ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The man who found Caylee Anthony's body in the woods is back to being a hero in the case. It looks like the defense abandoned its claims that Roy Kronk should be a suspect instead.
More than a year ago, Casey Anthony's defense team attacked one of the key prosecution witnesses, Roy Kronk, the Orange County meter reader who found Caylee's remains in December 2008, but also reported finding them four months earlier in the same wooded area near the Anthonys' home.
Kronk's earlier report was not fully investigated by a patrol deputy, who was later fired. In an attempt to cast doubt on Kronk's damaging testimony, the defense said he should be a suspect and got people in Kronk's past to make disturbing accusations against him.
The defense had until December 23 to ask Chief Judge Belvin Perry to bring those accusations against Kronk into the trial so a jury could hear them. It didn't happen.
"The defense was floating balloons to see how this shift of focus from Casey to Kronk would play out. It did not play out well at all. It backfired," WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said.
Kronk has told WFTV he was horrified over the defense team's accusations and has denied being involved in her murder.
Thursday, Kronk's attorney said this validates what they've said all along, "that the Anthony defense's attacks on Roy were not only false, unfair and designed to deflect attention from Casey Anthony, but also a losing strategy."
CASEY'S DEFENSE WANTS SEX HISTORY TOSSED
Casey Anthony's defense team doesn't want the jury in her murder trial to hear about Casey's sexual relationships, her alleged lies, or allegations of a habit of stealing. Casey's lawyers will try to convince the judge to throw out that evidence at a hearing January 3.
Late Tuesday, Casey's lead defense attorney, Jose Baez, filed six motions asking Chief Judge Belvin Perry to exclude key evidence and testimony in the murder case. The attorneys said certain pieces of evidence are "irrelevant and scandalous."
CASEY MOTIONS 12/22: # 1 | # 2 | # 3 | # 4 | # 5 | # 6 VIDEO REPORT: New Motions In Casey Case
The evidence includes Casey's sexual history, and testimony from her ex-boyfriend Tony Lazzaro.
WFTV's legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said it will be a hard sell for the defense team.
"It's very important to show at the time that Caylee went missing that Casey's conduct was inconsistent with a mother whose child had gone missing," Sheaffer said.
Casey's parents have made statements stating that their daughter has a history of lying and stealing. But attorneys say Casey's character history has nothing to do with the allegations that she murdered her daughter, Caylee.
The defense also wants to keep the jury from hearing about a table knife found in Casey's car, and speculation that she almost told Texas Equusearch founder, Tim Miller, where Caylee's body was located.
Bill Sheaffer, says certain statements from Casey's parents about her past are irrelevant along with that table knife since Caylee wasn't stabbed.
Defense attorneys also don't want the jury to hear about the shovel Casey borrowed from a neighbor, after Caylee disappeared. The defense says the shovel has not been linked to a crime by her neighbor or forensic evidence.
"The shovel will probably come in. The reason being is that circumstantially that's consistent with the cadaver dogs having hit on Caylee's body in the back yard," Sheaffer said.
The defense is asking for prosecutors to respond to the motions and for a hearing.
If state prosecutors are forced to respond to the motions in writing and open court, the defense will learn more about their strategy in this case.
A hearing date to take up these motions has not been set.
CASEY'S DEFENSE COULD LOSE KEY WITNESS
Casey Anthony's defense team could be losing one of its biggest expert witnesses, whose testimony might have been able to free her, and it's all because of money problems in the case.
CASEY HEARING: Watch Full Video CASEY WALKS IN: Watch Raw Video | See Images IN COURT: Images Of Attorneys, Cindy, Others
Dr. Henry Lee is a forensic scientist who helped get O.J. Simpson acquitted. The defense team hoped he would do the same for Casey, but the state has not paid Lee to travel from Connecticut to Florida for the trial.
Prosecutors can't even get Dr. Lee to commit to a deposition, which would have to be done before he would testify at Casey's murder trial in May.
The defense team's most high-profile expert, Dr. Henry Lee, might be the next to go because of money issues. The defense claimed Dr. Lee helped investigators find hairs in Casey's car, and if Lee drops out of the case so could the defense claim that investigators weren't thorough enough.
"They may lose a very powerful tool to raise reasonable doubt in their case," WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said.
During a hearing Monday (watch hearing) , Chief Judge Belvin Perry questioned whether Lee, who is on the defense expert list at this point, is still a witness.
"Maybe Dr. Lee is not planning on testifying. There was some suggestion in his email that he might not, depending on the resolution of this issue," Judge Perry said.
Defense attorney Cheney Mason had said in court earlier this year that Lee would be willing to work for a crate of oranges. However, Lee has billed the state $7,500 for three days of work last summer and was looking to get reimbursed for his travel expenses, as well.
Dr. Lee is from Connecticut, but once Casey's defense team spent almost $200,000 on the case and she became indigent, the state has been paying her legal expenses. One of the state's rules is indigent clients must use Florida experts to minimize travel expenses.
JUDGE HOLDS OFF ON RULING ON CASEY WITNESS LIST
Casey Anthony was in court Monday afternoon where her lawyers fought to keep the witness list in the death penalty phase of the trial from being made public.
Casey walked in about 10 minutes before the 1:30pm scheduled hearing wearing a long-sleeve, button-down white collar shirt with blue pinstripes. A camera inside the courtroom showed her mother, Cindy, was in attendance.
Casey was writing notes to defense attorney Jose Baez. He looked at the courtroom camera, then jumped up and objected because it seemed to be focused on her notes.
"I would ask that the court instruct the photographer in the room not to photograph my client as she's passing notes," Baez said.
After Judge Belvin Perry instructed Baez on the proper way to handle his objection, he overruled and everyone went on, including Casey who continued writing him notes.
After about 15 minutes of each side stating their case, including an attorney with the Orlando Sentinel, Judge Belvin Perry said he was reserving ruling for a later time.
The defense previously failed to get Judge Perry to seal its death penalty witness list by order, so Monday Casey's lawyers tried to make convincing arguments to keep that list secret from the public.
The defense says some of Casey's relatives in Ohio and others, who have known her and her family since she was a child, don't want to help her stay off death row if she's convicted of murdering her daughter, Caylee Anthony, because they don't want to be contacted or covered by the media.
"We're worried that death penalty witnesses will be reluctant to come forward once it's time," defense attorney Ann Finnell argued Monday.
The defense says it has 50 witnesses who it plans to call on her behalf if she's convicted. Prosecutors have the list and will get the chance to depose the witnesses. But the defense wants to keep them and the information they would provide secret from the public, unless it becomes necessary if Casey's found guilty.
Prosecutors have listed what the law calls "aggravators," or legal reasons why Casey should be sentenced to death if she's convicted of murdering Caylee. The defense would argue what the law calls "mitigators," or legal reasons why she should not be sentenced to death, and would call its witnesses to underscore those arguments.
Mitigating circumstances could include: no significant criminal history, age, mental or emotional disturbance, extreme duress, or any other factors in the defendant's background that would mitigate against a death sentence.
Judge Perry did not say when he would rule on the defense's motion to keep the list secret. Casey waved to her mom when she entered and exited the courtroom.
Previous Stories: December 22, 2010: Casey's Defense Wants Sex History Tossed Out December 22, 2010: Casey's Defense Could Lose Key Witness December 20, 2010: Judge Holds Off On Ruling On Casey Witness List December 17, 2010: George's Alleged Mistress Reveals Details In Casey Case December 16, 2010: Casey Defense Coughs Up More Info On Expert Testimony December 10, 2010: Judge: Both Sides Must Give Expert Info In Casey Case
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