Day 5: Potential Casey Juror Accused Of Lying Dismissed

On day five of Casey Anthony's murder trial, defense attorneys dismissed a man on Friday from a pool of potential jurors after they claimed he misled them about a prior arrest. Casey's defense attorneys exercised their right to a peremptory challenge of a potential juror for the first time since jury selection began five days ago.

DAY 5: Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 CASEY WALKING IN: Raw Video | See Images VIDEO REPORT: Day 5 Of Jury Selection INSIDE COURTROOM: Casey, Judge, Attorneys FOR POTENTIAL JURORS: Questions | Instructions READ: Message To Potential Jurors From Judge

The defense's target was Juror No. 1011, a rock 'n roll memorabilia collector who had worked as a groundskeeper for local colleges. The potential juror was arrested for a DUI in 2006 but had failed to mention the arrest on a jury form that asked about his criminal history.

"I didn't know if that made me a criminal or not," the potential juror said. "Am I criminal under that?"

"Is that a photo of you sir?" Baez asked.

Baez flashed a mug shot of the potential juror to the courtroom camera and accused the juror of lying about never having been accused of a crime, by not revealing his DUI arrest.

"I thought about it, but I didn't know it was a misdemeanor," he said.

Defense attorney Jose Baez said the oversight suggested a lack of truthfulness by the potential juror. Circuit Judge Belvin Perry refused defense attorneys' request to dismiss the juror for cause, saying that could only be done because of bias, prejudice, not understanding English or because of a previous experience that made it difficult to render an impartial decision.

"The motion for cause is denied. Do you care to use your peremptory challenge?" Perry asked Baez.

The defense then opted to use one of their 10 peremptory challenges to dismiss the man, anyway. WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said Perry was right.

"It was obvious that that potential juror did not understand the question. It wasn't a matter of him lying to try to get on the jury," Sheaffer said.

Casey Anthony, 25, is charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee Anthony and has pleaded not guilty. She claims a babysitter kidnapped Caylee.

Jury selection was moved out of Orlando, where the trial will take place, because of pretrial publicity. Jurors from Pinellas County on Florida's Gulf Coast will be sequestered in Orlando during the length of the trial, which could last six to eight weeks.

Perry has limited each side to 30 minutes in questioning each prospective juror.

"We will get to that number out of this panel tonight," said Perry.

The first African-American man in this phase was called and made it through, even though he said he was against the death penalty. WFTV jury expert Randy Fisher said he is the best juror, so far, for the defense.

"He paused before he answered and I really liked that. I was skeptical of some of them who were asked to search their souls and it took all of half a second," Fisher said.

The state didn't eliminate him, even though he's against the death penalty, to cut off the defense argument that there isn't enough minority representation in the group. The state did try to eliminate an African-American woman who said she couldn't judge people, but Judge Perry didn't allow it.

Casey's parents, Cindy and George Anthony, were not there and have not attended all week. WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer believes Caylee's grandparents are still hurting over Casey's plan to blame them.

"George and Cindy have to be feeling betrayed and it's hard to face that betrayal, especially when it's your own daughter," Sheaffer said.

Sheaffer says, even in situations like this, when the relatives are not only related to the victim but also to the defendant, it's highly unusual for no one to show up for jury selection to honor the memory of the victim.

All was quiet at the Anthonys' home on Friday, although WFTV saw a car drive up. Their lawyer told WFTV that they still support Casey, but they don't want to taint the jury pool or talk to reporters.

Casey's lawyers said she is the victim of sexual, verbal and emotional abuse, and accuses her parents of using her as a scapegoat for their problems. Jurors have only been asked whether they'd consider abuse at sentencing.

Fisher says they might not be as focused on that issue as the defense is.

"I don't think that those particular questions are having a strong impact, but the defense might be planting seeds that will grow later," Fisher said.

At this point, there are eight possible jurors that could be seated with more to be questioned Saturday.

Meanwhile, WFTV found out the Anthony's attorney plans to file suit against their former lawyer, Brad Conway, for breaking attorney-client privilege and talking publicly about the case. However, Conway told WFTV on Friday that he's never discussed anything privileged.

Previous Stories: May 12, 2011: Defense Lists Reasons Why Casey Shouldn't Get Death May 11, 2011: Eventful Day 3: Casey Cries, Has Pain, Potential Juror Fined May 10, 2011: 49 Potential Jurors Dismissed On Day 2 Of Casey Trial May 9, 2011: Casey Rejects Plea Deal On Day 1 Of Jury Selection May 8, 2011: Casey Anthony Jury Selection To Begin Monday May 8, 2011: Report: Casey’s Jury Could Be From Pinellas County May 7, 2011: Casey Anthony Rejects Mom's Request For Visit May 6, 2011: EXCLUSIVE: WFTV Polls Potential Jurors In Casey Case May 6, 2011: Appeals Court Returns Opinion, Casey Trial Won't Be Delayed May 6, 2011: Casey's Parents Will Be Allowed In Court For Trial May 6, 2011: Casey's Defense Loses Jury Selection Consultant