Casey Anthony Trial Update: Defense says it will rest its case Thursday
(CBS/WKMG/AP) ORLANDO, Fla. - Casey Anthony's defense team says it plans to rest its case Thursday, and the judge said that could pave the way for closing arguments Saturday in the first-degree murder trial of the Orlando mother, according to CBS affiliate WKMG.
Pictures: Casey and Caylee Anthony, Personal Photos
The defense proceeded Wednesday with a strategy of painting a portrait of the Anthony's as a dysfunctional family, calling Casey Anthony's parents to the stand for a third time during their daughter's capital murder trial for the death of 2-year-old Caylee Anthony - but it may ultimately backfire on them.
Cindy Anthony, Casey's mother, was the first witness called Wednesday, and she was again questioned about allegations that her son, Lee, had an inappropriate relationship with his sister, a line of questioning which prompted an objection from the prosecution, according to CBS affiliate WKMG.
After a sidebar, Judge Belvin Perry sustained the objection and the defense asked a few more questions before releasing Cindy from the stand once again.
The defense then called George Anthony, Casey's father, to grill him once more about the abuse allegations made by Casey Anthony against him. Defense attorneys, as they aim to portray the Anthony family as dysfunctional, say Caylee drowned in her grandparents' backyard pool and that Casey's father, George, disposed of the body.
But when they raised the subject of a suicide attempt by George Anthony they very well may have shot themselves in the foot.
After lead defense attorney Jose Baez asked George Anthony about his January 2009 suicide attempt, the prosecution asked about a gun Anthony bought five months before that, prompting the defense to object and Judge Perry to send the jury out of the room.
With the jury out of earshot, George Anthony further explained that he planned to use the gun to try to force his daughter's friends to tell him what happened to Caylee, and said that he wrote in his suicide note about "unanswered questions" and that he chose to kill himself because "I needed at that time to go be with Caylee because I knew I failed her."
Prosecutor Jeff Ashton argued that the statements are valid for the jury because they directly rebutted the defense's drowning theory, since the note showed George Anthony did not know what happened to Caylee, and the note did not mention molesting Casey when she was young, as Baez alleged in his opening statement.
In agreeing to allow the testimony for the jury, Judge Belvin said what many were likely thinking: "It looks to me like someone opened the door and someone is trying to walk through it."
Late in the day, Casey Anthony's defense team seemed to be pointing to the meter reader as the murder suspect in Caylee's death, calling him to the stand for the second time.
Roy Kronk, the former Orange County, Fla. meter reader who discovered the child's remains, was asked by the defense why he changed his story about finding a skull in a bag. Kronk said he was "overwhelmed" by all the police activity.
In earlier testimony Kronk said he never touched the skull but Baez reminded him of a statement he apparently made to the contrary, asking, "Was the first time you mentioned anything about sticking the meter reader in the eye socket July 30, 2010?"
Kronk replied that he had been "overwhelmed" by the police presence and attention and that "if I omitted that statement, it wasn't done intentionally it was just, once again, helicopters flying around me and just really in an overwhelmed type of a state at that time, sir."
Casey Anthony, 23, is on trial for first-degree murder in the death of her daughter, Caylee. If convicted, Anthony could face the death penalty.
The Casey Anthony case was recently reported on by "48 Hours Mystery."