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WFTV Obtains State Witness List In Casey Anthony Case

Posted: 1:18 pm EST November 18, 2008Updated: 6:12 pm EST November 18, 2008

From mom and dad to an ex-lover and ex-best friend, Eyewitness News obtained the new list of witnesses (see list) the defense plans to call in the case against Casey.

Eyewitness News first reported that Casey Anthony's own defense attorney, Jose Baez, was on the state prosecutor's witness list for her first-degree murder trial. It turned out that the state had erred in including him.


WITNESS LIST: See Complete List Of State Witnesses
CAYLEE DIVER: Resigned As Deputy Over Lies
TEAM COVERAGE: Casey Trial Witness List Obtained
KID FINDERS CONFRONTATION: Images | Raw Video
JOHN MORGAN: Plans To Interview Casey
MESSAGE BOARD: Case Against Casey Anthony
ARCHIVE: Previous Reports On Anthony Case

The State Attorney's Office released the following statement on Tuesday afternoon: "Yesterday the State filed a witness list with the Orange County Clerk of Courts for the above case. The name Jose Baez was included on that witness list in error. After removing his name, the amended witness list will again be placed on file with the clerk."

There are three people from Hopespring Drive on the witness list, George and Cindy Anthony, of course, but also their neighbor, Brian Burner. He's the man Casey borrowed a shovel from. The three are among 83 witnesses the state wants to call to the stand when Casey Anthony goes to trial for first-degree murder.

On that list are many you might expect, Lee, George and Cindy Anthony, neighbor Brian Burner, whose shovel Casey borrowed around the time Caylee disappeared. The Anthony's spokesperson had no comment to Eyewitness News when asked Tuesday about being named and Brian Burner was not home.

Also named are a slew of Casey's friends, including ex-fiance Jesse Grund, former friend Amy Huizenga, whose checking account was allegedly cleaned out by Casey, and Zenaida Gonzalez, the nanny that filed a law suit.

The state has also subpoenaed transcripts from the Nancy Grace Show.


HEARING RESET FOR ANTHONY MOTIONS

A hearing on a prosecutor's request for a gag order in the Casey Anthony case has been reset. On November 25 an Orange County Circuit judge will also hear requests from the defense to reveal evidence and from the Orlando Sentinel, which opposes the gag order in the first-degree murder case against 22-year-old Casey Anthony (read all motions).


CAYLEE-DIVER RESIGNED AS DEPUTY OVER LIES

Eyewitness News has uncovered more dirt on someone involved in the case against Casey Anthony. Todd Bosinski was the lead scuba diver who worked with bounty hunter Leonard Padilla to try to find Caylee's body.

Eyewitness News found out Bosinski was recently asked to resign from the Orange County sheriff's office, because he had lied to his captain when he said he was a Green Beret in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Worse yet for Bosinski, who is the owner of Blackwater Divers, the sheriff's captain he lied to in February 2008 is an Army colonel who apparently sensed right away that Bosinski was full of it.

Blackwater Divers led the search last week in the Little Econ River. Bosinski gave Eyewitness News a hard time when we asked to see the bag of what he said were bones that he had pulled from the river that he said could be Caylee Anthony's bones. Sheriff's and FBI investigators had already dismissed them as nothing more than rocks from the river bed.

Bosinski gave the impression he had credibility as an investigator by telling California bounty hunter Leonard Padilla that he was a former Orange County deputy. But Eyewitness News has learned he's a former deputy because, while he was still a trainee, he lied to his captain, Ralph Groover.

Capt. Groover's memo obtained by Eyewitness News (read memo) says Bosinski lied on February 18, 2008, that he had served in Iraq and Afghanistan as a Special Forces medic with the 4th Special Forces group. Nine days later, Capt. Groover asked Bosinski to confirm that, but Groover's memo says, at that point, Bosinski said it was all "bulls***" and that none of it was true.

Bosinski resigned a half hour later.

Bosinski told Eyewitness News over the phone Tuesday that the memo is false and that he quit the sheriff's office because you had to be in the right clique to get ahead. He would not talk on camera.


KID FINDERS FOUNDER GETS PHYSICAL

He's been arrested twice, once for assault and once for impersonating a police officer, and he's the man Caylee Anthony's grandparents are trusting to help find their granddaughter.

Dennis Milstead runs the so-called Kid Finders Network, but Eyewitness News uncovered serious problems with his criminal past and his not-for profit group, including the fact Kid Finders has never found anybody.

Still, the organization is out every day, collecting donations using jars with Caylee's picture on them. Even the Palm Beach County sheriff's sergeant who helps run their Crime Stoppers operation says Orange County deputies have been warned about Milstead.

When Eyewitness News confronted Milstead about his criminal past, he got very quiet and then he grabbed WFTV reporter Kathi Belich's microphone and pushed the camera while WFTV photographer Adam Liberatore was holding on to it (images | video).

Milstead's pickup truck had a "Gotcha" emblem on the side of it instead of the Kid Finders emblem he has now. West Palm Beach police say he flashed phony blue lights and claimed he was a law enforcement officer. He pled his felony down to a misdemeanor and seven months later another arrest for assault.

Eyewitness News has also learned that the president of Crime Stoppers in south Florida had a restraining order against Milstead after he allegedly tried to connive a 90-percent cut of any donations he solicited for the group. At the time, Milstead was operating a business called Gotcha Billboards, but he was reportedly representing himself as an employee of the non-profit Crime Stoppers.

Milstead's Kid Finders Network mentions its intentions to raise funds a number of times, mainly so it says it can build more billboards to report on missing children. Its list of accomplishments does not include finding any missing children.

Eyewitness News obtained Kid Finders Network's tax return for its first year in operation, 2006. It shows the organization borrowed $4,800 from someone to get started. It's listed as an asset and a debt. Kid Finders' 2007 return has not yet been submitted.

Fifteen minutes after Eyewitness News confronted them, Kid Finders packed up their posters and their donation cup and they left.


JOHN MORGAN TO QUESTION CASEY ANTHONY

It seems everyone who gets their hands on the Casey Anthony case ends up either fired or disgraced. Last week, Hollywood spokesman Larry Garrison was fired for taking money from a TV network. Then, bounty hunter Leonard Padilla was asked to take a lie detector test after he set off a false alarm in the search for Caylee's body.

Then there's mystery public relations man Todd Black. He slipped up on national TV and acknowledged Caylee is dead.

Casey's lawyer, Jose Baez, has been criticized by other lawyers for making mistakes. High-profile Orlando attorney John Morgan told Eyewitness News on Monday he's dealing with one of those mistakes now (watch full interview).

Eyewitness News broke the story last week when Casey's defense team filed a civil countersuit against a woman named Zenaida Gonzalez (read report | read lawsuit). Casey's attorney told Eyewitness News he wants money for attorney's fees.

Legal experts say, if Casey files a countersuit, that means she will have to take the stand and that could be used against her in the criminal case. Morgan says he is surprised by the recent counterclaim Casey Anthony's attorney filed last week.

Gonzalez filed a defamation lawsuit after Casey Anthony named her as the babysitter who took Caylee. Anthony is now seeking damages, a move that will put Anthony on the stand and could hurt her criminal case down the road.

"I think they are putting their client in a position they may be sorry later," Morgan told Eyewitness News.

Anthony claims Gonzalez is not the Zenaida Gonzalez she was talking about and says the suit is frivolous.

"When you are fingered as someone who has murdered or kidnapped a child and we can connect the dots, I don't think anyone in America thinks that's frivolous," Morgan said.

In the claim, Anthony's attorney asks for damages and legal fees. Morgan says there are deficiencies, because the motion does not state a reason why Anthony should get any money.

"Zenaida thinks this is more insult to injury," Morgan said.

In fact, legal experts told Eyewitness News the motion that Anthony's attorney filed is not even a countersuit, but really a motion to dismiss.

"I don't think I ever read anything like it in my 25 years of practice," Morgan said.

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