Casey Anthony: Oft-maligned Jose Baez gains good reviews - Hal

Casey Anthony: Oft-maligned Jose Baez gains good reviews
posted by halboedeker on June, 16 2011 6:05 PM

When the defense started its case today at the Casey Anthony trial, something unusual happened: Jose Baez started getting good reviews from TV’s legal analysts.

There was one big exception: WFTV-Channel 9 legal analyst Bill Sheaffer had little good to say about the defense.

“The defense has not advanced any of the theories set forth in its opening statement,” said Sheaffer, who expected a strong start. “We heard instead some mind-numbing testimony that was designed to try to raise, in the jurors’ mind, reasonable doubt based upon on the lack of the evidence.”

Sheaffer also complained about the slow pace and joked that Chief Judge Belvin Perry will be asking of the jury, “Is anyone allergic to eggnog with their Christmas dinner?”

But other legal analysts saluted defense attorney Baez’s work. WKMG-Channel 6’s Mark O’Mara said there were no bombshells, but Baez threw out possibilities for the jury to consider. “That’s pretty decent defense work,” O’Mara said.

WKMG’s Tony Pipitone said, “In one day, the defense knocked down a half dozen or more pieces of evidence the state had spent three weeks building up trying to prove Casey Anthony is guilty of murder.” Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her daughter, Caylee.

David Fussell of Central Florida News 13 said, “Overall, I think the defense did a good job today, and they scored a lot of points showing that the evidence is not as the state led the jury to believe in their case.”

News 13’s Adam Longo cited a couple of Baez’s best moments in questioning: showing there was no image of a heart-shaped sticker on the duct tape found with Caylee’s remains and revealing that the trash bags from the Anthony home didn’t match what was found with the toddler’s body.

WESH-Channel 2 anchor Jim Payne contrasted the two sides in the trial: The state built its case brick by brick, but the defense was trying to pull one brick out of the wall at a time.

“It’s been very effective today, quite frankly,” said Judge O.H. Eaton Jr., legal analyst for WESH, said of the defense. Eaton said that Baez, with every witness today, has established a lack of evidence. “When the FBI examiner contaminated what’s claimed to be the murder weapon — that’s pretty bad,” Eaton said with a chuckle. “That was an interesting moment today.”

WESH’s Bob Kealing said that Baez “slowly made his points” by stressing holes in the state’s forensics case. WESH legal analyst Richard Hornsby also said Baez did “very well” in showing that a top FBI lab had contaminated a piece of evidence even when following the protocols.

Hornsby said that Baez raised a legitimate point in asking about a paternity test for Lee Anthony. The test showed that Casey’s brother wasn’t Caylee’s father.

The state gave a sterile version of the Anthony household — “you thought of them as just your normal family,” Hornsby said. “But law enforcement and the state know the Anthony family was dysfunctional, and there was a reason. He [Baez] was trying to tell the jury, ‘Listen, this family isn’t who the state portrayed them to be.’ “

Also today:

WOFL-Channel 35 legal analyst Diana Tennis saw problems with Casey Anthony’s appearance today. “I generally don’t care about that kind of stuff,” Tennis said. But Tennis said that Anthony’s white shirt today — which Tennis saw as weird, slouchy and disrespectful — was a tip-off that the defendant wouldn’t be testifying.

WKMG-Channel 6’s Mike DeForest reported that bounty hunter Leonard Padilla had been in front of the Anthony family home with a news crew last night. George Anthony, on advice of his attorney, called the sheriff’s office to get Padilla out of there, and the bounty hunter cleared out, DeForest reported.

WOFL’s Shannon Butler revealed that Padilla was with a Fox News Channel crew, which was filming near the Anthony home. “George Anthony just didn’t like the situation that was going on,” Butler said.

The prosecution was getting good reviews, too. WESH’s Bob Kealing highlighted that prosecutor Linda Drane Burdick scored by getting crime scene investigator Jennifer Welch to say that Caylee’s remains were found in a trash dump. “The jury has been taking a lot of notes, looking at their notes, paying very close attention all day today,” Kealing said.

WKMG’s DeForest described Burdick’s quick questioning of Welch as “a sucker punch to Jose Baez.” DeForest added, “Here you have Linda Drane Burdick bringing it home that Caylee Anthony’s body was disposed like trash.”

In a personal moment, WFTV’s Sheaffer talked about why he believed the state had proved its case through presentation of evidence. “I take no great pleasure in this,” he said. “I’m waiting because the defense can overcome … that in their case, raise this reasonable doubt through the presentation of their case. I’m waiting for that, the jury is waiting for that.”

What did you think?

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2011/06/casey-anthony-oft-maligned-jose-baez-gains-good-reviews.html