ORANGE COUNTY, Fla.,None — A researcher at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory was the first witness called on day 22 of Casey Anthony's murder trial on Monday.
Dr. Arpad Vass testified that he detected human decomposition in the air from the trunk of Casey's car. It's the first time a jury has heard testimony about the controversial air tests. The evidence has never been used in a criminal case before.
DAY 22: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 BILL SHEAFFER: Analysis Of Trial Day 22 CASEY WALKS IN: See Images | Raw Video KEY PLAYERS: Lawyers, Casey, Parents, Expert VIDEO REPORT: Expert Testifies On Air Tests
Casey entered the courtroom on Monday, wearing a lavender button-down shirt and dark grey pants. She had her hair pulled back.
While prosecutors say that Casey suffocated 2-year-old Caylee with duct tape in the summer of 2008, her defense attorney says the toddler drowned in her grandparents' swimming pool.
Prosecutors say Casey drove for days with Caylee's body in the trunk, before discarding it in a swamp near the Anthonys' house on Suburban Drive. Prosecutors also say that she Googled how to make chloroform three months before the murder.
Prosecutors say the tests prove Caylee's body was in the trunk of Casey's car.
"I can find no other plausible explanation other than that to explain all the results we found," said Vass.
Vass testified that a machine called a "gas chromatograph" can identify chemicals that are unique to human decomposition.
"Those are the chemicals that a cadaver-locating dog could smell," Vass said.
Then, for the first time ever, Vass testified the air sample pointed to a dead body.
Casey showed no emotion when Dr. Vass described to the jury his reaction when he unsealed the small container holding a piece of the stained carpet from the trunk of her car.
Dr. Vass said the stain contained acids generated by early stages of human decomposition. Chloroform is a chemical associated with decomposition but also can be used to render a person unconscious.
"I jumped back a foot or two," Vass said of the odor he observed when opening a can containing an air sample from Casey's Pontiac. "It was shocking that strong of an odor could be in that little can."
Vass, who studied decomposing bodies for 20 years, found 10,000 times the amount of the potentially deadly chloroform that he would expect to find with human decomposition alone inside the trunk. Vass believes there was a body in Casey's trunk.
"We were shocked. We've never seen chloroform in those levels before, at least I haven't," Dr. Vass said. "The chloroform was shockingly high, unusually high."
Vass is the head scientist at a research facility known as "The Body Farm," where Vass said he and his researchers allow donated human bodies to decay for research purposes.
"We began monitoring the chemicals that are produced in a burial situation," Vass stated.
Prosecutor Jeff Ashton asked Vass to describe the difference between the smell of human decomposition and animal decomposition.
"Have you found the odor of animal decomposition to be distinguishable from human remains?" Ashton asked.
"Animals tend to have a more muskier scent. Domesticated animals like a pig have a much sweeter scent than humans," Vass replied.
Lead defense attorney Jose Baez tried to get Dr. Vass to say the stain in Casey's trunk could have been caused by rotting meat, which wasn't found in the bagged trash in the trunk.
"If you were heating a piece of hamburger, it'd have to be raw and with a bag over your head. We're talking several pounds of meat," Vass stated.
"He's very conversational, down to earth. [He] takes complicated scientific principles and reduces them to everyman understanding," said WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer.
Baez made several objections to Vass' testimony throughout the morning, attacking both his credentials and methodology used in doing his research.
"You're twisting things around a tad. Ten compounds of 30 that were relevant, we found 8 in the trunk of the car," said Dr. Vass
He briefly was permitted to question Vass' methodology outside the presence of the jury, but was stopped after Judge Belvin Perry said the questions he was asking him were outside the scope of his original objection. His objection was then overruled and the jury was brought back in.
"So just to be abundantly clear, expert witnesses are allowed to rely on reports from other individuals," Perry said.
Perry previously issued a pretrial order denying a defense request to exclude the air tests from the carpet sample taken from Casey's car.
The state is expected to call witnesses through June 17, a day after the third anniversary of Caylee's death.
Casey has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, the 25-year-old Casey could be sentenced to death.
Previous Stories: June 04, 2011: Forensic Expert Testifies On Evidence In Casey's Car June 03, 2011: Day 20: Parts Of Casey's Car Trunk Shown As Evidence June 02, 2011: State Exposes Lie After Lie From Casey On Day 19 Of Trial June 01, 2011: Witnesses, Recordings Heard In Court Expose Casey's Lies May 31, 2011: Tears Shed As 911 Calls Play; Casey's Ex-Friend Testifies May 30, 2011: Cindy Cries During Testimony On Caylee, Casey Angered May 27, 2011: Witness: Casey Anthony's Car Smelled Of Decomposition May 26, 2011: Casey's Ex-Lovers, Friends Testify On Day 14 Of Trial May 25, 2011: Casey Friends Say They Never Knew Caylee Was Missing May 24, 2011: Casey Murder Trial Brings Tears, Blame And Shame May 23, 2011: Legal Analyst Previews Casey Trial Opening Statements May 20, 2011: Casey Anthony Back In Orange County Jail
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