Imperfect Justice_ Prosecuting Casey Anthony - Jeff Ashton [150]
Dr. Marcus Bain Wise was the analytical chemist at Oak Ridge Laboratory who had worked with Dr. Vass on the odor evidence. I think the defense called Dr. Wise, expecting him to say that the amount of chloroform found in the air samples collected from the Pontiac could not be quantified, which he did. But, he added another level of comment to the issue. Dr. Wise had broader experience with chloroform in other contexts in various environmental testing and said he’d never seen levels that high. He also touted Vass’s expertise in chemistry, even though he acknowledged that this was not Vass’s area of specialty. Calling Dr. Wise appeared to have really backfired on the defense.
Kenneth Furton, a professor of chemistry at Florida International University, took the stand to testify about the chloroform and fluid found on paper towels in the trunk of the Pontiac. He was in court to refute Dr. Vass’s findings on both. Dr. Vass had noted that five chemical compounds found in the trunk were associated with human decomposition. Dr. Furton agreed, but clarified that in his opinion those same five compounds could also be found in garbage and household products. He also attempted to blame the odor on the trash in the car, maybe some dried-out remnant of cheese spread. Once again, I faced him with the actual item from the garbage and he fared no better than Dr. Huntington had.
With regard to fluid found on the paper towels, Dr. Furton said it could have come from a milk fat, a cheese, or an animal fat. He mentioned the Velveeta cheese and salami wrappers as being a possible source. In my questioning of him, Dr. Furton agreed that the fluid could have come from a decomposing body, but maintained that it could have been from another source as well.
The topic of chloroform was a sensitive subject for Cindy Anthony. She was in her own chloroform hot water when she took the stand for the defense on Thursday, June 23. In my opinion, this was the point when Cindy chose Casey over Caylee. She testified that she recalled searching for the word chloroform after her little Yorkie had become sick and she was researching if there was a connection between chloroform and the bamboo he had been eating. She said she did not, however, type the words “how to make chloroform.”
During the cross-examination, a stern Linda Burdick asked Cindy question after question about her specific search terms. While Cindy said she had searched the word chloroform, she had not searched how to make chloroform. Linda also drilled her about where she was on the date of the search.
“So, it’s your testimony today that it’s possible that you were home on that day even though your work records reflect something differently? That’s correct? Is that correct? On March 28, 2008, is it your testimony in front of this jury that you were home between 2:16 and 2:28 P.M.?”
“It’s possible,” Cindy replied, and then started to hem and haw.
Work records showed that Cindy was on her computer at the office around the time the searches for chloroform had been conducted on her home computer. Because it would have been impossible for her to be in two places at once, it was my opinion that Cindy Anthony lied to help her daughter. If she was lying and if that lie were found to be material, it could have subjected her to prosecution for perjury. Subsequent to my retirement, the State Attorney’s Office chose not to pursue perjury charges against her.
Because the chloroform searches were now the topic of evidence, the defense recalled Sergeant Kevin Stenger, the head of the computer forensics division at the Sheriff’s Office. In this, the defense caught something we missed, to their credit. Through computer software expert John Dennis Bradley, we had placed into evidence a computer report of the chloroform searches conducted on the Anthonys