Updated: 6:27 p.m. Friday, July 24, 2009 | Posted: 4:54 p.m. Thursday, July 23, 2009
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. —
George and Cindy Anthony were ordered to be in court Friday afternoon, but their attorney, Brad Conway, managed to put the brakes on that just before the hearing.
"Everything is done. Everything is settled," Conway said Friday morning.
BRAD CONWAY: Before, After Meeting With JudgeVIDEO REPORT: Hearing Cancelled, Documents Turned Over
Judge Stan Strickland had scheduled the hearing for 1:30pm. Judge Strickland wanted to know why he shouldn't hold the Anthonys in contempt of court because the State Attorney's Office requested information stored on the family's computer earlier this month, but it was never turned over.
Friday morning, Conway hand-delivered what could be evidence in the case against Casey.
"Why is it taking so long for these documents to be turned over the attorney's office?" WFTV reporter Mark Boyle asked.
"There's not an issue there. Just sometimes it takes time to get things together," Conway replied.
However, Conway blamed the Anthonys' broken computer.
"Whose computer were the documents stored on?" Boyle asked.
"Mark, I'm not going to comment on that right now," Conway replied.
Conway would not give any details about what was in the documents. The public will not find out what's in them until the prosecution makes it part of the public record.
Meanwhile, Casey Anthony remains behind bars at the Orange County jail charged with killing her daughter, Caylee Marie Anthony. Casey Anthony's trial date was originally set for October, but it was recently rescheduled for January 21.
PROSECUTORS FILE MOTION FOR TRANSCRIPT IN CASEY CASE
Prosecutors in the case against Casey Anthony say they want transcripts. They want a judge to order a transcript from part of a hearing in March (read motion).
READ: Motion For TranscriptionVIDEO REPORT: New Motion FiledFOLLOW US! Casey Coverage On Twitter
During that hearing, prosecutors questioned who was paying for Casey's defense and whether her attorney was involved in a conflict of interest.
According to the Ninth Circuit Court, on Thursday the court reporter filed an Affidavit stating that the sidebar conference at the end of the hearing on March 25, 2009 was held off the record. Therefore, no transcript is available of that portion of the hearing. The in-camera was on the record, but is sealed.
Prosecutors want to use the transcript for Casey's murder trial in 2010. Casey Anthony is in the Orange County jail accused of killing her daughter Caylee Anthony.
DOCUMENT: CASEY ANTHONY PAID BACK STOLEN MONEY
In the case against Casey Anthony, the defense team filed paperwork that says the money Casey took from her friend, Amy Huizenga, was paid back.
READ LETTER: Bank Of America To Jose BaezVIDEO REPORT: Casey Pays Back Money
The letter from Bank of America says Jose Baez's office turned over a money order for more than $650. Checks that were allegedly stolen from Amy Huizenga came from Bank of America.
Despite the payment, Casey will still stand trial for check fraud. No trial date has been set.
Casey Anthony is in the Orange County jail accused of murdering her daughter, Caylee Marie Anthony.
NEW MOTIONS FILED IN CASEY ANTHONY CASE
Late Thursday afternoon, the defense in the case against Casey Anthony filed motions to delay Casey's check fraud trial and to keep Leonard Padilla from talking about their conversations while he was involved in Casey's case.
READ MOTIONS RELEASED 7/16 » DELAY TRIAL:Casey's Reponse | Exhibits | Memorandum » BAR TESTIMONY:Motion | Brief | Exhibits - Privacy Agreement » TIM MILLER:Motion | Materiality | Appendices | Memorandum
VIDEO REPORT: Defense Team Files New Motions
The defense also received 800 pages of documents, much of which focused on Casey's ex-fiancé, Jesse Grund. The documents included Grund's personnel file from the Orlando Police Department and lab reports on evidence from Casey's car.
Those documents have not yet been released to the public.
Casey Anthony is accused of killing her young daughter Caylee and dumping her remains near the Anthony family home.
DEATH OF CAYLEE ANTHONY STILL CAPTIVATES YEAR LATER
It's easy to forget 2-year-old Florida toddler Caylee Anthony was slain after all the plot twists and turns in her story.
There are the grandparents, George and Cindy. The phantom baby sitter. The bounty hunter. The meter reader.
CAYLEE MEMORIAL: See Images | Watch VideoPARTY GIRL PICS: Casey Partying With FriendsFOLLOW US! Casey Coverage On Twitter
At the center of it all is Caylee's mother, Casey Anthony, the petite 23-year-old charged in her daughter's death. It's been one year since the toddler was reported missing, and while her remains were found six months ago, authorities still don't know exactly how she died.
That's one of the many unknowns that has kept the public's interest over the last year. Viewers tune in to the cable television news show hosted by Nancy Grace, who dubbed Casey the "Tot Mom," to find out about every development. People chat on parenting Web sites about her chances of a fair trial and debate over her innocence or guilt has filled talk radio.
The story started as a mystery, centered on finding out what happened to Caylee. But soon, Casey Anthony became the chief suspect and the image of a sympathetic mother morphed into that of a party-loving club-hopper. The stories she told detectives and her parents about where she worked and where she had dropped off Caylee with a baby sitter were lies, police said.
It turned out Caylee had been missing more than a month before Casey Anthony told her family. After her arrest, she told police she had been conducting her own investigation into her daughter's whereabouts.
George and Cindy Anthony, the grandparents, were used to seeing the little girl almost every day. But beginning about mid-June 2008, Casey and Caylee just weren't around.
When the grandparents inquired, Casey said she was traveling with Caylee around central Florida. Cindy began to worry, though, and called her daughter frequently, demanding to know Caylee's whereabouts. There were always excuses: Caylee was with the baby sitter or at the beach with friends.
In mid-July, George and Cindy picked up their daughter's car from a towing lot and noticed a stench from the trunk. Cindy Anthony confronted her daughter, who initially said Caylee was with the phantom baby sitter. Then, Casey finally admitted the little girl had been missing for a month.
"There's something wrong," Cindy Anthony said in a 911 call. "I found my daughter's car today and it smelled like there's been a dead body in the damn car."
Casey Anthony was arrested the next day on charges of child neglect and providing false information to authorities. She continued to tell law enforcement that Caylee had been left with a baby sitter, whom she identified as Zenaida Gonzalez.
That's when the story switched from a private drama of domestic tensions between parents and a daughter to a very public tale. Reporters camped outside the Anthony home for weeks and protesters with "Baby Killer" signs picketed their street.
Casey Anthony maintained her innocence throughout.
"I'm not in control of this because I don't know what the hell is going on," she tearfully told her parents during a jailhouse visit last summer. "My entire life has been taken from me. Everything has been taken from me."
Leonard Padilla, a cowboy-hat-wearing, California-based bounty hunter became part of the narrative by posting her bond last year. He thought having her out of jail would aid in finding Caylee, but he turned on her when she proved uncooperative. He made frequent appearances on television talk shows in the following months, offering unflattering commentary.
Meanwhile, hundreds of volunteers scoured woods in south Orlando in search of clues to Caylee's disappearance.
In mid-October, a grand jury indicted Anthony on first-degree murder charges, even though Caylee's remains hadn't been found. She has been in jail ever since.
Prosecutors didn't have the toddler's remains until meter reader Roy Kronk became involved. In August, Kronk thought he had seen a bag in the woods near a road where he had stopped to take a break. He called authorities three times over the next three days, but when they finally came, they found nothing.
It wasn't until December, when Kronk returned to the woods, that he discovered a bag with Caylee's remains inside. Detectives said residue of a heart-shaped sticker was found on duct tape over the mouth of her skull.
Along the way, there have been other subplots. A despondent George Anthony attempted suicide in a Daytona Beach motel room in January and then was committed to a hospital for several days.
A spokesman for the Anthony family was dismissed after the family accused him of taking payments for booking their television appearances. Another spokesman who never showed his face to reporters turned out to be a fictitious creation of the public relations firm used by Casey Anthony's attorney.
As much as Casey Anthony's story has transfixed viewers, Lezlie Laws, a professor of nonfiction writing at Rollins College in suburban Orlando, worries that the discourse about the case hasn't been constructive.
"What is it about us as a society that would cultivate a human being that would be capable of doing that? What are we doing wrong? Where do we need to put our time, attention, money and social services?" she said.
"I don't see that being raised," Laws said. "Instead, it's just a sensational, spilled guts on the concrete, kind of 'Look at this, isn't this gross?' story."
Previous Stories: July 22, 2009: Prosecutors File Motion For Transcript In Casey Case July 22, 2009: Document: Casey Anthony Paid Back Stolen Money July 17, 2009: New Motions Filed In Casey Anthony Case July 15, 2009: Death Of Caylee Anthony Still Captivates Year Later July 7, 2009: Casey Anthony October Trial Date Cancelled June 30, 2009: Kronk's Request To Receive More Tax Dollars Approved June 29, 2009: Taxpayers May Pay More Money For Kronk's Legal Fees June 25, 2009: Prosecutors Want Photos Of Casey Anthony's Tattoo June 22, 2009: Anthonys' Attorney Comments On Autopsy Reaction June 19, 2009: Autopsy Released Despite Anthonys' Efforts To Block June 19, 2009: Judge Allows Release Of Caylee Autopsy Results June 17, 2009: Judge Seals Jailhouse Video Of Casey Anthony June 17, 2009: Crowd Gathers To Remember Caylee At Memorial June 16, 2009: Anthonys Talk On Anniversary Of Caylee's Disappearance June 16, 2009: One Year Later: The Case Against Casey June 16, 2009: Anthonys' Attorney Appears On GMA