The state of Florida gave their rebuttal against Casey Anthony's defense on Monday in her murder trial, allowing the 12 men and women of the jury to begin deliberation.
Casey Anthony is accused by the state for the murder of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee Anthony, by suffocating her with duct tape concealing her nose and mouth, but the defense theorizes that the toddler drowned accidentally in the family swimming pool, and was made to look like murder, by her grandfather George Anthony. Her remains were found on Dec. 11, 2008 in woods near the Anthony family home.
Prosecutor Jeff Ashton argued George was a loving father and a loving grandfather. As shown in his suicide note, he had no idea what happened to his granddaughter because the questions in the letter reflect his confusion, Ashton says, and believes the videotaped jail conversations he had with his daughter present that, referring to the videos as a "window into this relationship."
"George isn't this Machiavellian, self-serving monster that counsel has suggested ... You cannot read this letter and not see this man was in pain," Ashton expressed.
Ashton also discussed the science in this case, to the jury, stating the mandible remained attached to the child's skull because it was the duct tape that secured it in place, a theory lead defense attorney Jose Baez disputed when he called renowned pathologist Dr. Werner Spitz to the stand, who said the duct tape was applied after decomposition because there was no DNA found on the adhesive side.
"Dr. Spitz's version of the events is non-credible," said Ashton, as he outlined the circumstances Spitz and the defense claim that some "unknown person for unknown reason" took the corpse, put the tape on it and placed the body back, but as the jurors found out by other state experts, heat and moisture allow the DNA to vanish.
Ashton also argued that Spitz's comment about the cranium not being sawed open is not a "violation of protocol," as stated by their witness Michael Warren, an anthropology professor at the University of Florida. "Dr. Spitz's theory ... has now been disproved," Ashton told the jurors.
Air samples were collected from the trunk of Casey's car by Dr. Arpad Vass, the "unapologetic science geek," as described by Ashton, who said the interesting thing about Vass is that, "He loves what he does ... He loves the challenge of solving." Vass found a tremendous about of chloroform in the samples that he said blew him away with surprise.
Vass also stated the moment he smelled the sample of the trunk odor he knew right away it was of human decomposition, which the defense's witnesses argue was actually from the bag of trash that was found in the trunk, but Ashton fought back when he said there was no remnants of food left behind in that bag.
"The myth of the garbage has been disproved," Ashton said. "That smell was not from the garbage, it was from Caylee."
Lead prosecutor Linda Drane-Burdick followed up with a passionate rebuttal, making comments on the trash bag, as well. "That trash bag," she began, " was placed there as a decoy." She also added that when Casey left her car at the Amscot when she ran out of gas, she backed into the dumpster. "The dumpster was a decoy to keep people away from the car and make them think it's the source of the odor."
Throughout Drane-Burdick's closing rebuttal, she outlined Casey's lies, saying they were given to her parents as a way to "buy time" to be with her boyfriend and friends and classified her a "pathological liar" which she informed the jurors is not a reaction to grief.
"Everybody grieves differently," Drane-Burdick agreed. "But responses to guilt are oh so predictable. What do guilty people do? They lie."
She elaborated that a person who is feeling guilty makes like nothing is wrong, and that "was no way indicative of grief."
Burdick presented a jailhouse video clip of Casey's parents, George and Cindy, visiting her and her mother explains to Casey that people are speculating that Caylee drowned in the pool, in which the defendant's reply is, "Surprise, surprise," denying any truth in the theory.
"When Caylee is found dead ... Surprise, surprise," said Burdick. "No person would ever make an accidental death look like murder." The state argues that Casey used the tape to silence the little girl in case she revealed her and her mother's whereabouts to the rest of the family.
She went on to say that if the child drowned, she would be floating in a pool, not a swamp, which resembles how the mother felt about that child. "The ways these remains were disposed show complete indifference to the child; how the person who disposed of her really felt about her," she declared. "How Casey Anthony felt about Caylee."
The prosecutor concluded that while everyone else is questioning for Caylee and missing Caylee, Casey was with her boyfriend having a good time while her daughter is deceased in the woods.
"Whose life was better without Caylee?" asked the prosecutor. "That's the only question you need to argue in consideration why Caylee Marie Anthony was left at the side of the road dead." Then proceeded to cast a two photographs adjacent to each other portraying Casey, laughing and dancing with her friends and boyfriend at a nightclub, alongside a photograph of the tattoo she got when Caylee is allegedly-missing that reads, "Bella Vita," which translates from Italian to, "Beautiful Life."
Baez requested a motion for a mistrial, following the state's rebuttal, for improper comments made by the prosecutors, which Judge Belvin Perry Jr. denied.
The jury was given their final instructions and dismissed for deliberation at noon. They are not expected to discuss after 5 p.m., which court administration says will be their cut-off time until tomorrow morning.
Casey Anthony is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter on a child, along with four counts for providing false information to a law enforcement officer. If convicted, the delinquent may be imposed to a death sentence.
(Photography by Joe Burbank, Orlando Sentinel)
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