Casey Anthony cost records to be public but her experts can testify

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-casey-anthony-budget-hearing-20100506,0,2997370.story

Defense attorneys can still request other documents to be sealed to keep experts secret.

By Sarah Lundy, Orlando Sentinel
8:26 p.m. EDT, May 6, 2010

Casey Anthony's defense team received
some of what it desired in court on Thursday, but its requests for
expenses in the case will still be open to the public.Orange-Osceola
Chief Judge Belvin Perry ruled that the defense can use — and have the
public pay for — more than a dozen expert witnesses they requested to
defend Anthony, the 24-year-old accused of killing her toddler daughter.During
a half-day hearing of a series of defense requests, the judge said the
defense could keep its experts on plants, anthropology, computers,
pathology, forensic chemistry and DNA. And Anthony gets to keep Dr. Henry
Lee, famed criminologist of the O.J.
Simpson case. Prosecutors have their own experts on these topics.Perry
also granted permission for defense to keep its mitigation specialist,
who has critical role in the case if Anthony is found guilty and could
face capital punishment.Perry did warn attorneys that he would go
over the specialist's expenses with "a fine-tooth comb."But
Anthony's team lost a request to keep private the records of how much
the defense will cost. The defense had asked Perry to seal documents to
be submitted to the Justice Administrative Commission, a state agency
that is responsible for paying out defense costs, arguing that not
sealing them would threaten Anthony's right to a fair trial.Revealing
who certain defense experts are could signal certain defense strategies
in the death-penalty case.Defense attorney Jose Baez couldn't
imagine, he said in court Thursday, the "floodgates" every time the
defense files a request for funding.The Orlando Sentinel was the
only media outlet that opposed the defense request, and Baez was less
than amused that the paper has used the public record laws to gain
access to what snacks Anthony buys in jail.Sentinel attorney
Rachel Fugate argued that the public has a right to see how taxpayer
money is used in the case and that the defense request to seal the
documents is too broad.

Anthony in March was found by the court to be indigent, which means
the state will pay defense costs (for experts and travel, for example,
but not for attorney fees).Perry agreed to keep the documents
open — but understood why the defense may not want some expert witnesses
revealed. He would take sealing specific documents on an
expert-by-expert basis, the judge said.Perry also said no to
defense's request to hire a jury consultant, saying the defense can rely
on veteran Orlando defense attorney Cheney Mason, who joined the team
earlier this year. Prosecutors told Perry had not plans to have a jury
consultant.The judge turned down a defense motion to buy two
Pontiac Sunbirds for $6,000 so her legal team could re-create forensic
tests used by the state. He did say Anthony's attorneys could re-submit
their motion if they prove the cars "relevant and necessary" to her
defense.And Perry also ruled that Anthony herself must continue
to appear in court for everything except status hearings when motions
won't be argued.Also Thursday, the defense filed a request for
Perry to reconsider several motions, such as access to grand jury
testimony by Anthony's father and access to records for a volunteer
search group, ruled on by Orange Circuit Court Judge Stan, who stepped
down from the case last month.