Judge Strickland Steps Down From Casey Case

Big changes are coming in the case against Casey Anthony. She's got a new lawyer and now she has a new judge, too. WFTV found out why conversations with a blogger cost Judge Stan Strickland the case.

STRICKLAND STEPS DOWN: Read His Order | Judge Appointed BILL SHEAFFER: Analysis Of Judge Stepping Down BLOGGER TALKS: Before Judge's Ruling | After Ruling REMOVE JUDGE MOTION: Fixed Version | Original RAW VIDEO: Blogger Talks To Judge On Oct. 16th VIDEO REPORT: Strickland Steps Down From Case

Judge Strickland has presided over Casey's case for almost two years, but Monday he gave it up. The news broke last Friday when Casey's new lawyer filed a motion asking Strickland to step down, because he complimented a crime blogger in court and called him during a hospital stay.

The defense says that blogger, who calls himself Marinade Dave, is biased against Casey.

Strickland made his decision quickly, stepping down Monday afternoon after granting the defense's motion asking him to do so.

“At its core, defense counsel’s motion accuses the undersigned of being a ‘self-aggrandizing media house’. Indeed. The irony is rich,” Strickland pointedly wrote in his order (read it).

In a separate order (read it), Judge Strickland confirmed his recusal and Administrative Circuit Judge Reginald Whitehead appointed Judge Belvin Perry Jr. in his place; Perry is highly-respected and known as a tough, no-nonsense judge.

“The defense will probably be held to a higher standard, and Judge Perry will probably be a little less patient with ineptitude,” said WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer (watch full interview).

Orange County Circuit Judge Stan Strickland has been on the bench for 15 years. He was chairman of the local Bar Association's professionalism committee a few years ago.

"It really doesn't put the defense in any better position than the defense was with Judge Strickland. Judge Perry is a very competent judge. He's tried a number of high-profile murder cases and is known as a judge's judge," Sheaffer said.

Some are wondering what Strickland was thinking when he called blogger "Marinade” Dave Knechel to the bench on October 16 (raw video), after a Casey Anthony hearing, and complimented his blog.

"I think it's a sad day, because Casey isn't going to have a nicer guy behind the bench. He was the fairest guy in the whole circuit," Knechel told WFTV Monday night (watch full interview).

Judge Strickland wrote in his order that he was looking at Internet and blog sites to research the extent and content of the publicity, because the defense was asking to move the trial to another county. He wrote that he noticed that Marinade Dave was actually defending Casey Anthony and her family against the bashing.

“This particular blogger/journalist admonished and frequently chastised those who came onto his blog for the sole purpose of bashing the defendant and her family. The Court thanked him for being both fair and civilized,” Strickland wrote in his order Monday. "The content of my words, and context (open court) both seemed unremarkable."

Sheaffer said Strickland had three options. Two of them meant stepping down.

Strickland granted the defense motion and recused himself. That was option one.

“The judge could deny the motion and, in the interest of justice and fairness, request that the case be reassigned to another judge,” Sheaffer said, explaining option two.

For option three, Sheaffer said, Strickland could have decided to keep the case and the defense could have appealed the issue, by a way of “writ of prohibition” to the 5th District Court of Appeals, which would bring the case to a halt for months.

"Since the undersigned has now been accused of bias and wrongdoing, potentially each denial of a defense motion will generate renewed allegations of bias," Strickland wrote. "The cumulative effect will be to elevate an otherwise meaningless situation into a genuine appellate issue."

WFTV tried to get comments from attorneys Jose Baez and J. Cheney Mason, but neither returned calls.

DEFENSE FILES NEW MOTIONS

Casey's defense has also filed four new motions arguing against the death penalty. Two motions argue Florida's death penalty is unconstitutional, because higher courts are unable to adequately reconsider a case and because women accused of crimes like this face different expectations from jurors.

Another motion argues prosecutors shouldn't be allowed to seek the death penalty, because they originally submitted paperwork saying they would not.

The last motion argues for the defense to keep any evidence for the penalty phase out of the trial itself.

WHAT'S NEXT IN THE CASE?

WFTV checked, and the State Attorney's Office gave another 160 pages of discovery to the defense. All WFTV knows is that it was based on documents they wanted after deposing an FBI agent.

At this time, there are no new hearings scheduled in Casey's case.

DEFENSE RE-FILES 'FIXED' MOTION

Less than a day after Eyewitness News discovered there was a problem with a motion in the Casey Anthony case, her defense team filed a new version (read it).

On the motion they had originally filed, seeking a disqualification of Judge Stan Strickland, at the bottom of the motion (read that version), Anthony's newest lawyer, J. Cheney Mason, notarized it himself; but an inspection of the notary seal shows Mason's certification as a notary expired in November 2009.

THE MOTION: Fixed Version | Original Version

WFTV talked to legal analyst Bill Sheaffer Sunday. He said the fact that it's expired could be seen as a defect and an opening for a judge to deny the motion; however, the defense would be free to re-file the motion with new notarization.

That's exactly what the defense did, with a new motion being filed Monday afternoon.

JAIL FRIEND: CASEY DESCRIBED USING CHLOROFORM

A young woman who was one of Casey Anthony's jailhouse friends spoke exclusively to WFTV on Friday in her first one-on-one interview. She said Casey described how she used to knock her daughter Caylee out with chloroform.

FRIEND TALKS: Part 1 | Part 2 | Images

“She would pour it on, like, a rag, like, a wash rag, and put it on the baby's face,” 21-year-old Maya Derkovic told WFTV reporter Kathi Belich.

Derkovic is a convicted killer. She said she met Casey in the Orange County jail. Derkovic reported details of her whispered conversations with Casey to detectives; the two used to talk in the jail through an air vent.

Maya Derkovic Interview BLURBY 041610 See Images From Interview Derkovic told WFTV detectives only got part of the story. She told WFTV brand new information during an exclusive interview Friday morning.

Derkovic turned herself in and got 30 years instead of the death penalty for murdering another teenager four years ago. Derkovic and others at the jail thought she would have the best chance of convincing Casey to come clean.

Derkovic talked with Kathi Belich at the Lowell Correctional Institution in Ocala for an hour and a half and she answered questions about her communication with accused killer Casey Anthony.

“She said she used to knock the baby out so she could go party and she would put her to sleep. When she'd come back, the baby would still be asleep,” Derkovic said.

She told investigators she didn't know how Casey knocked out Caylee, but Belich asked her.

“Did she say what she used to knock her out?” she asked.

“I can't pronounce it. Chlorofoam?” Derkovic said.

She said she doesn't know where Casey got it, but knows how she used it.

“She would pour it on, like, a rag, a washrag, and put it over the baby's face so she'd inhale it and that would knock her out,” Derkovic said.

Belich asked Derkovic why she hadn't mentioned chloroform to investigators.

“I just want to be clear. Do you remember telling them that?” Belich asked.

“Probably not. Because, like I said, I can barely pronounce the name. I know it's drugs,” she said.

Derkovic described Casey's resentment about the attention her mother shifted to Caylee, once she was born, as being like sibling rivalry.

“She would say, ‘What's so special about Caylee? Why didn't she care about me like that?’ Stuff like that,” Derkovic said.

Derkovic said Casey was jealous of the relationship between Cindy and Caylee.

“When Caylee was born, Caylee was the center of attention, ‘cause she was the baby. It's kind of like siblings. When the new one comes along, the older ones feel left out,” Derkovic said.

Derkovic said Casey was happy-go-lucky in jail and always smiling.

“Did she ever say she was upset in the jail and she couldn't look for Caylee or nobody was doing enough to find Caylee?” Belich asked. “Or anything like that?”

“No, Derkovic said.

Derkovic said she turned herself in because it was the right thing to do and tried to get Casey to open up about what happened to Caylee.

“Nothing I ever said to her really registered,” Derkovic said.

“But when you would do that, she didn't say, ‘I didn't do it’?” Belich asked.

“No, she didn't say that either. She wouldn't say, like, ‘It's not me. It's somebody else. I need to get out of here and find them.’ She never said that. Not once,” Derkovic said.

Derkovic said she called investigators around Thanksgiving last year, because “it was the right thing to do” concerning the murder of a child. She insists she has no intention of asking for time off her 30-year sentence.

Previous Stories: April 19, 2010: Casey's Defense Refiles Motion After Notary Error April 19, 2010: Motion Filed To Have Judge Removed In Casey Case April 19, 2010: Casey Defense Team May Have To Re-File Motion April 16, 2010: Jail Friend: Casey Described Using Chloroform April 12, 2010: Casey’s Pen Pal Tried To Sell Jail Letters April 9, 2010: Casey’s Pen Pal: “Praying For Her Every Day” April 8, 2010: Judge Grants Prosecution Request In Casey Case April 7, 2010: Casey’s Pen Pal Could Get Reduced Sentence April 7, 2010: Bombshell Revelation In Casey Case A Bust April 7, 2010: Inmate: Chloroform Was Used To Put Caylee To Sleep April 5, 2010: Motion Denied After Tempers Flare During Casey Hearing