Casey Anthony: Is Jose Baez mind-numbing or clever? - Hal

Casey Anthony: Is Jose Baez mind-numbing or clever?
posted by halboedeker on June, 16 2011 1:02 PM

How was the defense doing Thursday as it started presenting its case in the Casey Anthony trial?

The reactions varied widely.

It was “a very rough start,” WFTV-Channel 9 legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said.

Sheaffer said the questioning of a FBI DNA expert was tedious and laborious. “This may have been effective, it may still be effective,” Sheaffer said. “But I think it would have been more effective had Mr. Baez not made that opening statement promising so much involving conspiracy, child molestation, hiding and transferring the body.”

Yet Judge O.H. Eaton Jr., the legal analyst for WESH-Channel 2, said the prosecution was not having a good day. “When they closed their case yesterday morning, they did so with a very emphatic feeling that they had proven this circumstantial evidence case,” Eaton said. “They let everybody have that impression that they were positive they were right and nobody else could be possibly right.”

But defense attorney Jose Baez started calling witnesses “to show there is a lack of evidence on a lot of things,” Eaton added. “Lack of evidence is where they are going right now.”

Eaton’s take on Baez’s performance? “I think he’s got ‘em on the ropes,” the judge said.

WKMG-Channel 6’s Tony Pipitone said the defense’s questioning was an attempt to show how careful and thorough crime scene investigators were in collecting evidence. ”The defense did a good job” in raising doubt about DNA, Pipitone said.

Earlier, WFTV anchor Greg Warmoth asked if the questioning of the DNA expert was a win for the defense in creating reasonable doubt.

“No, it’s mind-numbing,” Sheaffer shot back. “The jury must think we’ve had a great lesson in DNA analysis, but what does it mean to this case? There was a point there, but I think that he lost it by his continually droning on.”

Judge Alex Ferrer, who is offering analysis for WOFL-Channel 35, said of Baez, “He’s making my eyes glaze over” with the scientific evidence. Ferrer added that the purely scientific evidence is the hardest for the jury to understand because it’s over everyone’s head.

WFTV’s Steve Barrett described the defense’s start: ”To call it a slow start might actually be an understatement.”

Barrett also noted that Baez erred when asking about a blanket of Caylee’s that had not been put into evidence yet. But Barrett highlighted the fireworks over testimony about a shovel when Chief Judge Belvin Perry “scolded” prosecutor Jeff Ashton and told Ashton to calm down.

There were more fireworks right before the lunch break. The cause: Baez’s questions about a paternity test for Lee Anthony, Casey’s brother. WKMG’s Mike DeForest reported that “prosecution is claiming that Jose Baez acted in complete bad faith by asking this question that he already knew the answer to.”

WFTV’s Sheaffer said that Baez was “insinuating through his question is that even law enforcement might have suspected that Lee may have abused Casey sexually when she was younger.”

DeForest explained that Baez “was trying to raise this specter that law enforcement must have been so concerned about incest in the family that they would even request this test to confirm whether Lee Anthony was Caylee’s father.” DNA tests confirm that neither Lee nor George Anthony was Caylee’s father, DeForest reminded viewers.

WKMG anchor Matt Austin’s take: “What a wild ending to that morning court session.”

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2011/06/casey-anthony-is-jose-baez-mind-numbing-or-clever.html