Testimony ends in Anthony trial, closings next

  By KYLE HIGHTOWERORLANDO, Fla. -- Prosecutors in the Casey Anthony murder trial called witnesses Friday to bolster their contention that the woman's mother couldn't have been home to perform Internet searches for a harmful chemical.

Testimony by two of Cindy Anthony's co-workers - among the last of the trial - was intended to disprove her surprising assertion this week that she was the one who keyed in searches for the term "chloroform." Prosecutors have argued that Casey Anthony made the searches as she plotted to kill her 2-year-old daughter in 2008.

Prosecutors used parts of Friday and the previous day to give their rebuttal to the defense's case. Closing arguments are expected to take place Sunday, after which jury deliberations will begin.

Gentiva Health Services Chief Compliance Officer John Camperlengo answered questions about Cindy Anthony's work history on two days in March 2008 when the "chloroform" searches were done on a computer at the Anthony household. The company's electronic records show that she was logged into her company's system for most of the day on both March 17 and March 21.

Using the latter date as an example, Camperlengo said the system would not have recorded Anthony's presence if a person hadn't been actively using the work computer.

"Someone human was pushing the enter button to enter data," he said Friday.

Cindy Anthony's supervisor at Gentiva, Deborah Polisano, also testified that electronic work records show that Cindy Anthony was on the clock for 10 hours on March 17 and nine hours on March 21.

Earlier this week, Cindy Anthony testified that she had performed the Internet searches for "chloroform" while looking up information on chlorophyll, a green pigment found in plants.

Chloroform, on the other hand, is a chemical that can be used as a sedative and is fatal to children in small doses.

She testified that she was home on the days when the computer searches were run. She said she could leave work when she wanted, and that the work records might not have reflected her absence.

Casey Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in the 2008 death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. If convicted of that charge, she could face the death penalty. The prosecution contends she used duct tape to suffocate the toddler, while the defense says the girl accidentally drowned in her grandparents' above-ground swimming pool.

Also Friday, forensic anthropologist Michael Warren was called back to dispute a defense expert's claim that the medical examiner made a mistake by failing to saw open Caylee's skull to examine it.

The defense has tried to cast doubt on the forensic evidence in the trial.

"No sir, there is no protocol that I'm aware of to do that," Warren said.

Both sides have Saturday off to settle on final instructions for the jury, and prepare their closing arguments.

Earlier Friday, lead defense attorney Jose Baez said prosecutors had failed to disclose all the information a computer expert and forensic anthropologist planned to testify about. Baez wanted the evidence and witnesses to be excluded, but Perry only gave him the option of taking their depositions.

He did, causing an unscheduled recess that lasted throughout the morning.

"Your honor, I will stay here and do the work, and stay here as long as it takes," Baez said.

While the defense rested Thursday, experts said defense attorneys may have left lingering questions and failed to deliver on promises they made at the outset to explain how the toddler died.

Casey Anthony did not take the stand, and the defense did not present concrete evidence that Caylee accidentally drowned.

Her attorneys also never produced any witnesses bolstering the claim made in opening statements that Anthony had acted without apparent remorse in the weeks after her daughter's death because she had been molested by her father as a child, resulting in emotional problems.

The prosecutors' case relied on circumstantial and forensic evidence, and it did have holes. They had no witnesses who saw the killing or saw Casey Anthony with her daughter's body. And there was no certain proof that the child suffocated.

The defense said in its opening statement that Caylee drowned and that her grandfather George Anthony, a former police officer, helped cover up the death by making it look like a homicide and dumping the body near their home, where it was found by a meter reader six months later. George Anthony has vehemently denied any involvement in Caylee's death, the disposal of her body or molesting his daughter, Casey.

(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) Get more U.S. & World News »

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Emotional testimony marks 6th day of Anthony trial

  By KYLE HIGHTOWERORLANDO, Fla. -- The mother of a Florida woman charged in the death of her 2-year-old daughter cried and buried her face in her hands Tuesday as prosecutors played a series of 911 calls, including one that reported that the toddler had been missing for 31 days.

Cindy Anthony became emotional during the sixth day of testimony in the murder trial of her 25-year-old daughter, Casey Anthony.

During the final 911 call played, Cindy Anthony said her daughter had just told her that her 2-year-old granddaughter, Caylee, had been missing for 31 days.

Casey Anthony is charged with first-degree murder and could be sentenced to death if convicted. She has pleaded not guilty and initially said a babysitter took the child. Her defense attorney now contends Caylee died in an accidental drowning in the family's swimming pool. The prosecution says Caylee was suffocated by duct tape placed over her mouth.

The 911 calls solicited the most emotional witness testimony to date. On a handful of occasions, jurors could be seen glancing in the direction of Casey, who also cried several times during her mother's testimony. Jurors also looked toward Casey when the prosecution played a recording of her first call home from jail following her July 16, 2008, arrest.

Judge Belvin Perry stopped the proceedings twice for 5-minute recesses to allow Cindy Anthony her to regain composure. During one of the breaks, her husband, George Anthony, had to hold her up as they walked outside.

Minutes before listening to the 911 call in the courtroom, Cindy Anthony recounted how she had overheard Casey Anthony telling her brother that Caylee had been missing for a month.

"I lost it," Cindy Anthony said between sobs. "I just went into the room and yelled at Casey, `What do you mean she's been gone? Why didn't you tell us?"'

Later in the day, Casey's friend Amy Huizenga testified about witnessing an argument between Casey and her mother had when she tracked Casey down at her boyfriend's apartment July 15 - the same day of the 911 calls.

"It was very confrontational," Huizenga said. "A massive explosion of mother and daughter."

Huizenga also testified about text messages she exchanged with Casey in late June in which Casey spoke of needing to get rid of a "bad smell" in her car.

"There was definitely a dead animal plastered to the front of my car," Casey texted Huizenga.

Earlier in the morning, Cindy Anthony also testified about the car that Casey Anthony had been driving. The car was abandoned and then towed to a lot where her father picked it up in mid-July 2008.

In the 911 call, Cindy Anthony described the odor in the car as that of a dead body. But she said Tuesday that it was merely an expression she used and at that moment she didn't think a body had been in the car.

Prosecutors contend the odor in the car came from human decomposition, but defense attorneys claim it was from rotting garbage.

Cindy Anthony said she opened the car's windows and trunk to air it out, and George Anthony took the battery out of the car because they feared Casey Anthony would return home and try to take the vehicle.

At the time the car was retrieved from the towing lot, Casey Anthony had refused to come home for several weeks, Cindy Anthony told jurors. Casey Anthony had told her mother in a phone call that she needed space.

Under cross-examination, Cindy Anthony described Casey as a "very loving, caring mother."

Defense attorney Jose Baez then questioned her about on the numerous people Casey had spoken of over the past three years that Cindy has since learned don't exist.

Part of the defense's theory is that Casey lived in an imaginary dream world, which helped to explain her erratic behavior during the month when Caylee is believed to have been missing. The prosecution has previously shown evidence of Casey shopping and partying during that time.

"I trusted Casey," Cindy Anthony said. "She never gave me any reason not to believe in her."

Baez also tried to bolster the defense's drowning theory. He asked her about numerous unanswered calls Casey placed to her mother on June 16- the day they say the drowning took place.

Cindy Anthony admitted to seeing the gate to the pool unlocked that day, but also said it could only be locked from the inside.

Under re-direct examination by state attorney Linda Drane Burdick, Cindy said Caylee was never able to open the gate.

"It was too tall for her," she said.

(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) Get more U.S. & World News »

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