Casey Anthony: Will heart-shaped sticker be part of trial?

Casey Anthony: Will heart-shaped sticker be part of trial?
posted by halboedeker on December, 29 2010 6:29 PM

Will Casey Anthony’s defense team be successful in keeping any mention of a heart-shaped sticker out of her murder trial? Stations offered starkly different speculation tonight.

On WESH-Channel 2, Orlando attorney Richard Hornsby predicted that Chief Judge Belvin Perry will find in the defense’s favor. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the prosecution simply conceded on this specific issue,” Hornsby said.

But WFTV-Channel 9 legal analyst Bill Sheaffer predicted the sticker will be part of the trial and that it will be an emotional issue for the jury. “My opinion [is] that this is a matter of weight and credibility of the evidence, not so much a matter of admissibility,” Sheaffer said.

Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her daughter, Caylee. An FBI lab technician found heart-shaped residue on duct tape placed over the toddler’s mouth, according to a detective’s report.

But in a defense motion filed late Tuesday, Jose Baez wrote, “The alleged existence of this phantom image was only seen for a fleeting moment by two fingerprint examiners who did nothing to preserve it or even photograph it so it could be seen by others.”

Baez also wrote: “Despite their complete lack of basis in fact, these reckless and patently untrue statements have exploded in the media and quickly spiraled out of control. There is now a common public perception, contrary to fact, that actual residue of a sticker was found on the duct tape.”

How crucial is the sticker in the case? WFTV’s Jeff Deal said, “If it is admitted, Sheaffer says defense attorneys will likely tell the jurors they shouldn’t give it any kind of credibility. But if it’s not allowed, he says he doesn’t think it’s going to make or break the case because it’s just one small piece in a whole chain of circumstantial evidence.”

Then there’s the matter of the tape itself. On WESH, Hornsby said, “The Henkel brand tape is just something that seems to concretely connect tape found on Caylee to Casey Anthony because it was found at her home.”

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2010/12/casey-anthony-will-heart-shaped-sticker-be-part-of-trial.html