America. We go forward to fight again tomorrow with grateful thanks to all the people who have helped us do our duty.'
Jurors in the trial refused to account publicly for their verdict, leaving Orange County courthouse in a bus to head for home as the judge issued an order protecting their identities.
The members of the jury were asked by a court clerk whether they wished to speak, then left alone to decide their answer. 'When I came back, it was a universal ‘No’, the clerk explained.
A crowd of several hundred people, some carrying placards, rallied outside the courthouse chanting 'We want Casey', some expressing anger at the verdict and others relief.
As people surged forward police shouted at them to ‘back up’ and move away from the building. One young woman collapsed in the heat.
After the verdict became public, many in the crowd shouted 'Justice for Caylee' and 'Baby Killer'.
Mounted police and squad cars were also posted outside the Anthony's home as protesters gathered outside to demonstrate against the decision.

At the spot on Suburban Drive, Orlando, where Caylee’s remains were found on December 11, 2008, a stream of people arrived to lay flowers and soft toys in her memory.

Tributes: A shrine has started to be built at the place where Caylee's body was found

The verdict that shocked America: People stop to see the news announced in Times Square, New York

Some heard the verdict over the radio as they stood at the place where her skull and bones were found scattered. 'She got away with murder,' one woman said at the scene.
Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings issued an appeal for public calm. 'As a verdict has been rendered, we ask our community to respect the decision the jury and the court have made today. In doing so, we ask for your continued peaceful acknowledgement of that verdict,' he said.
'I ask this community that regardless of one’s personal beliefs about the innocence or guilt of Casey Marie Anthony, that you maintain peaceful resolve.'
The trial has captivated the country, producing some of the most sensational scenes inside and outside U.S. courts hearings in recent decades.

Fights broke out outside the court room as people queued to watch the case, and a court house spectator was jailed for six days for contempt of court after he gestured at the prosecution.

As tension built in the courtroom, both attorneys were threatened with being kicked off the case by the judge, and proceedings were stopped after the defence claimed that Casey was not mentally competent to continue.

Prosecutors claimed Casey spun an astonishingly complex web of lies to cover her tracks as she partied for a month after her daughter's disappearance.

LEGAL VIEW: HOW WAS SHOCK VERDICT REACHED?

By Professor Deborah Denno - Fordham University
Jurors are in the courtroom day after day and experience a trial in a way no other news commentator, etc can.
'Proof beyond a reasonable doubt' is a difficult standard to reach, particularly in a case that depends entirely on circumstantial evidence.
Although the news said that Casey Anthony was 'hated', the jurors of course looked at the facts differently.
The speed of their deliberation suggests that there was little if any disagreement among them.

They claimed Casey drove around for several days with Caylee's body in her car trunk and then dumped the remains in woods near the Anthony family home.
Caylee was last seen on June 16, 2008, when Casey left the family home with her, but it was not until a month later that police were notified that she was missing.
Prosecution evidence suggested Casey lied to friends and family about Caylee's whereabouts while she spent time hanging out with her boyfriend, dancing at nightclubs, shopping and getting tattoos.
The single mother gave her parents various excuses as to why they could they could not see Caylee, including: that the girl was with a nanny named Zanny; that she and her daughter were spending time in Jacksonville with a rich boyfriend; and that Zanny had been hospitalised after an out-of-town accident and they were spending time with her.
Finally on July 15 after hearing her daughter's car had been towed, Cindy Anthony confronted Casey and called 911 to report her daughter missing.
In in a distressed call she told the operator that her granddaughter had been missing for a month and that she had found her daughter's car that days and 'it smells like there's been a dead body in the damn car.'

When Casey got on the phone, she claimed that her nanny, Zenairda Fernandez-Gonazalez, who was later shown not to exist, had taken Caylee.
She said that she had not reported her missing sooner because she was trying to find her herself, which she admitted was 'stupid'.
The kidnap claim triggered a national search for the toddler and on October 14 2008 Anthony was indicted for murder.
Then on December 11, 2008, the search for Caylee ended when her skeletal remains were found in woods with duct tape hanging from her skull.

Throughout the trial, the public had become fascinated by every move of Casey as they tried to decide could this woman have killed her own two-year-old daughter.
They wanted to hear her testimony but, on day 32 of the trial - as the defence team rested its case - Casey told the judge that she would not be taking to the witness stand.

MEET THE JURY: THE TWELVE PEOPLE WHO CLEARED ANTHONY

The jurors' identities have been protected and they have been sequestered in an Orlando hotel because of the profile of the case, but there are some details to who are these men and women who ultimately decided if Casey Anthony lived or dead.
Juror 1: A female retired nurse who is married with two children
Juror 2: A male information technology worker who is married with two children
Juror 3: A female nursing school student who is single and has no children
Juror 4: A single woman with no children whose occupation is unknown
Juror 5: A female retired hospital nurse's aide who is divorced with three children
Juror 6: A male chef and restaurant equipment company representative who is married with two children
Juror 7: A female child welfare administration assistant who is divorce and has no children
Juror 8: A female Verizon service representative who is married with two children
Juror 9: A male unemployed former logger who is single and has no children
Juror 10: A male Verizon retention specialist who has no children. It is not known if he is married
Juror 11: A male high school PE teacher who is single and has no children
Juror 12: A female Publix cook who is married with two children

Ripped apart: What next for the Anthonys?

Torn apart: The family of George and Cindy Anthony has been torn by the accusations

At the centre of the trial has been a family ripped apart by accusations of incest, rape, adultery and murder. George and Cindy Anthony have always been torn by their roles as both family members of the victim and the parents of the accused, but the shock allegations made during the opening of the trial have completely rocked the family.
Casey's parents, who have been married for 30 years, publicly supported their daughter from her initial arrest in 2008, as they continued to lead the search for their missing granddaughter, to the start of the murder trial.
They have funded Casey's defence lawyers, despite facing threats of foreclosure on their Orlando home - where they have lived since 1989. The couple have sold home videos and photographs of Caylee, which reportedly sold for around $200,000, to organisations including ABC News to help pay for fees.
But the defence accused George Anthony of sexually abusing his daughter from the age of eight, a claim he has strenuously denied.
Defence lawyer Jose Baez also suggested Mr Anthony had a role in disposing the body of little Caylee, aclaim Mr Anthony also denies.
During the trial, the defence also questioned whether tests had been conducted to determine whether Casey Anthony's brother Lee was in fact the father of Caylee.
The judge ruled that no evidence of sexual abuse was presented and prohibited both sides from mentioning the issue in their closing arguments.
The family have denied the defence's account of events that Caylee drowned in their pool.

Cindy Anthony was accused of lying under oath to protect her daughter from the death penalty, when she testified that it was her who had made repeated Google searches for chloroform and neck injuries on the home computer not daughter Casey.
Prosecutors rebutted the claims, citing testimony from Casey's employer, which they claimed she logged on to her computer at work at the time of the searches.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2011560/Casey-Anthony-trial-verdict-Not-guilty-just-like-OJ-Simpson-case.html#ixzz1RKJJEHhs

FILICIDE (multiple attempted): Florida: Shirley Jean charged

MIAMI BEACH. Fla. (WSVN) -- A South Florida mother has been arrested after attempting to kill herself along with her two children.
Miami Beach Police and fire rescue responded to the scene where a car ran off the Julia Tuttle Causeway eastbound into Biscayne Bay, Thursday afternoon. "Her car just started to diagonally just drive into the bay," said Miami Beach Police Officer Deborah Doty.
According to police, a witness traveling eastbound saw 26-year-old Shirley Jean drive off the road and into the bay. "They immediately ran out and rescued them, and they saw her attempting to drown one of her children," said Doty.
The witness told police he saw Jean holding her 7-year-old daughter underwater while her 2-year-old son sat in the car. "She tried to drive into the water, and then a witness said she put her kid and was trying to push her child down into the water, so they had to restrain her, and luckily when the police arrived they got involved as well," said Doty.
A judge ordered Jean to undergo a psychological evaluation and not have contact with her children, during a hearing Friday. She was ordered held on $40,000 bond, charged with two counts of premeditated attempted murder. She was also already on probation for an unrelated charge.
Meanwhile, at a hearing in juvenile court Friday, another judge listened to family members plead their cases in order to keep the children at their home, once shared with the now jailed Jean. The judge ordered the mother to stay out of the home, and her brother, Nervens Lublin, tried to assure the judge they would have her moved out as soon as she is released on bond. "We have her stuff packed," Nervens said, "so whenever she gets out, she has to leave. She's not allowed in the house or around her kids."
"Do you want the kids back?" asked the judge.
"Yes, we need the kids."
The judge ordered background checks for all the family members and will then decide whether the children can stay at the home.
 http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/22004476497361/#ixzz1OPC6wEXU

FILICIDE (multiple attempted): Florida: Jane Gonzalez charged

Sofia Santana and Danielle A. Alvarez  June 3, 2011

A Coral Springs woman is being held without bond and has been ordered to have no contact with her children after police say she tried to kill herself and her two children by ramming the family car into a home's garage.
 

Jane Gonzalez, 46, had her two kids in the back seat of her Ford Mustang Tuesday and told them to unbuckle their seatbelts just before she hit the accelerator and purposely slammed into the garage door, said Broward County Judge John "Jay" Hurley, reading from a police affidavit during a first appearance court hearing Wednesday.

"Maybe she was not a good judge of how to get rid of her kids, but she tried," Hurley said while denying bond for Gonzalez.

Hurley suggested Gonzalez might have had a better chance of getting bond if the allegations didn't also indicate that she told the children to unbuckle their seatbelts.

A neighbor's security camera filmed the crash.

In an interview Thursday, Kevin Linn said he was working at home when he heard a loud crash.

"I heard a commotion, kids crying, screaming. The kids were just hysterical. I heard the boy saying, 'I don't want to die.'" Linn said.

He said Gonzalez lives in the neighborhood but has no apparent connection with the house where she crashed the car.

During the bond hearing Hurley ordered that Gonzalez's children be placed in the care of the Department of Children and Families.

On Thursday, Gonzalez remained in a Broward jail. She has been charged with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of cruelty toward a child. Police also charged her with battery on a law enforcement officer and with trying to take an officer's gun away as the officer tried to subdue her.

FILICIDE: Florida: Casey Anthony's trial

Hair 'from Caylee's dead body' found in trunk of her mother's car, FBI expert testifies

Daily Mail Reporter
 4th June 2011

An FBI forensic expert said a hair removed from the trunk of Casey Anthony's car is consistent with hair from a dead body.
That was the testimony of Karen Korsberg Lowe Saturday in Anthony's sensational murder trial.
The 25-year old Orlando mother is accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.

CSI: Karen Korsberg Lowe, an FBI forensic expert, testifies about microscopic hair sample analysis during the Casey Anthony trial on Saturday, June 4, 2011 in Orlando

All rise: Attorney Jose Baez and his client Casey Anthony stand as the jury enters the courtroom

FBI expert Lowe said she examined a light-brown, 9-inch-long hair for this case.
She said the hair was similar to one pulled from Caylee's brush and was not similar to a hair sample from Casey Anthony.
Ms Lowe also said the hair showed characteristics consistent with decomposition.
Anthony is charged with first-degree murder.
Prosecutors say the girl was suffocated after duct tape was placed over her mouth.
The defence contends she accidently drowned in her grandparents' swimming pool.
Anthony's attorney challenged Ms Lowe's qualifications as an expert in microscopic hair examinations.
Earlier, crime scene investigator Gerardo Bloise showed the court where he had found a hair in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car.
The investigator searched Anthony's car on July 17, 2008 for clues about the fate of her missing  daughter. On Friday, he testified that the odour of human decomposition wafted from the interior as soon as he opened the door.
Gerardo Bloise said: 'My professional opinion is that it was human decomposition.'
Mr Bloise told jurors he had seen as many as 45 bodies in various stages of decomposition in his career.

 

Mr Bloise was the latest in a series of witnesses, including Casey's parents, who have testified that they know the odour of human composition and that's what they smelled in Casey's car.

Mr Bloise spent almost three hours on the witness stand, primarily identifying bits of evidence he removed from the car.

The evidence included a stain on the trunk liner, a piece of which was sealed in a can and delivered to an air analysis expert.
That expert is expected to testify that the air analysis was consistent with human decomposition.
It is novel scientific evidence the defense is likely to strenuously challenge.
Casey Anthony, is on trial in Orlando, Florida, for first-degree murder, accused of killing daughter Caylee on June 16, 2008 and hiding the body in woods near the Anthony home.
Caylee's skeletal remains were found in December 2008.
Duct tape wrapped three times around her skull, mouth and nose is the only evidence indicating cause of death, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutor Linda Drane Burdick estimated on Friday that she would finish presenting the state's evidence on June 17, after four weeks of testimony.
Jurors were warned before they were selected to serve that the trial would last about eight weeks.
Earlier in the day jurors heard how Anthony erupted in anger as her mother tried to press her for more information about the whereabouts of her missing grand-daughter during a 2008 jail visit, threatening to walk out of their meeting and raging: 'I need to be looked at as a victim.'
The depth of the accused killer’s deceit was on full display in court today as video tapes showed Anthony variously weeping with her parents over her daughter Caylee’s disappearance, ranting at them for trying to pry clues to her fate, and fantasising with her father about throwing a third birthday party for the little girl, despite knowing that the child was dead.
'In my gut I know she’s still OK ... we’re going to get our little girl back,' Anthony told her parents when they visited her in jail in Orlando, Florida, on July 2008 – six weeks after the date that her defence lawyer has told the court that Caylee drowned in the family pool.

Assistant state attorney Jess Ashton hands evidence envelopes to Karen Korsberg Lowe

Anthony has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, alleging that she killed Caylee with duct tape sealed tight over her nose and mouth then discarded her body in a swamp, freeing her up to go partying with friends and living 'the good life'.
The defence claims that Caylee accidentally drowned after climbing unsupervised into the swimming pool at the family home.
Anthony’s failure to seek help or report the incident, and her ability to carry on life as normal and lie about where Casey was, stemmed from deep-seated psychological damage caused by her father having molested her since childhood, Anthony’s lawyer, Jose Baez, told the court last week.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1394362/FBI-expert-testifies-hair-like-Caylee-Anthonys-Casey-Anthonys-trunk-shows-evidence-decomposition.html

FILICIDE: Florida: Casey Anthony: lawyers claim daughter Caylee drowned in swimming pool

Jacqui Goddard
24th May 2011


Casey Anthony sobbed in court today as her defence attorney revealed for the first time her two-year-old daughter drowned in a swimming pool.
For the first time, prosecutors said Caylee Anthony died from three pieces of duct tape being placed over her mouth and nose while a defence attorney for the mother claimed the toddler drowned in the family pool and the little girl's grandfather covered up the accident.
Casey Anthony, 25, is charged with first-degree murder. If convicted, she could be sentenced to death.
An autopsy was never able to conclude a cause of death for Caylee.

Tearful: Casey Anthony cries during the opening statements of her murder trial at the Orange County Courthouse today

Cindy Anthony, holding a teddy bear, and her husband, George Anthony, leave the courtroom after listening to the first part of the state's opening arguments

Casey Anthony waited a month before telling her mother that Caylee had disappeared during the summer of 2008, and that was only after her parents, George and Cindy Anthony, had recovered a car Casey had been driving, prosecutors said. The vehicle, which the grandparents picked up from a towing lot, had a foul odor inside.Defence attorney Jose Baez said: 'She what she's been doing all her life - hiding her pain, going into a dark corner and pretending that she doesn't live in the situation in which she's living.
'She went back to that deep, dark, ugly place called Denial to pretend that there was nothing wrong.'

The remains Caylee Marie Anthony, 2 were found in woods by the side of a road with traces of duct tape on her face

Caylee, who loved to swim at her grandparents' Florida home, where she lived, had wandered out of the house while her mother and her grandfather were at home that day, Mr Baez said.
'Everyone wants to know what happened. How in the world can a mother wait 31 days before reporting where her child is....Well, the answer is relatively simple.'

CONTESTED EVIDENCE: THE FIGHT TO INCLUDE 'AIR SAMPLE' AS PROOF

For the first time in a U.S. court, prosecutors in the Casey Anthony case want to include an air sample as evidence.
But in Florida courts, new types of evidence are admissible only if a judge is convinced the technique is generally accepted by the scientific community.
Prosecutors want to admit the sample which was collected from the boot of the defendant’s car, canned, and tested by a human decomposition expert.
Dr Arpad Vass, who analysed the sample, testified that when he opened the can he recognised ‘the smell of human decomposition’.

The court heard: 'She (Caylee) never was missing. Caylee Anthony died on June 16, 2008, when she drowned in her family's swimming pool.
'Casey was home with Caylee and so was her father. George Anthony came in and began yelling at her 'Where's Caylee, where's Caylee?' They searched in the house, they searched in the bedroom, they searched under the bed, in the closets, in the garage, then they went outside,' said Mr Baez.
'As soon as Casey came around the corner...she saw George Anthony holding Caylee in his arms. She immediately grabbed Caylee and began to cry and cry and cry.'
Anthony is accused of first-degree murder and faces death by legal injection if convicted.
Throughout the case - which has gripped Florida since 2008 - her parents wavered between loyalty to their daughter and grief over their missing grand-daughter.
Baez also claimed that Casey's brother made advances toward her and was given a paternity test to see if he was Caylee's father. All those secrets eventually led to the cover up of Caylee's drowning, Baez said.
'You will hear about a family that is dysfunctional,' Baez said. 'Ugly things. Secret things.'

Casey Anthony held tissue to her face and cried during opening statements, as she had in pretrial hearings

Caylee's remains were found in December 2008. She was first reported missing in July 2008, about a month after she was last seen alive.

Casey Anthony has pleaded not guilty and previously said a babysitter kidnapped Caylee.
Her defence has requested that video footage of the 24-year-old mother, filmed as she discovered that her daughter's body was found, be barred from the trial.
She was in custody at the time the footage was taken and her attorney said the video was taken without her knowledge.
There have also been fierce legal arguments about the unprecedented step of including a sample of air as evidence.
Mr Baez also blamed the police department for botching the investigation, alleging they wanted to feed a media frenzy about a mother killing her child instead of investigating a mundane drowning.

Cindy Anthony wears a bracelet in memory of her granddaughter at the Orange County Courthouse today

Members of the public line up for seats outside the Orange County courtroom to hear opening statements in the Casey Anthony murder trial in Orlando, Florida today

Later on George Anthony denied that he had ever sexually abused his daughter, or that he had found his grand-daughter drowned in the family swimming pool.
On the day in question, June 16, 2008, he had kissed and hugged both Caylee and Casey goodbye as they left the house as usual - Casey supposedly to go to work, and Caylee to stay with a babysitter.
Asked if any of the allegations that Mr Baez had made about him in court were true, Mr Anthony stated firmly: 'No sir.'
He added that as a former law enforcement officer, he had been trained in resuscitation and 'would have done everything humanly possible to save my grand-daughter' if he had really found her in the pool as Mr Baez claimed.
'I never knew of anything that happened to Caylee until our lives started to unfold on July 15,' he said.
Earlier in the day as the prosecution set out their case as Anthony sobbed and shook her head.
The jury heard how she 'lived the good life' while her daughter's remains lay in a swamp.
She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue and drew sharp breaths as a jury in Orlando heard how the seemingly happy childhood of her daughter, Caylee Marie, ended in horror, her remains tossed away like garbage, while her mother continued to party and lie about her whereabouts.
'It’s time to tell the story of little Caylee Marie,' said prosecutor Linda Drane-Burdick, opening the trial today nearly three years after the little girl’s disappearance.
Today, parents Cindy and George Anthony, of Orlando, sat at the back of the courtroom as Mrs Drane-Burdick told how they had doted on their grand-daughter, who was born in August 2005 and lived with them along with Anthony.

She said: 'They filled her room with toys and stuffed animals. Caylee’s room was decorated with every imaginable Winnie the Pooh item available.
'In the back yard of George and Cindy Anthony’s home was every little girl’s dream, a playhouse complete with a mailbox and her name.'

For one month, Anthony¿s mother Cindy, a nurse, grew more and more anxious about Caylee after Anthony allegedly gave excuse after excuse over where she was.

For one month, Anthony’s mother Cindy, a nurse, grew more and more anxious about Caylee after Anthony allegedly gave excuse after excuse over where she was.
It was reported that Anthony told her mother that the toddler was with a fictitious nanny named Zanny, despite Caylee never previously having spent a single night away from her grandparents.
She then claimed that she was staying with various friends, enjoying days out at SeaWorld in Orlando and Busch gardens in Tampa.

Anthony’s mother finally called police on July 15 to report her fears for her missing grand-daughter and voice her suspicions at her daughter’s series of stories.

George Anthony (L) escorts his wife Cindy Anthony into the Orange County Courthouse for opening statements in their daughter Casey Anthony's trial

Police later discovered that for most of that time, Anthony had been staying with her boyfriend at his apartment and that Caylee was not with her.
CCTV footage showed her out shopping for clothes, going clubbing, and enjoying a July 4 fireworks show. She also visited a tattoo parlour several times.

Three days after Caylee was last seen alive, Anthony drove to her parents’ home while they were out, backed the car into the garage and then asked the neighbour if she could borrow a shovel.
A ‘very distinctive odour of decomposition' was later found in the boot of her car, along with a hair that, under forensic examination, showed scientific characteristics of having come from a decomposed human body, and a high concentration of chloroform,' the court heard.

A forensic examination of her parents’ computer showed that on various days in March – prior to Caylee’s disappearance and while George and Cindy Anthony were out at work - Google searches had been conducted using keywords such as 'making weapons out of household products', 'chloroform', 'shovel' and 'neck breaking.'

'There can have been no other user making those searches than Casey Anthony,' said Ms Drane-Burdick, spelling out in heartbreaking detail how the child’s skull and bone remnants were finally discovered by a utility worker on December 11, 2008, close to the family home, in a swamp.

Casey Anthony sits in court with defense team members Dorothy Clay Sims, right,

She was 'wrapped in a Winnie the Pooh blanket, stuffed in a garbage sack, shoved in a laundry bag and thrown into a swamp like she was just another piece of garbage.'
Roots of plants had entwined themselves in her hair.
For ten days, crime scene personnel painstakingly worked on their hands and knees 'collecting the remains of caylee Anthony to make sure, make certain, that she would no longer suffer the indignity of lying in a land swamp,' said Ms Drane-Burdick, as Anthony listened grim-faced, clenching her jaw and swivelling back and forth in her courtroom chair.

'Duct tape covered the nose and mouth of that tiny human skull,' the prosecutor revealed.

'The duct tape was placed on there prior to decomposition…indicating that Caylee’s killer never intended that it be removed,' she added.
 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1390517/Caylee-drowned-swimming-pool-Shock-revelation-defence-grisly-Casey-Anthony-trial.html#ixzz1NMEdfuOI

FILICIDE: Florida: Amy Stephenson's sentence halved

Apr 25, 2011

A Florida Keys mom was sentenced to 13 years in prison Monday after she pleaded guilty to starving her child to death, the Miami Herald reports.

Amy Stephenson, 30, had been previously sentenced to 25 years behind bars for the crime, but the ruling was tossed out and now the mother of two had the sentence sliced in half.

According to prosecutors, Stephenson refused to feed her 13-month-old daughter Jasmine, who died in 2006. The little girl was the Key largo woman's third child and was born premature with a myriad of medical issues.

Jasmine died of chronic malnutrition according to the Monroe County Medical Examiner and weighed just under seven pounds.

Stephenson was originally found guilty of manslaughter in 2008, but the verdict was tossed out after an appellate court ruled a prosecutor's question about abortion may have prejudiced the jury.

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Mom-Gets-13-Yerars-For-Starving-Baby-to-Death-120636319.html

FILICIDE: Florida: Casey Anthony, accused of killing her young child in 2008

A Florida Judge will decide on which forensic evidence can be permitted in the first-degree murder trial of Casey Anthony, a mother accused of killing her daughter, Caylee, in a 2008 high profile event. The trial is scheduled for May 17.

This case involving Casey Anthony, accused of killing her young child, Caylee, created a nationwide sensation in 2008. In the meantime both the prosecution and defense have been lining up experts on both sides to prepare for the trial that has been postponed several times.The case involving the death of Caylee Anthony continues to attract widespread attention with an entire website devoted to the specifics of the case along with numerous articles and websites that provide details shared with the public. The attraction of the case, according to experts, are the dramatic dynamics that have been related and intimate that Casey killed her daughter in order to live a free and easy life free of the responsibility of caring for a young child.

Caylee’s body was found just a half mile from the home of her grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony, according to media reports in December 2008. She was two years old when she went missing. Caylee had vanished in June, 2008, but neither the mother Casey Anthony, nor the grandparents reported her missing for a month. After Casey was arrested for the killing and charged with first degree murder, the Anthonys appeared on several television programs protesting their daughter’s innocence. This occurred even after duct tape, heart-shaped objects and other evidence pointed to Casey’s guilt, according to the police and prosecutors.

Florida’s Channel 13 News reported today the judge is to make important rulings in case of the evidence prior to the date of the trial. Prosecutors believe the evidence points to the mother’s guilt, so the decisions made by the judge about it will either help or hinder the case against Casey. The evidence the judge will be assessing include a stain found in the trunk of the mother’s car, a heart-shaped sticker found near Caylee’s body, police dog alerts that had indicated a dead body had been in that car around the home of George and Cindy Anthony during the time the child was missing, as well as evidence of an Internet search found on Casey’s computer for instructions in how to make chloroform.

In February 2011 the court decided on the admissibility of portions of evidence on Casey Anthony’s sex life the prosecution maintains points to a level of need for freedom that would permit a mother to kill a child that interfered with it. The Orlando Sentinel has tracked the case against Casey Anthony as well as the search for the body of Caylee, the findings at the time, the evidence and other particulars since the case was first headlined in 2008. Hal Bodoeker has been speculating on why this case draws so much interest and has found several hypotheses, most of which are related to the family dynamics of the case. He had interviewed television executive Scot Safon of HLN, who has been tracking the case since the beginning. Safon’s opinion is this, according to Boedeker’s interview: “It speaks to so many issues, to the responsibility parents have, to the responsibility grandparents have, to the vulnerability of children, to the fact that this could play out in the midst of what might seem a normal family. I think a lot of people find it relatable. They know people like the people in this story, grandparents like the Anthonys, women like Casey, children like Caylee.” Boeder found some of his readers disagreed with Safon's assessment and say they have trouble relating to family members, including the grandparents, who didn’t do more for the child, specifically in the month delay of reporting Caylee’s disappearance.

 http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/305851#ixzz1KNhnYw2Y

FILICIDE (Multiple): Florida: Julie Scheneker pleads not guilty to First Degree

, 16 Feb 2011,

TAMPA - The Tampa mother accused of killing her two teenage children was back in court Wednesday morning, where she pleaded not guilty to the crime.

Julie Schenecker was very heavily restrained and was surrounded by extra deputies during the hearing, FOX 13's Warren Elly reports.
Schenecker faced two counts of premeditated first-degree murder. Police say she wrote a note saying she planned to kill Beau and Calyx for being "mouthy."
Her husband and the father of the children -- who was overseas serving in the military when the murders happened -- was not present for the hearing. Col. Parker Schenecker is apparently not participating in his wife's defense as she told the court she is indigent and requested a public defender.
A family spokesperson issued a statement on his behalf that read, in part:
"Colonel Parker Schenecker is currently out of the state and was unable to attend Wednesday's arraignment for Julie Schenecker. Currently, he is meeting with family members and close friends to formalize his plans to honor the memory of Calyx and Beau. At the same time, he is considering the best path to help him heal from this tragedy."
The next status hearing in the case was set for April 5.
http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/local/schenecker-arraignment-021611

FILICIDE (multiple): Florida: Julie Powers Scheneker

J

DANIEL WALLACE | ST. PETERSBURG TIMES

Julie Powers Schenecker faces two charges of first-degree murder in the deaths of Calyx Powers Schenecker, 16, and Powers Beau Schenecker, 13, said police spokeswoman Laura McElroy. Schenecker admitted the killings, McElroy said.

The father of the children is Army Col. Parker Schenecker, 48, who is stationed at Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base. He was overseas and was notified that his wife had killed their children at their home, 16305 Royal Park Court, police said.

"I don't think there's an explanation that could make us understand. She did tell us that they talk back and they were mouthy," McElroy said.

The children were killed Thursday but were not found until Friday morning, when a police officer responded to the house after an out-of-state relative became concerned when the family couldn't be reached, police said.

No one answered at the house. At the back door, a police officer found the mother covered in blood. Inside, police found the bodies of the children and a note from the mother detailing how she would kill her children and then herself with a .38-caliber pistol.

In the garage, police found Powers shot in the side of the head. Calyx was found dead at a computer in an upstairs room. There did not appear to have been a struggle, police said. "It appears that the children never saw it coming," McElroy said.

Calyx was in the 10th grade pre-International Baccalaureate program at King High School. Powers was in the 8th grade at Liberty Middle School.

Seena Jain, who carpooled with the Schenecker children and her own daughter, Sheema, 15, described the family as quiet. Jain said Col. Schenecker was home a few weeks ago picking up the carpooling shift while his wife recovered from a serious car crash a month ago.

Jain said Calyx was well-mannered and ran track and cross-country.

"Calyx was a very sweet girl, always soft spoken, always quiet," Jain said. "A real sweetheart. I just can't comprehend why this has happened to them."

The police critical incident stress management team, which provides counseling to investigators in stressful situations, was at the "devastating crime scene," McElroy said.

"It's truly a heartbreaking scene," McElroy said.

Mrs. Schenecker was led from Tampa Police Department headquarters dressed in a white, plastic outfit, the type given to suspects when their clothing is seized as evidence.

She did not answer questions from reporters and appeared to be talking to herself or those around her while she was taken to the Orient Road Jail.

Lt. Col. Mike Lawhorn, a U.S. Central Command spokesman, said Parker is assigned to CentCom's "intelligence directorate" and that he has worked for CentCom for over two years.

Schenecker was on a temporary duty assignment overseas the past few days, Lawhorn said. He would not say where but noted Schenecker was working in CentCom's area of responsibility, which includes much of the Middle East.

Lawhorn would not comment about any ties between Schenecker and the National Security Agency, referring questions to the NSA. He is a career military intelligence officer with 28 years of service, according to CentCom.

The NSA did not return calls for comment.
http://www.theledger.com/article/20110128/NEWS/110129748?p=all&tc=pgall

FILICIDE (multiple): Florida: Julie Schenecker

By the CNN Wire Staff

January 29, 2011 -- Updated 1906 GMT (0306 HKT)

Police say Julie K. Schenecker, 50, admitted she killed her teenagers for being mouthy.

 

(CNN) -- A mother in Tampa, Florida has admitted in detail to killing her two teen-aged children, police said.

Police checking on the family at the request of a relative found Julie K. Schenecker, 50, on the back porch of her home Friday morning, dressed in blood-covered clothing, according to a police statement.
They found her son, Beau Powers Schenecker, 13, dead in the family's SUV, which had been parked in the garage, the statement said. Calyx Powers Schenecker, 16, was in an upstairs bedroom, also dead.
"She did tell us that they talked back, that they were mouthy," Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy told CNN affiliate WTSP. "But I don't think that will ever serve as an explanation to the rest of us of how you could take a child's life."
The woman shot her son as she drove him to soccer practice and returned home to shoot her daughter as she studied on her computer, CNN affiliate WFTS reported, citing investigators.
Police were called to the house after Schenecker's mother called to express concern about her daughter's welfare, saying she was depressed, the police statement said.
Schenecker was initially booked into jail, but was transferred to Tampa General Hospital for treatment of an existing medical condition, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, according to WTSP.
Hundreds of people attended a candlelight vigil on Friday night in memory of the siblings, according to WTSP.

"It's just sad that his mom did this to him and his sister because he didn't deserve this," one of the mourners, Hailey Johnson, told WTSP. "He was the sweetest kid ever."

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/01/29/florida.children.killed/index.html?iref=NS1

Jaren Hare: Florida: Snake that killed Florida child hadn't been fed in a month

 

By Stephan Hudak | McClatchy-Tribune News Service

ORLANDO, Fla. — The pet python that strangled a 2-year-old Sumter County, Fla., girl 18 months ago hadn't been fed in about a month and had escaped its tank 10 times since its last meal — a road-kill squirrel, according to newly released documents.
Gypsy, the 8-foot-6-inch albino Burmese python, was most likely hungry when it escaped its terrarium and attacked Shaianna Hare in a crib, according to investigative documents.
A review of reports in the July 1, 2009, tragedy show that the child's mother and the mother's boyfriend had kept the snake in violation of wildlife rules and apparently could not afford to feed it.
The death spurred a statewide hunt of exotic reptiles and fueled a crackdown on the imported constrictors. But nature may have accomplished what outraged lawmakers had aimed to do — thin the snakes' numbers. Below-freezing temperatures killed pythons in South Florida wildlife areas, where the powerful constrictors have established breeding populations and threatened to tilt the balance of the fragile ecosystem, preying on birds, mammals and other native species that take refuge in swamplands.
"We can't say for certain what impact last year's cold weather had on the South Florida Burmese python population," said Joy Hill, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "However, anecdotal information indicates that possibly 50 percent of the population may not have survived."
Permitted python-hunters captured and euthanized 13 constrictors in Florida in 2010, down from 39 in 2009, Hill said. She noted that they also found three dead pythons, the largest of which was estimated at 14 feet.
She said it was too early to say how the current cold snap has affected the snakes.
The snake attack in the rural community of Oxford, about 60 miles northwest of Orlando, was believed to be the state's first instance of a non-venomous constrictor killing a child. The criminal case, likely to be tried this year, revolves around reckless behavior of the child's caregivers, Assistant State Attorney Pete Magrino said.
"It was a tragic loss of a young life as a result of the criminal negligence and child abuse on the part of two adults. It's that simple," he said. "I don't take prosecuting parents lightly."
Shaianna's mother, Jaren Hare, 21, and Hare's boyfriend, Jason Darnell, 33, face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter or third-degree murder. They also are charged with child abuse and have pleaded not guilty.
The albino python, bought at a flea market about six years ago for $200, slithered through the doublewide trailer to the child's room after escaping from a mesh laundry bag with a baseball-sized hole in it.
The snake had slipped out of its tank twice that night.
"It's beyond stupidity," said Jim Peters, president of the Central Florida Herpetological Society, when informed of the large snake's feeding history and its unsecured enclosure, a 150-gallon glass aquarium with a quilt as a lid.
The snake, which weighed less than 13 pounds, was emaciated, said Andrew Wyatt, president of the U.S. Association of Reptile Keepers. A healthy python of that length should have weighed at least twice as much.
"You keep it hungry and don't secure it, you're asking for trouble," Wyatt said.
The python has recovered from a cleaver wound inflicted by Darnell and is in Fish and Wildlife's custody.
According to a death investigation by the state Department of Children & Families, Hare's mother, Sheryl, was concerned about her daughter's ability to care for her pet snakes, Gypsy and Dixie, a smaller Columbian red-tail boa.
Hare told a DCF investigator that a week before the python attack she offered to buy rats for the snakes because Hare and Darnell had neither jobs nor money. She said she also had offered to keep the snakes at her home or provide a sealed container.
The offers were rejected.
According to sheriff's and DCF reports, the python was regularly handled — with adult supervision — by kids, including Shaianna, who showed no fear of the snake. Darnell told investigators the kids were not permitted to take Gypsy out of her tank or feed it and he likened it to a "loaded gun."
But he also described Gypsy as "real gentle," saying she never coiled up on the kids who carried her draped around their necks. He recalled swishing a dead squirrel's tail in front of Gypsy and how the snake snatched the meal from his hand.
"She was coming up due (for a feeding)," Darnell told sheriff's detectives. "But I don't think hunger would have been the motive. ... There's no way that she could possibly in her mind think that she could eat that baby."
Sobbing during the interview, Darnell said his two older children, then ages 12 and 7, were watching "Family Guy" on TV and the snake was in its tank in that room when he went to bed about 11:30 p.m.
He awoke an hour later to use the bathroom and found the python in the hallway.
"I almost stepped right on her," he said.
Darnell said he scooped up the snake, stuffed it in the mesh bag and put it in the tank. He then walked to the toddler's room and checked on Shaianna then headed back to sleep.
When he awoke about 9:30 the next morning, he peeked in on the child and was aghast. The long yellow constrictor had escaped again and was wrapped around Shaianna's head. Its fangs were sunk in her forehead.
In her interview with detectives, Hare called Gypsy "tame." She shrugged her shoulders when a detective asked how she could tell if the snake was hungry. She said she thought the snake had escaped the tank "'cause it can."
"She might have been hungry," Hare said. "But I don't think she would come right out and do what she did."
 http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/01/01/106054/snake-that-killed-florida-child.html#ixzz1ABD10vSO