Casey Anthony: Did George Anthony help or hurt defense?
Casey Anthony in court today. Photo credit: Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel
George Anthony returned to the stand today in daughter Casey’s murder trial and talked about smelling death in her car.
WESH-Channel 2’s Bob Kealing said that defense attorney Jose Baez had made “some good points in front of the jury asking George Anthony why he didn’t immediately call 911 as a former law enforcement officer if he smelled that smell of death coming from the trunk.”
Kealing later highlighted the strong response from the state. Prosectuor Jeff Ashton asked George Anthony, “If you took that little girl’s body and took it down and dumped it in the swamp, then there’d be no evidence in her car, would there?”
No, George Anthony replied. Kealing said that George Anthony “looked wrung out” after testifying today.
WKMG-Channel 6 legal analyst Mark O’Mara said Baez “was sowing those seeds of reasonable doubt” and “it may grow out to be something.” O’Mara said George’s testimony today was probably better for the defense than the state.
But O’Mara cautioned that Baez’s “sarcasm” and “aggressive attitude” toward the grandfather could cost the defense with the jury.
WKMG anchor Lauren Rowe said the average person would probably wonder why George hadn’t called 911.
WOFL-Channel 35 reporter Holly Bristow said the exchanges between Baez and George Anthony were closely studied by jurors. “I did notice that one juror was at the edge of his seat, kind of looking back and forth almost like he was watching a ping-pong game,” she said. She noticed that three other jurors were intent on taking good notes.
Simon Birch, a tow yard manager, testified that he recognized that the smell from Casey’s car was that of a corpse. “I think it’s extremely, extremely powerful and hurtful [to the defense],” WKMG legal analyst Mark NeJame said. “They’re going to be able to connect her with the child in that car.”
WFTV-Channel 9 legal analyst Bill Sheaffer agreed that Birch was a crucial witness. “He is familiar with the smell of trash, he is familiar with the smell of human decomposition, and can tell the difference,” Sheaffer said. “He was a very important witness to the state.”
Judge O.H. Eaton Jr., WESH’s analyst, said Birch’s testimony was “pretty powerful” and “unchallenged.” And Eaton added, “The smell of a human body in a trunk is pretty good evidence of a homicide.”
Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her daughter, Caylee.
WKMG’s Tony Pipitone contrasted several contradictions in the testimony between Birch and George Anthony. Birch said George talked of Caylee being missing; George denied that. Birch said George mentioned that Casey’s car had been at Amscot for three days before it was towed; George denied that. But Pipitone ended his segment with prosecutor Ashton’s withering question to George about dumping Caylee’s body.
WKMG anchor Erik von Ancken said the Ashton-George Anthony exchange “seemed to blow a hole in the defense’s theory … that George was an accomplice.”
Early Friday, the defense asked for a mistrial, complaining that testimony about Casey was irrelevant character assassination.
Chief Judge Belvin Perry asked how often Baez had asked whether Anthony was a good mother and rejected the mistrial request.
WESH analyst Eaton explained that the defense was arguing that testimony about her was “really nothing more than evidence of bad character or evidence of lack of remorse, both of which are generally inadmissible in a criminal trial.” But Eaton added that Perry is allowing the testimony for showing the circumstances of the case. The cumulative information about Casey’s life when Caylee was missing makes “accidental death a hard sell,” Eaton added.
Mallory Parker, Lee Anthony’s fiancee, teared up when she testified that Casey and Caylee had “a very special bond.”
WESH’s Amanda Ober highlighted that ”Casey began to weep” at that moment and that Parker’s statement “almost seemed as favorable for the defense.” WFTV’s Jeff Deal said Parker’s comments produced “the only real emotion we saw from her [Casey] today.”