Imperfect Justice_ Prosecuting Casey Anthony - Jeff Ashton [111]
Regardless of our motives, Judge Perry concurred with our assessments and the documents were sealed. In the end, though, Weitz did not testify either. Having completed the depositions of both therapists, we filed a motion to have Casey submit to an examination by a state-certified expert. This is a procedure that usually applies to insanity cases, and we felt it should apply in this odd circumstance as well. We argued that point in court, and Judge Perry agreed with us. If the defense was going to offer mental health testimony, we had the right to have Casey submit to an examination by our own expert.
After Judge Perry agreed, Cheney took Jose in the back. It was clear there were risks for them in giving our expert access to Casey. For one thing, our expert could get Casey talking and lead her in a direction that the defense had no control over. Then there was always a risk that she could reveal something she didn’t mean to when our expert had her alone.
When they returned, we were informed that they were pulling both psychologists from their witness list. They might still have an expert testify on some hypotheticals about mental health, but they would spring that on us later during the trial.
I knew what Jose Baez had been up to. He had two possible objectives. The first, I think, was that he was trying to get Casey’s story in front of the jury without having Casey actually testify. The two psychiatrists would have testified to everything Casey told them about what went down on June 16, as well as all her allegations about her father and brother. Meanwhile, she would be protected from having to take the stand because of the rules of self-incrimination. Baez’s second motive was to present some explanation for why Casey would take thirty-one days to report that her daughter had disappeared or died. We were surprised that Baez had not anticipated the request for our own expert evaluation and considered that before showing his hand like he had. We appreciated the heads-up, nonetheless.
EVEN THOUGH THE WITNESSES HAD been withdrawn, Linda, Frank, and I all wondered how much of this George and Cindy knew. Just because the defense had dropped the witnesses didn’t mean they were abandoning the argument completely. There was still a chance that George could be dragged into this.
One evening around the time that all this was happening, Mark Lippman, the attorney who by then was representing George and Cindy, filed a strange press release. It said something to the effect that George Anthony had nothing to do with the disappearance of Caylee. I thought it was an odd statement, and I figured it indicated that they knew about the allegations, so I contacted Mark. Linda was in the room when I asked him about his press release, assuming that the release had been somehow in response to these new inflammatory allegations from Casey. I wanted to know if in light of the allegations, we should expect George or Cindy to change any of their testimony. During the call, I sensed that Mark and I were not talking about the same sequence of events. “Mark, what is it that you think the new story is?” I asked.
Mark told me that a few days earlier, Baez had asked for a meeting with just Cindy. When she arrived at his office, Baez, Dorothy Sims, and Ann Finnell via the phone were waiting for her with important news. Baez proceeded to tell Cindy that Casey had authorized him to say that Caylee had died at the house and that her death had been an accident. Baez also told Cindy that the state was investigating