Imperfect Justice_ Prosecuting Casey Anthony - Jeff Ashton [139]
Lee Anthony, Casey’s brother, was another of Frank’s witnesses. Casey briefly broke down in tears as he settled himself into the box. He was a very different Lee Anthony from the one we had seen at his deposition during the summer of 2009. He had refused to meet with Frank before the trial, so we knew something was up. We had to consider him a somewhat hostile witness.
In deposition nearly two years prior, Lee had been cooperative and relatively neutral in tone. He gave testimony consistent with his prior statements to investigators. But now in trial, Frank found it much more of a chore pulling the facts out of him. In deposition, Lee had told his story in a conversational, informative narrative. Very early in his trial testimony, however, it became clear from his four-word-or-fewer answers that he was less willing to volunteer information. Lee gave the facts without the same emotional tone he had shown in deposition. Then, he had demonstrated a frustration with his sister. Anything resembling that emotion was gone from his testimony at trial. Right off the bat, Frank’s questions received a response of “I don’t remember,” and Frank had to refresh his memory. In fact, he acted like he was having trouble remembering a lot of things. Frank finally decided to give him his deposition to refer to in an effort to help him along.
As a prosecutor, these kinds of situations were never easy to deal with, but Lee’s attitude surprised us. Perhaps, in some way we were so focused on George and Cindy, on their record of standoffishness, that we simply took Lee for granted. It wasn’t clear to me what had changed in his attitude, but something was decidedly different, and his testimony was not producing the effect that we’d hoped for.
When Frank asked Lee what he and Casey talked about on the evening of July 15, Lee said he asked Casey why she wouldn’t let them see Caylee. Frank asked him, “What was her response?” Lee’s answer was “I don’t recall.” With way more memory refreshers than we thought were necessary, Frank finally got Lee to say Casey had told him, “Maybe I’m just a spiteful bitch,” something he had said in a previous deposition.
The same thing was true when Lee was asked about Casey’s comments about Cindy. “I don’t know,” he told Frank. Frank again helped him find what he had said in prior statements, and Lee then remembered saying that his mother had thrown it in Casey’s face that she was an unfit mother. He said Cindy told Casey that Caylee was the best mistake her daughter ever made.
During Jose’s cross-examination of Lee, Baez tried to introduce some statements that Casey had made to Lee. It was the same tactic of introducing hearsay that Baez had attempted when Tony Lazzaro was on the stand. Because Baez had already been warned by the judge, we let him move forward and then sprang into action, asking the judge to allow us to introduce Casey’s criminal past. I recall seeing the amusement on the judge’s face as we approached the bench—Judge Perry had of course seen this coming, but Baez seemed clueless. We explained that we were requesting admission of Casey’s prior convictions on check fraud. Baez looked like someone had punched him in the stomach. Judge Perry acknowledged that the prior convictions might now be admissible, but he said he wanted to consider the significance of what Baez had brought out before he ruled. Over the course of the evening, the prosecution team did the same and concluded that the statements Baez had elicited were so innocuous that it wasn’t worth the risk of a postconviction incompetence claim, so we withdrew our request. Once again, the judge gave Baez a warning about the consequences of introducing hearsay. We all hoped that this time Baez would actually listen.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
PROVING THE INVESTIGATION
With the initial testimony from Lee out of the way, we segued from the family and “friends of Casey” witnesses to the witnesses who were