Casey Anthony defense wants hair evidence out; expert raises questions about dogs - OS

Casey Anthony defense wants hair evidence out; expert raises questions about dogs
By Anthony Colarossi and Amy Pavuk, Orlando Sentinel

7:06 p.m. EDT, March 23, 2011

Excerpt:

In the battle over scientific evidence in the Casey Anthony case, the arguments, challenges and questions generally boil down to how the science should be interpreted.

And on Wednesday, the prosecution and the defense dealt with several central, interpretive questions:

How, for instance, should an expert read microscopic discoloration near the root of a single strand of hair? Does this "banding" show someone died?

And how should a cadaver dog's handler interpret a trained final alert? Does such an alert mean a dog actually sensed that human remains were once placed at a certain location?

On Wednesday morning Casey Anthony's defense team challenged how an FBI expert interpreted so-called "post-mortem root banding" on a hair strand collected in the case. By Wednesday afternoon defense attorney Jose Baez questioned the accuracy of cadaver dogs "alerting" on the trunk of Casey Anthony's car and the backyard of her family's home.

READ MORE: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/caylee-anthony/os-casey-anthony-trial-frye-hearing-20110323,0,3062670.story