Casey Anthony Trial Update: Closing arguments to start Sunday
(CBS/WKMG/AP) ORLANDO, Fla. - A court spokeswoman announced Friday afternoon that closing arguments in the Casey Anthony murder trial will begin on Sunday, July 3.
Pictures: Casey and Caylee Anthony, Personal Photos
The state and defense attorneys asked for Saturday off to prepare closing arguments, which will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, reports CBS affiliate WKMG.Judge Belvin Perry issued a court order Friday afternoon detailing the rules for closing arguments.
The arguments are expected to last all day Sunday, and jury deliberations could begin as early as Sunday evening, reports the station.
Earlier on Friday, Judge Perry warned attorneys on both sides that if necessary, he would hold court through the 4th of July weekend and beyond, after the defense claimed they needed time to depose the state's rebuttal witnesses causing Perry to call for an indefinite recess.
The prosecution's rebuttal resumed Friday afternoon as they called John Camperlengo, the chief compliance officer for Gentiva Health Service, the company Cindy Anthony worked for in 2008.
He was called to the stand to attack Cindy Anthony's earlier testimony, in which she admitted that it was her not Casey Anthony who made the computer searches for "chloroform" on the family computer months before her 2-year-old granddaughter, Caylee, first disappeared.
In Camperlengo's records Cindy Anthony was at work in her office at the time the search for "chloroform" took place on March 17.
The records showed Cindy Anthony logged in to her work desktop computer the mornings of March 17 and 21 and logged out each day after 5 p.m, the station reports.
The prosecution contends that Casey Anthony killed Caylee in June 2008 by covering her mouth with duct tape and dumping her body in the woods near her parents' home, then resumed her life of partying and shopping.
The defense claimed in its opening statement that Caylee drowned and that George Anthony, Casey's father, helped cover up the death by making it look like a homicide and dumping the body near their home, where it was found by a meter reader six months later.
Anthony, 25, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Caylee's death and could get the death penalty if convicted of that charge.
The Casey Anthony case was recently reported on by "48 Hours Mystery."