UPDATE: Casey Anthony murder trial Day 32 – Defense rests, Casey does not take stand – ‘Smell test’ not allowed for trunk smell, by JURY

ORLANDO, Florida - The defense rested it’s case today in the Casey Anthony murder trial and the lawyer Jose Baez never called Casey to the stand to give testimony. It was believed by many that she needed to give evidence because there were many unanswered questions about how her daughter Caylee died. It was the prosecution theory that she was killed by Casey and the body was thrown into the woods after she went missing in June of 2008. The defense case suggested in the opening statement that  “It was an accident and Caylee drowned in the swimming pool,”  but opening statements are NOT considered to be evidence and yet defense attorney Jose Baez never presented evidence that could prove such a theory.

After the defense rested a challenge was created by the prosecution to whether or not the evidence of a sealed (Can of the smell of death) in Casey’s car trunk would be allowed. During the trial many experts can to stand and gave evidence that they believed there was a heavy smell of decomposition of a dead human body in the trunk of Casey’s car and yet the defense insisted it came from garbage/trash bag in the trunk. The prosecution had a sealed can which they wanted the jury to take back during their deliberations and be allowed to do a “smell test”   but Chief Judge Belvin Perry disallowed it, based on some rulings from the 1920′s during the prohibition period   where jurors were allowed to smell and drink whiskey, to determine if it was indeed whiskey. The argument was supported by evidence that if it was allowed in the jury room, one juror could smell the sealed can and tell the others, “yes it is the smell of death”   and the defense team would not be able to cross examine them, since they were deliberating.

In a very unusual move today, Judge Perry sentenced a spectator Matthew Bartlett, 28, to six days in county jail for flipping his finger to prosecutor Jeff Ashton in open court during the trial, he is also required to pay $623 to the court for his actions.
This trial seems to have everything, and the prosecution will present it’s rebuttal case tomorrow and the Judge will make the charge to the Jury on Saturday. It is the prosecutions job to prove it’s case, the defense is not required to prove anything, but has the state proved their case, beyond reasonable doubt, only a few days, and we shall find out. Court resumes tomorrow at 9am.

Daniel … Toronto, CANADA
My take on everything
@dandmb50

UPDATE: Casey Anthony murder trial Day 31 – THUNDERBOLT – Is George Anthony a LIAR? One time, or many times?

Orlando, Florida -  George Anthony was on the stand today in his daughter’s murder trial for allegedly killing his granddaughter. This was about the 4-5th time he has been called to the stand.He constantly doesn’t answer questions, he doesn’t stay on the point, he just goes into a narrative and tries to get sympathy from the jury. When asked if he molested his daughter, he didn’t say NO, he said that “I would never do that”  and defense attorney Jose Baez asked again and the prosecution objected, that it was asked and answered, but it was not, it was a YES/NO   question.Questions were brought up to ask about the infamous gas can with the duct tape on it. Baez asked George whether the gas can had duct tape on it when the police picked it up with a search warrant and he said “NO,”but when he went to a disposition and gave evidence he was showed a picture of the gas can and it clearly had duct tape on it? The duct tape is important because the prosecution is claiming it was placed on Caylee’s mouth when she was found and they are suggesting that the duck tape is what killed Caylee. And the duct tape had a company logo on it and it was spotted at a search site that George had set-up and a roll of it was found in the Anthony’s house. But George said today there was NO duct tape on the can when the police picked it up at his house and either the police put the tape on the can or someone is lying?So George is suggesting by his testimony that the police placed the duct tape on the gas can?? Because he has said when the gas can was picked up from his house it “Did not have duct tape on the gas can” and yet when it was returned to him and it was displayed in a picture at his deposition it did have duct tape on it.
Academy Award performance by George today on the stand as he “blatantly lied”  under oath and cried several times trying to get the sympathy of the jury and the courtroom, which in my opinion was an outstanding performance. He was clearly trying to distract the attention from his answers, which he had trouble answering directly without his narrative, and hedged a great deal when he did answer the tough questions.Is George Anthony guilty of something? Why did he “TRY”  to commit suicide, was it because he felt guilty about being involved in the death of his granddaughter which was stated in the opening statement by the defense attorney, Jose Baez. He did purchase a hand gun (January 2009) and the police were informed and picked it up after he had waited the mandatory waiting period and was unable to make any use of it, since he was not allowed to have a gun since his daughter Casey was under bond at the time. He then continued on, and called his parents, to say goodbye, but didn’t say the words. He also wrote a suicide note that was challenged today in court. After a proffer (questions asked to witness outside the presence of the jury) was held and the Judge allowed the defenses line of questioning about the suicide attempt.

Prosecutor, Jeff Ashton  feels he is in charge of this trial, but has been shot down many times by Chief Judge Belvin Perry who is doing an excellent job.

The trial has recessed for lunch, starts again today at 1:30pm.

Daniel … Toronto, CANADA
My take on everything
@dandmb50

G20 UPDATE: Kettling (surrounding protesters completely at the G20) was used for the first and last time, June 27/2010

Toronto, CANADA -  The Toronto Star  has reported the Toronto Police Service   has announced  they will not use the technique of  “kettling”    protesters like they did almost a year ago on June 27th at the G20 summit in Toronto. What they did,  protesters were gathered at Spadina/Queen and the police riot squad lines completely surrounded them on all four sides and held them in the rain for almost  four hours without arrest, it was shameful and on LIVE TV.“It is a violation of Section 9 of the Charter, which provides and guarantees the freedom from arbitrary detention,”  said Nathalie Des Rosiers, general counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.   “It rounds up, detains and prevents from moving large groups of people for which the police have no evidence that they have done anything wrong.” 

Not only is it against the charter of rights, it is against fairness and common sense. It’s like in public school, one kid would act up and the teacher says,  “You all are going to stay for a detention unless you come forward and point out the offending student,”  it’s just not right.  There were many things “not right”   at the G20 summit almost a year ago in Toronto and those that are responsible for this terrible situation must be held accountable, it is surely time for an inquest into the actions of the police. Only a few officers have even been charged for assaulting citizens during the summit, and most of the over 1000 that were arrested have had their charges dismissed.

Daniel … Toronto, CANADA
My take on everything
@dandmb50

UPDATE: Casey Anthony murder trial Day 21 – Prosecution does not want evidence entered by defense, WHY? Dr. T. Huntington

Orlando, Florida -  The Casey Anthony murder trial continued this morning with the defense putting on Dr. Timothy Huntington a bug expert. The head prosecutor Jeff Ashton  is getting increasingly upset with the defenses witnesses countering his evidence and is constantly objecting to anything he says, when it is against their evidence. He’s getting so frustrated he is even objecting to “not being able to see photos?”

Jose Baez, defense attorney asked questions to the expert, as to what would cause a stain in the trunk of a dead body and Dr. Huntington tried to give his opinion and thoughts but the prosecution objected. However, the prosecution bug expert had given the same evidence when he was a witness for the prosecution. The jury was not in the courtroom for the exchange between Baez and Ashton but the bottom line, Judge Perry allowed the witness to give testimony before the jury.

The main objection from the prosecution was the fact that Dr. Huntington was saying that he could determine if a dead body had been in the car trunk by the stain, or the amount of blow flies in the trunk. The prosecutions evidence showed there was one blow fly leg in the trunk and that it was inside a bag of trash that was there, and Dr. Huntington said if a dead body was present, “there would be hundreds, if not thousands of dead flies.”

So was there a dead body in Casey Anthony’s car?

The trial has recessed for lunch.

Daniel … Toronto, CANADA
My take on everything
@dandmb50

To go to my FULL WordPress BLOG CLICK HERE or click the Header .. Daniel .. Toronto, CANADA  at the top of each page

UPDATE: Casey Anthony murder trial – What’s with the spectator lineups at the trial, disgusting/fighting every day?

Orlando, Florida - I’m no expert but can’t the State of Florida organize a better system for the 50 seats that are available for the general public without having camp outs and lineups for a chance to be in the Casey Anthony murder trial. Might I take a leap and suggest they create a website and allow people to try and secure a seat, or anything, but what is taking place now, it is just insane.

People are camping out overnight to secure a spot in the courtroom (only 50 seats available to general public) and fights are now actually breaking out because some people are cutting the line before courts starts. Fights broke out overnightThursday, and a person has been taken away in an ambulance already this week, and it’s not going to end until they organize this better.People are so tired from lining up overnight, that four people were thrown out of the court yesterday because they had actually fell asleep in the courtroom during trial.

They must resolve this before someone else gets hurt, for something so stupid. They can’t organize a lineup for 50 people to get into a courtroom and yet they want to put a person to death? Very sad indeed. The crowd is not like the one on the top left, but it is just 50 people, they must be able to do this better.

Daniel … Toronto, CANADA
My take on everything
@dandmb50

UPDATE: Casey Anthony murder trial Day 20 – Defense makes some huge advances with evidence and drops some bombshells

Orlando, Florida - Key pieces of evidence that the prosecution said were a slam dunk were challenged today as the defense started with their charge to the jury. Duct tape, blood on many items was discounted by Heather Seubert, an FBI – DNA  expert from Quantico, VA when she said many times, there is no blood or DNA on these items that go directly to Caylee, or Casey Anthony.

This was only the second witness that the defense had called and already the prosecution is on the defensive, making all kinds of objections to keep this evidence out but Judge Belvin Perry is allowing most. (overruled) Seubert did many tests on all of these items and found no blood or semen on all items pointing to Casey and the prosecution just kept objecting.

The prosecutor was furious when Jose Baez (defense attorney  for Casey) asked the witness about the parentage of Caylee, and Judge Perry said “I don’t have a hearing problem, the amplification of questions and objections, I don’t need them.” and then they broke for lunch.

The defense dropped some bombshells, or it would be better described as, Carpet Bombing. Why did the prosecution hide these facts?

Daniel … Toronto, CANADA
My take on everything
@dandmb50

Vancouver loses Stanley Cup finals, riots, fires, stabbings, looting downtown. Black eye on Vancouver again, 17 years later

Vancouver, CANADA - Vancouver Canucks lost the NHL Stanley Cup final game to Boston Bruins and after the game serious fires were lit and all kinds of looting downtown while police try to disperse the crowd with tear gas. Although a very few may be responsible for the violence the bottom line is it affects the whole city of Vancouver and isn’t great for welcoming visitors, especially if they are from Boston.

Vancouver’s mayor said it was a few bad apples and yet watching the local news it looked like young men who thought it was fun while they laughed and took tons of cell phone pictures. A snitch facebook page has already been created to post your pictures and tag them if you recognize anyone doing criminal activity. Very sad indeed and this could go on all night.

It was reported that there were over 100,000 people downtown cheering on the Canucks but after the game the mob mentality grew as people joined in and started throwing everything and anything at the police and setting fires and tipping cars. All downtown transit was cancelled and bridges to the city were closed to prevent more people from entering the downtown core.

It surprised me to see there was not enough officers to control the situation and what really amazed me was that there were police without any type of protective head gear, what were they thinking. And all of this happened 17 years ago and still they were not prepared? What was the deal with the police dogs, were they searching for something or were the police using them to intimidate the crowd? There was a guy in a blue shirt on some stairs confronting the police for about 15 minutes on the local LIVE TV news and the police held back, but did they finally arrest him.

Daniel … Toronto, CANADA
My take on everything
@dandmb50

UPDATE: Day 17 – Casey Anthony murder trial. Prosecution will end this week, without ‘ANY’ evidence, but lots of emotion

Orlando, Florida - The Casey Anthony murder trial has ended for today and the prosecution has indicted they will finish their presentation of the case either tomorrow or Wednesday and then the defense puts on their case in chief. It appears, to me, that the prosecution has not put on ANY evidence that Casey killed her daughter, there is tons of circumstantial, and emotional evidence, but is that evidence? This is a death penalty case and if Casey Anthony is found guilty she could be put to death on circumstantial and emotional evidence, just doesn’t seem fair to me. Will justice be served?

Court has been adjourned for the rest of the day and will continue again Tuesday at 1pm (EST) since the trial is ahead of schedule, no surprise, it doesn’t take long when you have no evidence.The whole case is very fishy/flimsy and since the state did not prove anything, except emotion, the defense should rest and say the state did not prove the case. We all know that will not happen, but the defense may bring out some shocking REAL evidence.
The real tragedy is, Caylee is still dead, but now they want to put Casey to death, which would be another tragedy.

Trail begins again tomorrow, Tuesday at 1pm (EST)

Daniel … Toronto, CANADA
My take on everything
@dandmb50

FULL LIVE steaming video and audio sites where you can view or HEAR the trial. Most days it is available online Monday thru Saturday and the best video feed is HERE and if you just want AUDIO CLICK HERE. Some of the sites allow you to view previous trial videos as well. Both, only work when the trial is LIVE.

 

We all love polls.  Do you have an opinion, do you like polls? Let us all know what you think the prosecution has done so far since the defense will start up later this week.