ORLANDO, Fla. — Casey Anthony was back in court Wednesday, less than seven weeks from the scheduled start of her murder trial. During three days of hearings, defense attorneys will try to get scientific evidence thrown out, claiming it's not reliable technology.
CASEY WALKS IN: See Images | Watch Raw Video FBI EXPERT TESTIMONY: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Pt. 5 BILL SHEAFFER: Analysis Of Day 1 Hearing K-9 SEARCH TESTIMONY: Yuri Melich | CSI | CSI # 2 DEPUTY'S K-9 SEARCH TESTIMONY: Part 1| Part 2 FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGIST: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 COURTROOM OUTBURST: Man Gets Kicked Out VIDEO REPORT: Evidence Hearing In Casey Case
Lawyers spent all day arguing over scientific evidence, including a hair that was found in the trunk of Casey's car and the cadaver dogs that searched for Caylee's body.
Casey Anthony walked into the court room around 9:00am Wednesday wearing a low-cut pink blouse and dark slacks, with her haired pulled back into a bun (images | video).
The first motion to be heard involved the defense request to have post-mortem banding evidence be excluded as unreliable (read it). Karen Korsberg Lowe, an FBI expert in forensics, was the first to testify on behalf of the prosecution, who believes the evidence should be admissible.
The defense was having a tough day in court. The defense started off trying to keep out its own confidential expert's research, which actually validates the hair evidence the defense wants thrown out as "junk science".
WFTV was the first to report the dark, parallel banding that can indicate hair came from a dead body early in the case. That banding was on one of Caylee's hairs found in Casey's trunk.
The defense tried to challenge the FBI investigators who found the banding. Defense attorney Dorothy Sims asked Lowe whether a hair from a live person could develop dark spots after exposure to water, soil or enzymes.
Lowe believes a hair in Casey's trunk came from a deceased body with DNA similarities to hair from Caylee's hairbrush.
"The characteristics present in this hair were consistent with post-mortem root banding, which I recorded as apparent decomposition," Lowe stated.
Sims' repeated improper questioning sparked a lecture from Chief Judge Belvin Perry.
"How many times do I have to tell you?" Perry asked Sims.
Prosecutor Jeff Ashton was told to stop interrupting her to object, but a stranger to the case caused the biggest outburst.
"The Lord has shown himself in Japan with the destruction!" said an unknown person in the courtroom.
"Out! Remove that person from the courtroom!" Perry said.
When the court returned from lunch, the next motion to be heard was on excluding evidence on K-9 searches (read motion) .
Prosecutor Linda Drane-Burdick's objection to a defense expert's testimony, that a cadaver dog handler could inadvertently cause the dog to alert on an area being searched for a body, brought a comment from defense attorney Jose Baez.
"I can't help it if Ms. Drane-Burdick didn't do her homework.
"He can insult me all day long, all he wants," Drane-Burdick replied.
About 30 minutes later, Baez wasn't so snarky when the prosecutor reduced the defense expert to merely an observer and a reader.
"You're not an expert in that area, but you've read a few articles," Drane-Burdick asked Dr. Scott Fairgrieve.
"Yes," Fairgrieve answered.
WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said from what he's heard in court Wednesday, the defense will lose that fight. The evidence that the jury will hear once Casey's murder trial starts in May is mounting.
The jury will hear all the lies Casey told to investigators and to her family right after Caylee was reported missing.
Sheaffer said he's never seen cadaver dog evidence thrown out, and defense arguments to keep out the hair evidence fell short.
"This witness will not let the lawyer confuse her or confuse the issues," Sheaffer said. Sheaffer said if the jury does hear all of the evidence against Casey, the defense will have to create not just doubt, but reasonable doubt in the minds of the jurors.
"The only person that could refute a lot of this circumstantial evidence is Casey Anthony herself but she comes with too much baggage," he said.
Casey is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her daughter, Caylee Anthony. Casey has pleaded not guilty and says a babysitter kidnapped Caylee.
The trial is set to start May 9.
Getting new science into trials is not new ground for lead prosecutor Jeff Ashton.
In 1987, he was the first prosecutor in the country to get a conviction on DNA evidence. Jimmy Lee Andrews was convicted of burglary and rape.
DEFENSE LISTS NEW WITNESSES
The defense has listed three new witnesses with only about a month and a half before Casey's murder trial starts.
One of them is prosecutor Ken Lewis. The defense claims he has evidence that could help Casey.
The other two are doctors the defense wants to testify about Casey's state of mind.
EQUUSEARCH VOLUNTEERS TO TESTIFY FOR PROSECUTION
Prosecutors are now calling on two EquuSearch volunteers, whose testimony the defense had been counting on. The defense claimed the volunteers searched the scene where Caylee's body was found in late summer 2008 and "found nothing," but now they'll testify for the prosecution.
Previous Stories: March 19, 2011: Judge Rules In Favor Of Prosecution In Casey Anthony Case March 18, 2011: Depositions Released Of Major Players In Casey Case March 17, 2011: Could Casey Anthony's Murder Trial Be Canceled? March 17, 2011: Casey Jury Expected To Cost Courts More Than $360,000 March 16, 2011: State Files Response Over Hair Evidence In Casey Case March 15, 2011: Document Raises Questions About Evidence In Casey Case March 14, 2011: Reports: FBI Wired Friend During Talks With Casey March 10, 2011: Casey's Defense Wants More Taxpayer Money March 8, 2011: Judge To Rule On Motions Next Week In Casey Case March 7, 2011: Final Arguments Made, But No Ruling At Casey Hearing
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