"The state may wrap their presentation tomorrow afternoon or sometime by noon on Wednesday. We have anticipated the defense start on Thursday ... So far, we are ahead of schedule," Judge Belvin Perry, Jr., explained to the jurors, defense attorneys and prosecutors, on Monday, as he called the court to recess at 12 p.m. Court ended early due to the prosecution's next, and perhaps, last witness, unable to make it until Wednesday at 1 p.m., which is when court will return from recess.
Prior to the early release, Monday's testimony was by forensic experts working for the FBI, Stephen Shaw and Elizabeth Fontaine. They explained what they discovered from analyzing the hairs found in the trunk of the vehicle belonging to Anthony, 25, and the strands found at the crime scene, the woods on Suburban Dr. in Orlando, where Anthony is accused of dumping her 2-year-old's body after she allegedly murdering her.
Shaw, FBI's fiber examiner of six years, was submitted as an expert witness in fiber identification. "I examined the hairs from the hair mass microscopically," Shaw said, explaining the process, then added that the hairs found in the car's trunk showed that the person it belonged to was in the later stage of apparent decomposition.
He said although it is consistent with hairs from decomposition, there's no way to know for sure, because it cannot be said that signs of post-mortem banding in hairs only comes from the deceased. He experimented by placing hairs not from decomposition in a trunk, but did not get the same results.
To help the jury understand, Shaw brought in a slide of photographs from a study he did on hairs in various situations. The defense objected the viewing of this slide because it was not brought to their attention until that morning.
The defense renewed their motion for objection, after viewing the slide, stating it presented unfair prejudice. The jury was excused for a few minutes for the attorneys to discuss the matter with the judge, who eventually sustained the objection, because the defense did not receive it.
In recross examination with defense attorney, Jose Baez, Shaw was asked if environmental effects can influence false identification, but Shaw replied, "only without proper training, there is that possibility."
Fontaine, who has been a physical and forensic scientist with the FBI for over four years, said she received three pieces of duct tape, which were six to eight inches in length and were found at the crime scene. "The glue was almost gone and the duct tape was no longer sticky," she said to the jury, answering Prosecutor Jeff Ashton's question in direct examination.
Fontaine, who explained her job was to examine fingerprints and compare them to FBI's fingerprint database, told Ashton and the jury that there were no latent fingerprints on any of the items investigated, but there was something else she discovered in relation to the tape. "An outline of a heart appeared on one of the corners of the duct tape," said Fontaine.
She said that at that time she did not think of it as being important, but notated it anyway and informed the proper people. But she did a second thorough examination, explaining the step-by-step search for fingerprints, and concluded: "At that time, it was no longer visible on the duct tape."
Susan Constantine, body language expert and jury consultant, as seen on CNN, said this witness' testimony is beneficial to the defense because at the times Fontaine said no fingerprints were found and the imprint of the heart vanished, seven of the jurors actually took notes.
"Right when the expert said there were no fingerprints on the duct tape, they all noted that," all of the seven, Constantine explained. "They are putting the forensic evidence together into a story."
A story that will help the 12 jurors who have to vote determine if Anthony will seek death or be acquitted for the alleged murder of her little girl three years ago.
(Photography by Red Huber, Orlando Sentinel)
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