ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Casey Anthony's defense team has been trying everything to tear apart the state's case in her murder trial, and on Wednesday, it said there's not enough evidence to prove Casey killed her daughter, Caylee Marie Anthony.
Wednesday marked day 36, including jury selection, of her trial. Court ended earlier than usual, but the defense still got through six witnesses.
Casey entered the courtroom just after 8:50 a.m., wearing a white and blue striped button-down shirt and dark pants. She had her hair pulled back in a long pony tail. George and Cindy Anthony were in the courtroom.
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The defense tried to tell jurors that the state had a lack of evidence. Initially, it seemed as though the defense was getting somewhere with a UCF forensic chemist, Dr. Michael Sigman, who testified about his early tests on the air of Casey Anthony's trunk.
But, yet again, it fell apart after prosecutor Jeff Ashton cross examined the chemist.
Sigman had worked with research scientist Dr. Arpad Vass at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for a decade. Vass found evidence of chloroform and human decomposition in Casey's trunk.
Dr. Sigman helped Vass do early, basic air tests on the trunk days after her arrest. Sigman told the jury what he found.
"Components you typically find in gasoline," Sigman said. "Chloroform."
Sigman also found compounds related to human decomposition, everything Dr. Vass found with more sophisticated testing.
"A gas tight syringe for pulling the air samples out of the car, and, um, we went there and pulled the air samples. We pulled one air sample that was approximately 1-liter of air and placed it in the large Tedlar bag that was designed to hold a liter of air, and we pulled 300 milliliters of air into a second, smaller Tedlar bag," said Sigman.
But it became worse for the defense when Dr. Sigman told Ashton he found all those same things still in the air of her trunk, even though the sources of those compounds had been removed.
"You were not aware that the trunk liner and the spare tire cover had been removed four days before? You did not know that?" asked Ashton.
"I did not know that," Sigman replied.
""That to me just undercut any reasonable doubt that the jury could even seize onto from this doctor's testimony," said WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer.
The defense also focused on evidence that was not found. Hair taken from Casey's clothes did not show signs of decomposition. There was no soil on Casey's shoes that matched soil from the scene near Suburban Drive.
But Ashton got FBI forensic geologist, Maureen Bottrell, to put that into perspective.
"The absence of soil is meaningless in determining someone's presence or lack of presence at a particular area," Ashton stated to Bottrell.
"That's correct," replied Bottrell.
"No further questions," said Ashton.
The defense also pointed out that a hair found near the remains was never identified. But Sheaffer said that fell flat too because it was found in a trash dump six months after Caylee's body was discarded there.
Bottrell was then excused and the defense called Madeline Montgomery, who is a forensic toxicologist for the FBI, as their next witness.
Montgomery examined a hair found with Caylee's remains. She told jurors she found no trace in the hair sample of a number of drugs, including ones that can have a sedative or knock-out effect.
Baez then asked, "What other meaningless tests do you do at the FBI?"
Montgomery responded, "I consider all my work meaningful."
During cross examination, Montgomery said hair is not the best way to test for drug exposure.
"Even if it had been positive, I wouldn't have been able to say when or how often the person was exposed," Montgomery said.
Court was dismissed until 8:30 a.m. on Thursday.
The state contends Casey used pieces of duct tape to suffocate her child. The defense says the toddler drowned in her grandparents' swimming pool.
Casey is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child and four counts of lying to law enforcement. She has pleaded not guilty and faces the death penalty if convicted.
Previous Stories: June 21, 2011: State: Casey May Have Used Inmate's Child Drowning Story June 20, 2011: Judge Perry Scolds Attorneys, Court Recessed Until Tuesday June 18, 2011: Casey Cries As Expert Talks About Caylee's Skull In Trial June 17, 2011: Casey Court Drama: Sparring Lawyers, Fighting Spectators June 16, 2011: Mistake, Objections Spark Fireworks In Casey Trial June 15, 2011: Defense Motion For Acquittal Denied In Casey Trial June 14, 2011: WFTV Duct Tape Video Used As Evidence In Casey Trial June 13, 2011: Prosecutors Almost Finished In Casey Murder Trial June 11, 2011: Crime Scene, Insect Experts Testify In Casey Trial Day 27 June 10, 2011: Casey Gets Angry, Cries As Caylee Autopsy Pics Shown June 09, 2011: Casey Becomes Sick During Testimony On Remains June 08, 2011: Expert: Casey Searched Neck-Breaking, Death On Web
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