Three weeks into the State vs. Casey Anthony murder trial and shocking computer forensic has been revealed to the jury on Wednesday, that could potentially hurt the defense's side in this case, according to experts.
The 25-year-old is accused of first-degree murder on her daughter, Caylee, in 2008, then dumping the body to rot in a wooded area near her family's home. Wednesday's evidence could convince the jury that the murder was actually premeditated.
The defense claims the little girl accidentally drowned in her grandparents' pool, a scenario that the state of Florida is battling against in attempt to prove that they feel Casey is guilty. If convicted, Anthony may have to face a death sentence.
John Dennis Bradley, a self-employed owner of a company called SiQuest, spoke to the jury on the 13th day of trial about his investigation of Anthony's desktop computer.
The former law enforcement officer from Ontario, Canada became an expert witness in computer forensic analysis on Wednesday, testifying about searches he found that took place on the computer.
"One of the words of interest was chloroform," said Bradley, then explained that the user incorrectly spelled the world; "chloraform" on the first search, but Google corrected the error, changing the search to "chloroform."
Bradley stated he was "impressed" to find the files were recoverable, meaning whoever the user was erased the internet history manually.
He ran more tests and over the next three days, he says he spent time looking at the computer, trying to decode the files.
Wikipedia was visited countless times on March 17, 2008, as a result of other initial searches typed into the Google search engine. Wikipedia pages that were come across included chloroform, alcohol, acetone, peroxide, hand-to-hand combat (which was viewed twice), head injuries, middle meningeal artery, ruptured spleen, chest trauma, internal bleeding, self-defense, hypochondria, along with a few others.
After these numerous visits, the user went on the social-media website, MySpace.
A few days later, on March 21 of that year, searches were made for chloroform once again, but this time, research was done on a page that is part of the site website www.sci-spot.com, which was visited 84 times. Two Google searches were also conducted to discover how the toxic liquid is created.
On that same day, searches were also made to find directions on how to make weapons out of house-hold products, along with neck-breaking and a Wikipedia page on the word "shovel."
During cross-examination with defense attorney, Jose Baez, Bradley is asked if there is a possibility that a person participated in the search of these things for educational purposes, not necessarily malicious ones.
Baez argues, "Wouldn't the better evidence be to show the jury the actual page as opposed to the link?" Assistant State Attorney Linda Drane Burdick objected to this, in which Judge Belvin Perry, Jr. sustained.
Baez then went on to ask a series of questions to inquire if Bradley felt as though these searches were made for harmless purposes.
"These websites could be, as some indicate, jokes?" Baez questioned.
"Yes," replied the investigator.
"Some could be self-defense?" Baez continued.
"Yes," said Bradley.
Similar questions followed, asking the computer expert if exploration of these items could have also been for medical or chemistry-related reasons. Again, Bradley replied, "Yes."
He also questioned the witness on whether or not he was informed that some of the items discovered in evidence were or were not related to the case.
In a re-direct with Burdick, she asks Bradley if it is fair to presume the user was just "surfing" the web for these products.
Judge Jeanine Pirro of the Fox Channel disagrees, saying that these searches were very crucial to the case, and when presented to the jury, could have been harmful for the defense counsel.
"It shows premeditation," said Pirro. "Everyone else is eliminated and as hard as Baez tried, he couldn't take the searches or topics off the computer."
Pirro also commented: "I think we all go online and expect the internet to educate us ... the internet explains the answer."
Pirro concluded that it was a "big day for prosecution."
The trial will resume into its 14th day on Thursday.
(Photography by Joe Burbank, Orlando Sentinel)
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