ORANGE COUNTY, Fla.,None — An expert working for Casey Anthony's defense team was questioned under oath Tuesday. Dr. Tim Huntington is an entomologist, which is a bug expert.
VIDEO REPORT: Defense Expert Questioned
Dr. Huntington may have tried to convince jurors there were no coffin flies in the trunk of Casey's car. According to court documents filed by Casey Anthony's defense, that's one thing he planned to say.
The case could hinge on this because with so much circumstantial evidence, her defense needs to poke holes in the forensic evidence that will be presented at trial.
Prosecutors conducted a Skype video deposition with Dr. Huntington, who is a board certified entomologist from Nebraska.
"That's paramount to the case," said WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer.
Sheaffer said Dr. Huntington was expected to attack evidence found in the trunk of Casey's car.
An entomologist for prosecutors, Dr. Neal Haskell, has said test results from the trunk show evidence of coffin flies on paper towels, which indicates the presence of a dead human in the trunk days after Caylee was last seen alive.
One of the keys for Dr. Huntington during the Skype deposition, and eventually at trial, will be to refute any testimony from the prosecutor's expert that places Caylee Anthony's body in Casey's car.
"If Caylee's remains are associated with either Casey's automobile or residence, [it's] certainly is a strong indication Casey was responsible for Caylee's death," Sheaffer said.
Huntington is said to be one of just 15 board certified entomologists and has worked as a consultant with law enforcement on several death investigations.
Sheaffer said Huntington's role will be to discredit scientific methods used by experts for the prosecution. Defense attorneys will hope it casts doubt in the minds of jurors that Casey killed her daughter.
Sheaffer said even if the forensic experts cancel each other out, defense attorneys will have an uphill battle because of all the circumstantial evidence pointing to Casey.
Meanwhile, Casey is scheduled to be in court on Monday, January 3 for another hearing.
CASEY'S DEFENSE NO LONGER LOOKING AT KRONK AS SUSPECT
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.
Previous Stories: December 23, 2010: Casey's Defense No Longer Looking At Kronk As Suspect 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