Yet another judge recused himself from a Casey Anthony case. Circuit Judge Jose Rodriguez of Orange County, disqualified himself in the Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez v. Casey Anthony hearing, on Friday.
A motion for the emergency hearing Friday was filed by Fernandez's attorneys just a few days prior on July 14 to discuss pending issues and assign deadlines, which lasted only 20 minutes and spent entirely at the sidebar until the judge exited the courtroom of the 23rd floor stating the judge for the case was to be reassigned. Neither parties commented on the matter.
Gonzalez is suing Casey Anthony for defamation after she accused a woman by the name of Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez of kidnapping Anthony's 2-year-old daughter, Caylee Marie Anthony, in 2008. It was discovered during the investigation that this was a fabrication, as Gonzalez does not know Anthony, leaving Anthony on trial for the allegations that she murdered her daughter, but was recently acquitted.
It is unknown how Anthony discovered the suggested name, but a Zenaida Gonzalez did view a home on June 17 at Sawgrass apartments, where a friend of Anthony's lived. Attorneys for the prosecution do not know if there is truth speculation of Anthony seeing the name on a visitation sign-in sheet in the office of the neighborhood.
"I don't know. I don't know," said Keith Mitnik, an attorney for Gonzalez. "I know there's evidence out there that suggests that may be a connecting point. I do not know and I need to ask her questions. That's part of what I need to talk to her about."
A motion dated June 1 was filed by Gonzalez's representation Mitnik and John Dill of the Morgan and Morgan law firm requesting that Anthony admit that the stories she created to disguise Gonzalez as the culprit in her daughter's alleged abduction were false, and to confess that the child died in an accidental drowning as Anthony's defense team theorized.
"These are things we piece together ... Will she ever say, 'I did that'? I don't know," Dill said. "But it's a piece of evidence in the case."
Dill added that that the defamation charges were not solely based on these actions, but also the fact that Anthony has denied viewing photographs of Gonzalez by investigators and has never averred that their client is not the woman Anthony spoke of in her falsehoods.
Mitnik says his client's life has been "turned upside down because of false statements made about her," adding, "We'll do anything in our power to get her, find her and bring her to justice."
Anthony, through her counsel Charles Greene and Allison Edwards on July 14, refuted Gonzalez's initial June 1 motion with their own motion objecting to concede to any of the proposed admissions, describing them as "vague and confusing," claiming they were "not reasonably calculated to lead to admissible evidence," denying Anthony privileges of her Fifth Amendment right.
Anthony also filed to strike Gonzalez's motion for the emergency hearing and to bar her deposition coordinated for July 19, refusing to reschedule and asks for a the court to schedule a case management conference to establish protocol. Anthony and her attorneys assert that there was no emergency due to the lack of any deadlines and set a date without consulting with Anthony and her representation.
Greene affirmed in the documentation, "Although she was acquitted of the most serious charges, it was a grueling experience that left the defendant emotionally and mentally exhausted," unable to continue with court hearings. The day the jury returned a verdict, Gonzalez served Anthony with a subpoena to corroborate the date of deposition, which counsel for the delinquent disputed on behalf of Gonzalez not initially contacting them on the issue.
"She's required to be there [at the deposition] and I expect people to follow the rules," said Mitnik. "It's not going to happen in jail. We wanted it to happen because the truth is where there's claims that her life is at risk, what a safer place to do the deposition in jail, number one. And number two, then we don't have to worry if she's going to flee or not. It's just irrelevant. We would be done with it. But it didn't - regretfully, it didn't happen."
In regards to what questions he will ask Anthony, Mitnik said "We'll just let her be surprised.
Anthony's deposition is set for the 19 at 10:00 a.m. at the law offices of Morgan and Morgan and was originally supposed to steam live on the law firm's Web site but Mutnik stated that is no longer going to happen, but a transcript will be accessible immediately, he said.
A judge in this case has been reassigned to Circuit Judge Lisa Munyon and a hearing is set for Friday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.. The trial is to be set for Feb. 2012.
"We are trying to paint a picture of justice," Mutnik said. "I plan to get there."
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