(CNN) -- Casey Anthony, charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter in 2008, underwent examinations by three psychologists over the weekend after her defense team filed a motion to determine her competency to proceed, the judge in her trial said Monday.
All three psychologists found Anthony competent, Orange County Chief Judge Belvin Perry said out of the jury's presence. Their reports will be sealed, he said.
It was implied -- but not expressly stated -- that the motion was the reason for the abrupt recess Perry called on Saturday. The resumption of the trial Monday was delayed for more than half an hour as attorneys huddled in Perry's chambers.
Anthony's defense team is trying to discredit the prosecution theory that the Orlando woman rendered her daughter Caylee unconscious with chloroform, duct-taped her mouth and nose, and stored the body in her car trunk for a few days before dumping it in the woods. Anthony, 25, is charged with seven counts, including first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and misleading police. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against her.
The defense says Caylee accidentally drowned in the family pool and that Anthony and her father, George, panicked and covered it up. George Anthony has denied that theory.
On Monday, jurors heard testimony from Orange County Sheriff's Office Detective Yuri Melich, the lead investigator in the case. Defense attorney Jose Baez questioned Melich in an effort to cast doubt on the thoroughness of the investigation.
Under questioning, Melich acknowledged that he did not subpoena George Anthony's cell tower records, showing where he was when calls were made or received. Asked whether that might have helped investigators, Melich said it would have, "if I had had a reason to believe it would play a part in this case, which at the time I did not."
He said he also did not seize a computer belonging to Roy Kronk, the meter reader who discovered Caylee's remains in a wooded area near the Anthony home on December 11, 2008. Melich testified he had no reason to do so.
Melich also said that cadaver dogs were not deployed on George and Cindy Anthony's cars, only on Casey Anthony's. On cross-examination, prosecutor Linda Drane Burdick asked Melich whether anyone ever reported that either of those cars smelled like a dead body. He said no.
Saturday had been planned as an extended weekend work day in the trial. But Perry ordered a recess over the sudden emergence of what one analyst said must be a major issue.
"Obviously it's big, and obviously it's troublesome and obviously it's something that can't be disclosed," HLN legal analyst Linda Kenney Baden said.
Perry emerged from his chambers Saturday morning after nearly an hour of discussions with lawyers both in and out of the courtroom to announce the day's planned testimony would be canceled.
He said only that the delay was due to a legal issue unrelated to complaints prosecutors raised Saturday morning about expected testimony from Kenneth Furton, a chemistry expert the defense had planned to call.
Defense attorney J. Cheney Mason said media speculation on a potential mistrial or plea deal was false.
In what has become a familiar strain during the trial, prosecutor Jeff Ashton complained to Perry on Saturday that defense attorneys didn't disclose Furton's plans to testify about things that weren't contained in his initial report provided to prosecutors or mentioned in his formal interview with them.
Perry has previously admonished Baez for failing to disclose planned testimony to prosecutors, going so far as to say he will consider contempt proceedings against Baez once the trial is over.
Furton was to testify about explanations for vile odors and the presence of chloroform in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car, where prosecutors claim she stored the body of her daughter before dumping the remains in a wooded field.
Chloroform can be given off in small amounts by a decomposing body. One prosecution expert described the levels of the substance in the trunk of Anthony's white Pontiac Sunfire as "shockingly high." Several witnesses also testified for the state about odors that they said smelled like the unmistakable scent of human decomposition.
Furton did not provide specific alternative explanations for the presence of odors or chloroform in his initial report or in his interview with prosecutors, Ashton complained.
"Once again we are in the position of experts having supplemented their opinions without notifying the state," Ashton said.
Attorneys indicated to Perry they had reached an agreement on Furton, but did not say whether the agreement involved his testifying.
Perry hinted at his frustration Saturday.
"You would think this would have grown old by now, but I guess some things never change," he said.
Saturday marked the end of the fifth week of testimony in the trial, which began with opening statements on May 24.
Perry originally told jurors, who are being housed in an Orlando hotel shielded from media coverage of the trial, that the trial could last six to eight weeks.
On Friday -- before Saturday's delay -- Baez said he expected the defense to rest on Wednesday or possibly Thursday. That would leave room for a rebuttal case from the prosecution and closing statements before the Independence Day holiday.
It is unclear how Saturday's delay will affect those plans.
Caylee was not reported missing to police until July 15, 2008, when Casey Anthony's mother, Cindy Anthony, tracked down her daughter and demanded answers regarding Caylee's whereabouts. Prosecution witnesses described Anthony's behavior in the month after Caylee was last seen as nonchalant, testifying that she spent time with her boyfriend, went shopping and to nightclubs -- but told no one her daughter was missing.
Baez said in his opening statement that Anthony behaved as she did because years of sexual abuse by her father had conditioned her to conceal the truth and hide her pain.
George Anthony has denied the claims that he abused his daughter or helped conceal his granddaughter's death.In Session's Michael Christian and Jean Casarez contributed to this report.
var cnnOmniPartner="TV-Nancy Grace"Watch Nancy Grace Monday through Sunday starting at 8 p.m. ET on HLN. For the latest from Nancy Grace click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment