Casey Anthony's defense team attacks reliability of two state witnesses - OS

by mom_in_il Tue Mar 29, 2011 9:48 pm

Casey Anthony's defense team attacks reliability of two state witnesses
By Anthony Colarossi, Orlando Sentinel
3:13 p.m. EDT, March 29, 2011

Excerpt:

Casey Anthony's defense team today filed new motions attacking the reliability of two important prosecution witnesses that the state wants to testify about science-related matters in the upcoming murder trial.

First, the defense filed a motion attacking "the unreliability of expert opinion testimony" of Dr. David Hall, a forensic botanist for the prosecution.

Hall wrote a report giving an estimate of how long 2-year-old Caylee Marie's remains likely stayed in the heavily wooded spot where they were found in December 2008. Some plant-root growth at the scene and on the child's bones indicates the body had been at the recovery site four months or longer, according to Hall's report.

But the defense, in the motion filed by attorney Cheney Mason, argues that Hall's "opinion is the result of his personal experience as a result of watching roots grow since he was 10-years-old." In addition, Mason argues, Hall "states that there is no methodology utilized in his determinations and there is no supporting data in coming to his conclusions."

READ MORE: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/caylee-anthony/os-casey-anthony-trial-new-motions-20110329,0,2945455.story