Court started this morning with JP hearing the motion for mistrial, what was surprising to me was that at 8:30 Casey sat alone at the defense table, at 8:32 Finenll is on the phone to present the motion. 8:35, 8:40 Casey is still alone JP asks Casey if she wishes to speak without Baez present and she says yes, that she agrees with Finnell. This is the first time we have heard her speak in a long time. Baez & Mason don't arrive until about 8:45. I found that pretty surprising. JP reserves the mistrial motion, says he will rule on it prior to a verdict, "if we make it that far".
The defense parade continued today. First up was Cindy, Baez asked if she had ever been told about Lee going into Casey's room, she says no. There was alot of questions & the ladder being on the pool & when Cindy told the detectives. LDB is up for cross, big point here, Cindy says that when Casey says "Surprise, surprise" on the jail video she is referring to the media saying that Caylee drown. Baez was not happy about that one.
George is up next, I am not going to spend a long time on his testimony. He was up there a long time going back & forth with Baez. George broke down several times on the stand, Casey showed zero emotion. George confirms that he is 100% sure that Casey's car smelled like human decomp. He did tell the police that Caylee was missing & Casey must be lying, "Casey was the last person to see her. 1+1 makes 2" While he is saying this Casey is shaking her head no, she did this several times during his testimony. George says that Casey lived on the edge & took things as far as she could. George has to defend his actions things he says to Baez, at one point George says, "You are trying to take my joy away & I'm not going to let you." My heart went out to George. Baez keeps bringing up the media interview's & the motive behind them, to which George says was to bring attention to Caylee & other missing children. Baez asks about molesting Casey, George says No, he would never do anything like that to his daughter. Now Baez makes a big ol' mistake, he brings up George purchasing a gun & attempting suicide. The suicide portion brings about a big proffer so out goes the jury. During this we learn that Ashton is happy as a clam that Baez has brought this up. He is ready with the suicide note, etc etc. Ashton will be calling George back to the stand during rebuttal & will introduce the note at that time. I understand it to be a 6 page letter, that goes directly against the defense's claims. The funny thing, Baez tells JP "Well Ashton didn't object when I brought up the gun." JP says No, as Ashton kind of laughs. Ashton says no I was glad you opened the door. JP says, now he is gonna steam roll right through it. It is too late now for the defense to learn from any of their mistakes in this case & do any damage control, lets hope Baez doesn't try to argue a murder case again. So, the jury comes back they hear about the gun & the suicide letter, not in great detail. George also says that he did not speak to DC, the PI, about searching in the woods. Nothing here was that big of a deal, especially for the prosecution. Oh yea, there were some questions about the gas can, blah blah blah is how I feel about that. More of the defense trying to haze over the real issues/evidence. The next defense witness was Kronk's son (a mini Kronk)
MK (mini Kronk) had only began speaking to his father in 2008. He testified that Kronk told him in Nov. that he knew where Caylee's body was & that he had found a skull. MK says he didn't really give to much weight to Kronk's statement. Then come Dec. when he sees Kronk on the tv, his wife & mother reminded him about Kronk's statement. MK could not say what specific day in Nov. this conversation happened.
Kronk is then recalled Baez focused on inconsistencies in Kronk's statements to police. Mainly what exactly he did when he found the remains & telling the police about his previous calls. Kronk maintained all of his previous statements.
An officer and Det. Melich testified next.
I honestly did not expect the next witness to be allowed by JP. Dr. Sally Karioth, testified as an expert on grief & trauma. The first thing I noticed about Dr. K, is that her voice was very soothing, she came across very intelligent & sympathetic. Dr. K has been at FSU for 40 years. She has written two books, both of which I found to be out of print, & been included in numerous others. Ashton did not want Dr. K to testify or to be considered an expert, so he wasn't very nice to her. Things learned from her: In most cases, if risky behavior caused the death of a child, that behavior will continue & may even increase. Dorothy gives the direct, she gives Casey's past in a hypothetical. Here are some of the items that Dorothy said about this hypothetical family, dad blamed daughters obvious pregnancy on daughters athletics, Mom says is result of a sedentary job, Bro. feels left out as he sees the obvious pregnancy but no one is acknowledging it, daughter waits until 8 months to tell mom she is pregnant, no one asks who the father is until after baby is born, dad picks up daughters car, says it smells of decomp but doesn't call police or the daughter. Dorothy asks Dr. K, how all these things would affect grief. Dr. K says it would be the result of a very shut off family, that if discussions did occur they would be strange to anyone outside the family. Dr. K says that the shopping, partying, tattoo- acting as if nothing happened is caused by the dynamic at home and can last for years. On cross Dr. K says that yes pretty much any emotion can be consistent with grief, but it would fall into positive or negative grief. Dr. K says that all she knew about the case was that it was about a young girl who had "lost" her daughter, she did not speak with Casey at all or read any reports. Following Dorothy's lead Ashton gives a hypothetical listing out all of Casey's lies. Dr. K says this would be someone in crisis who needs help. The behaviors that Ashton laid out is not typical of denial, is typical of "magical thinking". During the direct of Dr. K Casey openly cried, during the cross she looked angry. In my opinion, Dr. K's influence was not heavy on either side. I do think that with a listing of Casey's lies & Dr. K's opinion of someone in crisis who needs help being the last thing the jury heard for the day is going to be heavy on their minds.
After the jury is dismissed JP asks Baez when the defense should rest. Baez says that should be tomorrow. JP says the prosecution should have rebuttal witness' ready to testify tomorrow, with possible closing arguments on Saturday. He also tells them not to make any plans for Sun. or Mon. as it will be up to the jury if they work those days.
Nothing was mentioned today regarding Casey taking the stand. If she does not testify I think that will be due to whatever comes from her conversation with JP. I can't imagine that Casey's testimony could be of any help to her defense, I think it would be in her best interest to remain silent. I lean more towards her testifying. Casey's narcissistic personality is going to push her to show everyone what & why she did this. Look at the Mayo Clinic's definition of narcissistic personality disorder . One of the most shining examples of Casey's narcissism is Caylee's name. Caylee, a combination of Casey & Lee, Marie - Casey's own middle name.
Please remember all of my previous admonitions regarding this blog and what I post here. This is a personal blog, I am expressing my personal opinion. I have no intent of misrepresenting the facts of the case. What is contained here are not meant, nor intended to be slanderous. Please remember these admonitions regarding the content you find on my blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment