Casey Anthony Civil Trials Discussion

[usnuzuloose]

Maybe Cassey willl request those jurors.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

Updates on today's hearing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R13yQJekSN8

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/en...naida-gonzalezs-lawyer-turns-up-the-heat.html

The trial is, at the moment, set for April. The decision regarding today's hearing (re: ZFG wanting to wait to give her deposition until after Casey actually answers questions) is expected today or tomorrow.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

Casey wins again:

Casey Anthony: Judge denies motion to delay Zenaida's deposition

http://www.cfnews13.com/article/new...ge-denies-motion-to-delay-Zenaidas-deposition

By Adam Longo, Reporter
Last Updated: Thursday, November 10, 2011 11:53 AM

Orlando: A judge has shot down a request to delay Zenaida Gonzalez's deposition in her civil case against Casey Anthony.

Late Thursday morning, Judge Lisa Munyon denied a motion to postpone the deposition until after Gonzalez's attorneys at the Morgan & Morgan law firm can depose Casey without her pleading the Fifth Amendment.

Casey Anthony's lawyers called the motion a tactic to try and keep Gonzalez from answering questions about how much money she may have received because of this case.

But the judge's ruling now enables Casey to hear what Zenaida has to say before she gives her own statement.

Another hearing is set for December to decide if Casey will have to answer questions she refused to answer during her initial deposition.

The civil trial is scheduled to begin in April.

 

[Feralpeg]

Defense attorney, Chaney Mason, was rushed to the hospital today. He was supposed to speak at an event for journalism students. He appeared ill when he arrived at the event. He was unsteady and had slurred speech. Those who saw him at the event said he appeared to be having either a heart attack or a stroke.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/en...s-feeling-something-he-hadnt-felt-before.html

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

Defense attorney, Chaney Mason, was rushed to the hospital today. He was supposed to speak at an event for journalism students. He appeared ill when he arrived at the event. He was unsteady and had slurred speech. Those who saw him at the event said he appeared to be having either a heart attack or a stroke.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/en...s-feeling-something-he-hadnt-felt-before.html

Ugh. That's awful. I do hope he's OK.

 

[CurlyGirl]

Casey wins again:

Casey Anthony: Judge denies motion to delay Zenaida's deposition

http://www.cfnews13.com/article/new...ge-denies-motion-to-delay-Zenaidas-deposition

By Adam Longo, Reporter
Last Updated: Thursday, November 10, 2011 11:53 AM

Orlando: A judge has shot down a request to delay Zenaida Gonzalez's deposition in her civil case against Casey Anthony.

Late Thursday morning, Judge Lisa Munyon denied a motion to postpone the deposition until after Gonzalez's attorneys at the Morgan & Morgan law firm can depose Casey without her pleading the Fifth Amendment.

Casey Anthony's lawyers called the motion a tactic to try and keep Gonzalez from answering questions about how much money she may have received because of this case.

But the judge's ruling now enables Casey to hear what Zenaida has to say before she gives her own statement.

Another hearing is set for December to decide if Casey will have to answer questions she refused to answer during her initial deposition.

The civil trial is scheduled to begin in April.

Wow -- there are some judges in FL that are as pathetic as the 12 jurors on Casey's trial ... go figure.

Defense attorney, Chaney Mason, was rushed to the hospital today. He was supposed to speak at an event for journalism students. He appeared ill when he arrived at the event. He was unsteady and had slurred speech. Those who saw him at the event said he appeared to be having either a heart attack or a stroke.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/en...s-feeling-something-he-hadnt-felt-before.html

Wow -- as much as I despise him, I honestly do hope he's ok and will fully recover!

 

[usnuzuloose]

I am tired of hearing this judge giving into Cassey. Hope Mr. Mason is ok.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/en...s-feeling-something-he-hadnt-felt-before.html

Didn't read the whole article until now:

"Oestreich reminded viewers that Mason recently said he’s writing a book on the Anthony case."

Dueling books...Ashton and Mason. Interesting.

 

[CurlyGirl]

Ashton's book I'll buy. Mason's ... not so much.

 

[Nancy]

Ashton's book I'll buy. Mason's ... not so much.

I'll second that. Wouldn't buy anything the defense team put out.

That said, I do hope he's OK..I wouldn't wish ill health on anyone. (too afraid of karma)

 

[LisaR]

I'll second that. Wouldn't buy anything the defense team put out.

That said, I do hope he's OK..I wouldn't wish ill health on anyone. (too afraid of karma)

I agree on all points!

 

[Seahunt]

I'll second that. Wouldn't buy anything the defense team put out.

That said, I do hope he's OK..I wouldn't wish ill health on anyone. (too afraid of karma)

Me three!

Reporter Tony Pipitone was there when Mason started feeling ill and he reported:

“Mason was clearly unsteady and appeared a little weak,” Pipitone said.

Mason, who is 67, was later transported to Halifax Medical Center. Pipitone talked to him before he departed.

“He said he was feeling something he hadn’t felt before,” Pipitone said. “He seemed a little unsteady, as I said, a little bit weak, but he seemed to be his old self, swearing mildly when they lifted up the gurney.”

But is it very wrong of me to LOL at some of the snarky comments left by readers about this report? I hope not, because some just made me

Well at least we know it’s not a heart attack as that would actually require a heart.

Was that Baez chasing the ambulance?

They’re doing toxicology tests on Mason. It won’t look good for swampy if they find chloroform.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/en...s-feeling-something-he-hadnt-felt-before.html


FYI Casey is #3 candidate for online voting of Time's person of the year I voted NO
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2098471_2098472_2098518,00.html

 

[LisaR]

Was that Baez chasing the ambulance?

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

FYI Casey is #3 candidate for online voting of Time's person of the year I voted NO
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2098471_2098472_2098518,00.html

OK, I was outraged at the thought, and I do have a problem with Time's whole person of the year and who they pick, but the public isn't actually voting for the person of the year, right? The editors do, and they just want to know what people think. Right??

Here's part of what they say about her: "the sensational event forced us to take a close look at some difficult issues, from the role of the press in our justice system to the way female defendants are viewed. It's an ongoing discussion that goes far beyond one woman's innocence or guilt."

What Casey did was kill her daughter and lie like crazy. How would that make her person of the year? Even by that last line I bolded...what happened with the case goes far beyond Casey Anthony. It's not about her. Maybe we should be making the jury "person of the year"?

I get that it's someone which had a huge impact, and not necessarily a GOOD person. Yeah, I get that. But, in this case, if you want to get to the nuts and bolts about what was big about Casey Anthony maybe they should make Florida's Sunshine Laws "person of the year." Or the Internet/media.

But Casey Anthony, when what SHE actually did was kill and lie? No.

But hey, Kim Kardashian is one of the considerations too. What does that tell ya.
​

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

Opening statement still haunts Baez, Casey Anthony

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/os-jose-baez-opening-statement-questions-20111108,0,3818527.story

By Anthony Colarossi, Orlando Sentinel 8:49 p.m. CST, November 13, 2011

The opening statement defense attorney José Baez delivered during Casey Anthony's criminal trial continues to shadow the lawyer and haunt his client.

Lawyers attending a recent Orange County Bar Association forum titled "Lessons in Ethics & Professionalism From the Casey Anthony Trial" asked pointed questions about the controversial opening.

Two civil lawsuits filed against 25-year-old Anthony, meanwhile, ask whether she allowed untruths to be presented on her behalf and whether Baez gave false statements in his opening to the jury, court filings show. One expert who has followed the case said the issue might ultimately lead Anthony's camp to consider settlements in both ongoing civil suits.

Jurors ultimately acquitted Anthony of her most serious charges, including first-degree murder. She was convicted of lying to law enforcement. It's not clear whether the opening influenced the verdicts.

Anthony's initial claims that a nanny abducted her daughter, Caylee, have long since been exposed as lies, but many also doubt the truth of her lawyer's courtroom account of the child's death.

On May 24, Baez told jurors Anthony knew Caylee never went missing but had drowned in the family pool June 16, 2008. He also said Casey's father, George, knew of the drowning and had sexually abused Casey.

Legal experts agree such a defense could create reasonable doubt in jurors' minds. But the claims, for the most part, were not supported by evidence. The unkept promises apparently didn't matter to Anthony's jury.

Yet questions in the legal community linger: Was that opening ethical? And will the genesis of its unsupported claims ever be exposed in the lawsuits against Anthony?

'Within ethical boundaries'

Professor Amy Mashburn, who teaches professional responsibility and legal ethics at the University of Florida College of Law, fielded some of the sticky ethical questions offered up during last month's Orange County Bar session.

In a later interview, Mashburn said, "It's unlikely that we're ever going to know" whether an ethical violation occurred. What we do know, she said, is: Lawyers cannot make things up. They cannot allude to any matter at trial for which they don't have admissible supporting evidence. And they cannot offer false evidence.

But if at the time of his opening Baez believed his client would testify about the abuse and the drowning — even if he advised against her testifying — and if he believed he could effectively cross-examine her family members, then he could give that opening on firm ethical footing, Mashburn said.

If he knew Anthony would not testify and that he would have to support his claims largely through cross-examination of her family, which is what eventually happened, "that's more ethically problematic," Mashburn said.

Baez said he did not attend the ethics discussion here because he was invited to speak to a class at Harvard Law School that week. He said he could not address specific questions about his opening without Anthony's consent, but criticized those who question his words without knowing the facts he had at the time.

"Every single word we gave at openings and closings was completely aboveboard and within the ethical boundaries of an attorney," Baez said. "Everything that was said during the opening, we had a good-faith basis for."

Asked whether he expected Anthony to testify when he gave the opening, Baez offered a general statement he said holds true for all of his clients.

"It's a game-time decision [whether a client testifies]," Baez said. "That decision is not made until the end of the case, and the client makes it."

Because only Baez knows the information he had going into that opening, Mashburn said, "there's still some very basic things about this we don't know and won't ever know."

She also maintains it would have been a "really risky strategy" for Baez to make promises he knew he could never deliver, noting that juries usually hold that against an attorney.

Charles Rose, the professor of Excellence in Trial Advocacy at Stetson University College of Law, said most trial lawyers looking at the case never thought Anthony would testify. And if she told Baez the drowning and abuse stories, based on her history of lies, he had an obligation to fully investigate those accounts and find evidence to support them.

Rose said the story Baez gave at the opening "did not seem to be supported by the evidence presented."

We may never know

Though Baez may move on unscathed — he has picked up at least one more high-profile case recently — his opening statement appears more problematic for Anthony in the civil cases.

"It's going to be very difficult for her to walk away from the concessions he made in the opening," Mashburn said. "Clients are bound by admissions lawyers make on their behalf. She can't subsequently say, 'I believed there was a nanny.' "

That is likely why attorneys representing Zenaida Gonzalez want to again depose Anthony and have her answer questions about her initial claims that a nanny with the same name as Gonzalez's abducted Caylee.

A hearing last week had attorneys for Gonzalez asking the judge handling the case to compel Anthony to give full answers to their questions before Gonzalez is deposed. But the judge determined Gonzalez can be questioned first.

During her Oct. 8 deposition, Anthony — through her attorney — repeatedly invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, relying on the ongoing appeal of her convictions. She also claimed attorney-client privilege several times.

Many of Gonzalez attorney John Morgan's questions focused on the Baez opening.

"Miss Anthony, in your criminal trial here in Orange County, you attorney stated that there was never, in fact, a Zenaida Gonzalez, a Zanny the Nanny or any such person. Did you hear that?" Morgan asked.

She gave no answer.

He later asked, "Was he [Baez] being truthful when he said that or was he lying to the court?"

Again, no answer.

Attorneys in the Texas EquuSearch lawsuit against Anthony asked in court papers, "Please identify every statement by Mr. Baez which was false." Anthony's team objected to those questions as well.

If Anthony's appeal runs its course, eventually she will be made to answer the inquiries and explain the opening, Rose said.

"If I was her civil lawyers… I would try to make all this go away before I was put in that position," Rose said.

Her legal team could reach settlements with Gonzalez and Texas EquuSearch, and presumably any monetary amounts could be based on her anticipated future earnings.

"At some point, there's going to be money made, a lot of money," said Rose, who still expects a Casey Anthony book deal and interviews.

But Rose doesn't think Anthony's version of what happened to her daughter will approach the truth.

"As long as she has a lawyer, it will not be unvarnished," Rose said. "It will be homogenized, and for Miss Anthony's benefit. We're not ever going to know what really happened."

acolarossi@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5447

 

[wvjules]

Has anyone started reading Ashton's book yet? Mine is at home waiting on my door step.

As for the above article, Baez is "ethically problematic".

 

[joviroxx]

Has anyone started reading Ashton's book yet? Mine is at home waiting on my door step.

As for the above article, Baez is "ethically problematic".

I got my email yesterday that amazon had shipped it. I should get it tomorrow!


Its just fitting that CA's attorney is "ethically problematic". They belong together

 

[LisaR]

I got my email yesterday that amazon had shipped it. I should get it tomorrow!


Its just fitting that CA's attorney is "ethically problematic". They belong together

Same! Can't wait to start reading it.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Has anyone seen the Law and Order Special Victims called Selfish? Boy it sounds like CA story. I wonder if she got some of the ideas off of that including One Tree Hill.

I need to order the book yet.

 

[joviroxx]

Same! Can't wait to start reading it.

Had a plumbing emergency last night so Im home waiting on the plumbers. Book got delivered to my office.. UGH, another day to wait.