Imperfect Justice_ Prosecuting Casey Anthony - Jeff Ashton [153]
He asked George about the suicide letter and implied that it contained some expression of guilt. I didn’t want Baez telling the jurors what was in the note. I wanted them to read it for themselves. To this point, I wasn’t sure the judge would let the entire letter in. I had done a ton of research on the issue, and I thought I could get some of it in, but all of it would be a stretch. I objected to Baez’s question, since the letter was not in evidence and pointed out that I had it in the courtroom if defense counsel wanted to place it in evidence. I don’t think Baez knew I had it. He took the letter in his hand and held it as he tried again to give his version of what it said. I objected again and we approached the bench.
At the bench Judge Perry showed once again his understanding of tactics and appellate issues. During the discussion I argued that the questions already had made some portions of the letter admissible. The judge discussed the issue and seemed to agree that what Baez had done might make it admissible, rather than explicitly rule he just sort of gave his impressions on the issue but did not rule. Baez left the bench apparently under the mistaken impression that the court had decide to allow the whole letter in. He then proceeded to question George extensively, implying that the suicide attempt was a fraud.
Casey made no reaction from where she sat, as her father was forced to recount his attempt to end his own life.
George said he had purchased a gun and planned to track down and interrogate friends of Casey who he believed had information about his dead granddaughter. Even as George fought to compose himself, Baez kept hammering away at him. He came back to Casey’s molestation he had used at opening arguments. “You of course would never admit to molesting your child, would you, sir?” Baez prodded.
“Sir, I would never do anything to harm my daughter in that way,” George Anthony said, fighting back tears.
“Only in that way?” Baez taunted.
When I asked George to describe the way he felt the day he learned Caylee’s remains had been found in the swamp off Suburban Drive, it took all he had to answer. “A deep hurt inside, tears, the whole gamut of an emotional loss, a breakdown inside of me and seeing what my wife and son went through,” he sobbed.
I finally did move George’s suicide note into evidence during our rebuttal case, and Baez objected. The judge pointed to his questions as the very reason that he had ruled to make the letter admissible. Judge Perry permitted jurors to read the eight-page farewell George had penned to his wife and that police had discovered in the motel room in Daytona, Florida. I felt that this heart-wrenching correspondence was the single strongest piece of evidence that established that George’s involvement in the death of Caylee was unthinkable. I felt that Baez’s clumsiness in handling the issue was a major mistake on his part.
George’s testimony was followed by the appearance of Krystal Holloway, George Anthony’s supposed mistress. Holloway went by the nickname “River Cruz.” She was a volunteer for the Casey Anthony cause but she was not with Texas EquuSearch. She said the two had met at a tent set up to hand out water bottles and such. Through her volunteering, she had become friends with Cindy and George. She said that she and George had started having an affair in the fall of 2008. It ended before his suicide attempt in January of 2009.
She first spoke to police in 2010 about conversations between her and George. She claimed that George had supposedly told her that his granddaughter’s death had been an accident that had spiraled out of control. At that time, police had asked her if she and George were having an affair, and she said no. But her story