ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Chief Judge Belvin Perry ordered the state to give him a copy of a recorded phone conversation between defense attorney Jose Baez and life prisoner Robin Lunceford in the case against Casey Anthony Tuesday.
DOCUMENT: Judge's Order To State
Baez wants the recording sealed, claiming he did not know the state prison phone call was being recorded. He said Lunceford has information helpful to the defense about Casey's jail pals.
The judge also wants prosecutors to weigh in on whether it was a legal recording before deciding whether it will go public or whether to have a hearing on the matter.
CASEY'S DEFENSE INVESTIGATING GEORGE ANTHONY
There is a shift of the blame in the case against Casey Anthony. Documents released only to WFTV Monday show, for the first time, Casey's lawyers are investigating her father. WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said the defense may be trying to discredit him, or possibly blame George Anthony.
EXCLUSIVE DOCS: Invoice 1 | Invoice 2 | Pending Payment | Audit BILL SHEAFFER: Talks About Defense's Investigation VIDEO REPORT: George Being Investigated CASEY WALKS IN: See Images | Watch Raw Video CASEY CRIES: Images Of Casey Crying In Court CASEY CHATS WITH INTERNS: See Images
The documents WFTV obtained show how the defense is spending taxpayer money. Some of the ways the lawyers are spending that limited money is investigating George Anthony.
George testified against his daughter in her grand jury hearing.
The defense has spent about $4,000 of taxpayers' money so far on Casey's defense, and most of it on its private investigator.
Records obtained by WFTV show the defense is investigating George Anthony's suicide attempt. They did it to her ex-fiance, Jesse Grund, who was willing to raise another man's child as his own. The defense did it to meter reader Roy Kronk, who found Caylee Anthony's remains near the Anthonys' home on Hopespring Drive.
Now, the defense team could be doing it to Casey Anthony's father, trying to discredit George. Records show her defense team's private eye has investigated George's suicide attempt the month after Caylee was found.
"The defense will have to discredit George, because George has some information that is damning to the defense," Sheaffer said (full interview) .
Sheaffer says George's testimony helped prosecutors get a first-degree murder indictment against Casey even before her daughter's body was found. George said her car trunk smelled like a dead body and that, days after Caylee disappeared, Casey came home unexpectedly and prevented George from going into the trunk of her car.
At taxpayers' expense, the defense team spent hours at the Hawaii Motel in Daytona where George tried to take his own life. They also were at the Daytona Beach Police Department getting records.
"They would want to show he was mentally unstable," Sheaffer said.
Sheaffer says the defense might go even farther to try to make some jurors wonder whether George is the murderer; Casey could have laid the groundwork by accusing her father of sexually abusing her.
"He was the last person to see Caylee, along with Casey. The duct tape came from his house. The heart stickers came from his house," Sheaffer said.
If the defense can't convince a jury that George or someone else covered Caylee's face with duct tape and stuck a heart sticker over her mouth, they might try to use George's suicide attempt to portray Casey's family as dysfunctional to spare her from a possible death sentence.
NEXT IN THE CASE AGAINST CASEY
The defense is asking for a hearing to seal Jose Baez's phone conversation with inmate, Robin Lunceford.
Meanwhile, a status hearing is scheduled for August 30.
The defense is also expected to depose eleven people next month.
CASEY'S ATTORNEY HANGING HOPES ON INMATE
There is a new witness in the case against Casey Anthony. WFTV learned Friday that Casey Anthony's attorney, Jose Baez, is hanging hopes on a state prison inmate.
VIDEO REPORT: Baez Hanging Hopes On Inmate
Robin Lunceford is in for life and it isn't the first time she's inserted herself into a high-profile criminal case.
Lunceford claims she can discredit key state witnesses, Baez said.
Suspect Lunceford 071610 Robin Lunceford Lunceford was a career criminal and is under criminal investigation at the prison where she's in for life. Baez claims the prison wrongly recorded their phone conversation, so he wants it to be sealed.
Casey's lawyers say Lunceford claims Casey's jail friends, Maya Derkovic and Robyn Adams, made up incriminating stories about her.
Armed robber Lunceford used 27 aliases and has been disciplined in prison for lying, using drugs and attempting to commit conspiracy. State corrections couldn't give WFTV details because of an ongoing criminal investigation.
Lunceford has interjected herself as a witness in big cases, including that of missing south Florida foster child Rilya Wilson, but was turned away when prosecutors realized she was looking for a deal.
Casey's team appears to believe Lunceford's story about Adams and Derkovic.
"Her and Maya Derkovic had concocted the story so that Maya could try and get a transfer," Baez said.
In April, Derkovic told WFTV, when they were friends in jail, Casey admitted to using chloroform on Caylee so she could party.
"She would pour it on, like, a rag, a washrag, and put it over the baby's face," Derkovic said.
Derkovic told WFTV prison inmates had turned on her for being a snitch. Last month, she was transferred to another prison.
Thursday, Baez said he did not know the prison recorded his phone call with Lunceford and asked the judge not to release it.
"Doing so would be a third-degree felony," Baez said.
"One of the first lessons the defense learned in this case is that there is no expectation of privacy in a correction facility or jail," WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said.
Baez might just have had the bad luck of getting caught up in the ongoing criminal investigation involving Lunceford, which might be why their call was recorded. She has been disciplined for calling unapproved people by having calls forwarded to them.
Previous Stories: July 19, 2010: Casey's Defense Investigating George Anthony July 16, 2010: Casey's Attorney Hanging Hopes On Inmate July 16, 2010: Judge Denies Motion, Allows Cindy's 911 Calls July 9, 2010: Casey's Defense Turns In List Of Evidence It Wants July 6, 2010: Casey's Mother, Brother Ordered To Testify July 2, 2010: Casey In Court As Judge Denies Motion, Sets Rules July 2, 2010: Guard Fired Who Helped Casey Swap Letters July 2, 2010: Death Penalty Expert Leaves Casey's Defense Team June 30, 2010: Depos Scheduled For Lab Experts In Casey Case
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