Casey Anthony: Cindy’s ‘I love you,’ Casey’s shrug, a flop ending? = Hal

Casey Anthony: Cindy’s ‘I love you,’ Casey’s shrug, a flop ending?
posted by halboedeker on June, 14 2011 6:40 PM

Cindy Anthony was drawing a great deal of attention during coverage today of her daughter’s murder trial.

Adam Longo of Central Florida News 13 highlighted that Cindy, when leaving the witness stand, mouthed “I love you” to Casey Anthony. Casey gave her mother a “nonverbal, kind of shrug response,” Longo said. Casey is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her daughter, Caylee.

Amanda Ober of WESH-Channel 2 also highlighted that Cindy “did make eye contact with Casey and mouth the words ’I love you.’ That was the first type of interaction we’ve seen between the two of them during the trial.”

Cindy Anthony’s style on the stand drew scrutiny, too. “In seeing how she’s reacting with [defense attorney Jose] Baez, she didn’t want to look at him,” WFTV-Channel 9 legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said. “Her answers have been very short: yes, no, somewhat crisp. I don’t think she was trying to help the defense at all in her earlier direct examination. To me, she seems to be over Mr. Baez and not liking him or this defense team very much at this point.”

WFTV’s Kathi Belich noted that the defense tried to highlight Cindy Anthony’s previous inconsistent statements. “Cindy was once on Casey’s side, but now that Casey has accused George of sexual abuse and a cover-up, Cindy is testifying for the prosecution,” Belich said. The defense in its opening statement accused George Anthony of sexually abusing daughter Casey.

Sheaffer added that Cindy “now has to square her testimony at trial with her prior deposition testimony, and that’s the tightrope she walks.”

WKMG-Channel 6’s Tony Pipitone said that Cindy Anthony connected items found at the crime scene to the home. “But she was not very helpful to the state as they may have wanted her to be,” Pipitone said. WKMG showed footage of Cindy glancing toward Casey and smiling before taking the stand.

WESH explored how the state wrapped up its case and used Casey’s Bella Vita tattoo as an image to leave with the jury.

WESH’s Bob Kealing highlighted that Casey made an appointment for the tattoo, wanted feminine lettering and paid $65 for it in July 2008. The state says “this is far more than just a tattoo,” Kealing said. “They say it was Casey’s declaration of independence.”

There was more about the tattoo in a discussion on WESH. “It’s a graphic thing that’s part of her body now, to remind them of her behavior all the way through this,” veteran attorney Jeff Deen said of Casey. “The fact that she’s even getting a tattoo — unless it says something like I miss my daughter — is provocative.” Deen also said that Casey’s making an appointment for the tattoo says she wasn’t thinking about her daughter.

If the state wanted to end with a bang, the tattoo “wasn’t a great bang to begin with,” said Judge O.H. Eaton Jr, WESH’s legal analyst. “The prosecutor asked one question too many, so it really turned into a flop. But that’s the end of their witness testimony.”

Yet WKMG legal analyst Mark NeJame said the state was doing housekeeping and clearing up remaining points. “They are establishing there are no other viable options than Casey who killed Caylee,” NeJame said. “That’s why all these last-minute matters are being tidied up to show that all roads lead to Casey Anthony and there are no other options.”

WOFL-Channel 35 legal analyst Hal Uhrig gave a trial overview: “I think the jury is going to tend to believe Casey has done all of this, but that’s not the rule. The test is can the state prove it beyond the exclusion of every reasonable doubt and discount any plausible hypothesis by the defense. The defense doesn’t have a very high burden to reach in order to knock down just enough of that to make it plausible.”

What do you think?

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2011/06/casey-anthony-cindys-i-love-you-caseys-shrug-a-flop-ending.html