"The judge in the murder trial of a Casey Anthony scolded prosecutors and defense attorneys Monday, warning them they may face punishment when the trial concludes, then he abruptly halted proceedings for the day to give both sides more time to sort out issues with witnesses.
One of the major disputes involves a defense witness who took the stand over the weekend, but neither prosecutors nor the judge knew what he was going to say. With the jury outside of the courtroom still waiting to hear testimony on Day 23 of the trial, Judge Belvin Perry said he was tired of the infighting."
REPORTER KYLE HIGHTOWER; THE ASSOCIATED PRESS;
A backgrounder on this high profile Florida case cane be found on Wikipedia at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Caylee_Anthony
MASSIVE ORLANDO SENTINEL COVERAGE:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/casey-anthony-trial-judge-reprimands-lawyers-legal-gamesmanship/story?id=13884355
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"The judge in the murder trial of a Casey Anthony scolded prosecutors and defense attorneys Monday, warning them they may face punishment when the trial concludes, then he abruptly halted proceedings for the day to give both sides more time to sort out issues with witnesses," the Associated Press story by reporter Kyle Hightower published earlier today under the heading, "Anthony trial recesses after attorneys dispute," begins.
"One of the major disputes involves a defense witness who took the stand over the weekend, but neither prosecutors nor the judge knew what he was going to say. With the jury outside of the courtroom still waiting to hear testimony on Day 23 of the trial, Judge Belvin Perry said he was tired of the infighting," the story continues.
""There has been gamesmanship on both sides," Perry said. "... Obviously there is a friction between attorneys. That's something I guess the Florida bar will deal with. And at the conclusion of this trial, the court will deal with violations that may have occurred."
Anthony, 25, is accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter during the summer of 2008. She has pleaded not guilty. The defense says the girl drowned in her grandparents' swimming pool while the state says she was suffocated by duct tape being placed over her nose and mouth. If convicted, Anthony could get the death penalty.
The judge highlighted the discord between attorneys when he asked prosecutor Jeff Ashton and defense attorney Jose Baez to look at the clock in the courtroom and tell him what time it was. Ashton said "9:25" and Baez "9:26."
"That shows the two of you won't agree on anything or ever interpret things the same way," Perry said.
The defense was about to call forensic anthropologist William Rodriguez to the witness stand Monday when the prosecution asked the judge for more time to go over a deposition he gave this past weekend.
Rodriguez was supposed to testify Saturday, but he was interrupted after prosecutors said he started talking about information that was not previously disclosed to the state. Perry wound up granting the state time to depose him and admonished lead defense attorney Jose Baez for violating a January court order that made it mandatory for expert witnesses to submit preliminary reports on their testimony.
Ashton said Monday the next expert Baez planned to call submitted only a summary report without any clear opinions. Ashton also said he planned to officially file for sanctions against Baez.
Baez argued that Ashton decided not to utilize the option to depose the new witness this past weekend and was also engaging in legal maneuvering.
"We did not intentionally look at this court's order and say we were going to disobey it," Baez said. Ashton "had a responsibility, omitted it ... and should not be allowed to come forth at the 11th hour.""
The story can be found at:
http://www.sfexaminer.com/news/2011/06/anthony-trial-recesses-after-attorneys-disputePUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
