ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Roy Kronk, the former Orange County meter reader who found the remains of Caylee Anthony in 2008, continued his court fight with the National Enquirer on Monday.
Kronk claims that the tabloid called him a murderer, and he is suing the paper.
Kronk discovered the remains of 2-year-old Caylee in a wooded area not far from the home of Casey Anthony, the mother of Caylee, who was acquitted of murder charges in the girl's death. The trial received international attention.
Kronk's attorney and attorneys for the newspaper were in court presenting their arguments before a judge Monday.
The case centers on a series of articles in the National Enquirer that Kronk's attorneys said painted their client as a liar and a potential suspect in Caylee's death.
"They pick certain things out - some of them totally false -- to support their position 'was he a hero or was he a villain?'" Kronk's attorney Howard Marks said.
But the Enquirer's attorneys argued the paper's writers were simply reporting on a mystery court motion that claimed Casey Anthony blamed Kronk for the murder.
"It says twice in the article that the (Orange County Sheriff's Office) officials have said Roy Kronk was never a suspect, and is not linked to the Anthony family," National Enquirer attorney Deanna Shullman said.
Even though the article does attribute the accusation to Anthony, attorneys for Kronk said the Enquirer defamed their client in the lead-up to Casey Anthony's trial.
On Monday, the tabloid newspaper's attorneys tried to get the case decided by the judge in a summary judgment rather than have a jury hear the case later.
"If they want to sensationalize or write a headline that grabs the reader's attention -- there's not punishment for that as long as the article as a whole is not defamatory," said Shullman.
"I don't think the National Enquirer's article was accurate, and whether it was defamatory to Mr. Kronk, we certainly believe it is and we believe it's fair to assume a jury reading (it) would believe Mr. Kronk was in on or possibly killed Caylee," Marks said.
Judge Margaret Schreiber did not rule Monday. She said she would make her ruling after reviewing the arguments and case law presented.
WFTV
