ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The state exposed lie after lie from Casey Anthony on day 19 of her murder trial Thursday. However, Orange County Detective Yuri Melich saw through them all.
Casey Anthony entered the courtroom around 8:50am, wearing a light blue, short-sleeved buttoned down shirt and dark pants. She had her hair pulled up in a tight bun.
DAY 19: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 BILL SHEAFFER: Day 19 Analysis CASEY CRIES: See Images | Raw Video CASEY WALKS IN: See Images | Raw Video KEY PLAYERS: Casey, Lawyers, Judge, Cindy RAW VIDEO: Cindy, George Leave Court Holding Hands LEE & CASEY CALLS 07/25/08: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 LEE & CASEY CALLS 07/28/08: Part 1 | Part 2 VIDEO REPORT: Casey's Lies Exposed
Jurors listened Thursday to her nearly hour-long interview with detectives the day after her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, was reported missing in 2008.
"Every single thing you've told us is a lie," Melich said to Casey during a recorded interview.
Day 19 focused on lies, lies to detectives and lies to Casey's family.
After lunch, video of Casey and her brother Lee Anthony having a conversation inside the jail was shown to the jury.
Lee was attempting to get Casey to give him information about where Caylee was.
"You have everything I'm comfortable giving you at the moment," Casey said in the video.
Casey's lies were "convincing" according to Detective Melich, who along with two other seasoned investigators cornered Casey about her lies.
She would not give up her lie about the nanny, which prosecutors said was intended to shift away blame.
After Casey admitted lying to detectives, she lied to her brother, Lee Anthony, about lying to them when he visited her at jail.
"Things that I've said to them before they've looked at me like I'm feeding them a bunch of bull**it!" said Casey to Lee.
Melich testified that Casey's story about Caylee's kidnapping did not make sense.
Casey told detectives Caylee had called her a day earlier, saying, "Hi, Mommy," before talking about books and shoes.
She also said during the interview that she would never be able to forgive herself.
"My mom flat out told me yesterday she will never be able to forgive me," Casey said during the interview.
As Melich and another detective peppered her with questions, Casey said she asked the child to let her talk to an adult, but the phone went dead.
After she was caught in a lie about having a job at Universal Studios, he confronted her.
Universal's assistant manager of loss prevention, Leonard Turtora, testified earlier Thursday that he escorted Casey into the park, even though he had already confirmed that she was no longer an employee.
Turtora and Melich testified that Casey pointed to a building where she worked and led them into the office. Halfway down a hallway, she turned to them and said, "I don't work here." That's when detectives asked for a room where they could talk.
On the tape, Melich told Casey he could not verify the information she provided the night before.
"I can tell you with certainty, that everything you've told me has been a lie," Melich stated.
At that point, Casey reluctantly admitted to some lies.
"We're here because, we got here how?" Melich asked.
"Because I lied," she replied.
"I don't think you're a monster. I think you've got some pressures in your life. Who exerts the most pressure on you?" Melich asked.
"My mother, probably," Casey said.
Casey, 25, insisted she was not lying when she said a babysitter kidnapped Caylee on June 9, 2008.
"I don't know where Caylee is!" Casey yelled.
"Yeah you do!" replied Melich.
During that interview three years ago, detectives asked Casey about a possible accident, even a drowning, but she insisted that was not the case and stuck to her lie about a nanny.
"If I knew where she was, if something had happened, I would have admitted that a long time ago," Casey stated.
Now, Casey wants the jury to believe that Caylee drowned accidentally, and that her sexually abusive father, George, bullied her into covering it up.
However, jurors were shown video of Casey and her parents having a conversation inside the jail as well.
The jury heard Casey comfort George about his fathering, after she was arrested for child neglect.
"You've been the best dad and the best grandfather. Don't for a second think otherwise," she said.
WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said after hearing Casey's denials, the jury will have a hard time believing the defense's theory.
"That was her opportunity to say it was an accident, while law enforcement was there to help her through that," Sheaffer said.
Prosecutors said Casey knew she had put duct tape over Caylee's face, and a kidnapping story fit that evidence.
But the defense tried to use Casey's lies to portray her as an abuse victim, not a conniving child killer.
"This in no way means that I would ever do anything, or let anything happen or harm come to that child. She's the one thing in this world that I love more than anything," Casey told Melich.
Casey said something else to detectives, right before her arrest.
"If I wanted to really just get rid of her, I would have left her with my parents and I would have left," Casey said.
George and Cindy Anthony wanted to take Caylee, but prosecutors say Casey didn't give Caylee to them. They said she murdered Caylee instead.
Also on Thursday, an acquaintance of Casey, Jeff Hopkins, was called to the stand as the first witness.
Casey had said that Hopkins introduced her to the babysitter, Zenaida, and that she also took care of Hopkins's son.
However, on the stand, Hopkins said that he did not have a child and did not introduce Casey to a babysitter. He also said he did not know how Caylee died.
Casey is charged with first-degree murder. If convicted, she could be sentenced to death. She has pleaded not guilty and her defense attorney says Caylee died in an accidental drowning in the family's swimming pool. The prosecution, however, says the child was suffocated after duct tape was placed over her mouth.
Previous Stories: 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 May 20, 2011: Details On Jurors For Casey Anthony Trial May 20, 2011: Casey Jury Sworn In, Opening Statements Start Tuesday
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