Casey Anthony Trial Update: Convicted kidnapper Vasco Thompson added to defense witness list
(CBS/WKMG/AP) ORLANDO, Fla. - The Casey Anthony defense team revealed late in the day Thursday that they want to make a last-minute addition to their witness list: Vasco Thompson, a man convicted of kidnapping.
Pictures: Casey and Caylee Anthony, Personal Photos
Defense attorneys say they believe Thompson had contact with Anthony's father days before Caylee was reported missing.
Thompson, who currently lives in Orlando, had unexplained communication with George Anthony, according to Anthony's attorneys, reports CBS affiliate WKMG.
Defense attorneys say there were four communications on July 14, 2008, a day before the Anthony family learned that Casey Anthony's car was towed from a parking lot. Multiple witnesses have testified that the car reeked of the smell of death.
It's not known who contacted whom or if Thompson and George Anthony talked to each other, the station reports.
In 1987, Thompson pleaded no contest to kidnapping and was sentenced to prison, according to jail records. He was released in 2004, reports the station.
Pictures: Casey and Caylee Anthony, Personal Photos
At a short news conference outside the courthouse during a recess in the trial, Thompson told reporters he doesn't know George Anthony, and "the phone number they got in question, I didn't have the phone number till February of '09." In other words, months after Caylee disappeared and 2 months after her remains were found.
"I don't know why they got me involved in this mess," Thompson said.
His attorney Matt Morgan says they're trying to get phone records to prove that Thompson's claim is true. As to why defense attorney Jose Baez would claim that Thompson and George Anthony were in cahoots, he says "I think it's [Baez's] last really bad faith attempt to create a scapegoat to create reasonable doubt right before the jury deliberates."
Pictures: Casey and Caylee Anthony, Personal Photos
He also says Thompson's kidnapping conviction was really a blowup of a "5-minute domestic dispute," but that Thompson could not afford and did not receive adequate representation at the time of his arrest.
Mark Lippman, the attorney representing the Anthony family, has said George Anthony does not know Thompson and has never heard of his name. Lippman issued a statement saying that his client does not recall communicating with Thompson in any way, according to WKMG.
Anthony, 25, is charged with first-degree murder in the death Caylee and has pleaded not guilty.
The state says Caylee was suffocated by her mother with duct tape. The defense contends Caylee drowned in her grandparents' swimming pool. Caylee's skeletal remains were found in December 2008.
Anthony could face the death penalty if convicted.
Additional reporting by Peter King.
The Casey Anthony case was recently reported on by "48 Hours Mystery."