(CNN) -- Jurors in the capital murder trial of Casey Anthony had a front-row seat this week to the vivid yet imaginary world the Florida mother created in the weeks after 2-year-old daughter Caylee disappeared in 2008.
The jury heard detailed stories from her mother, her brother and finally, Anthony herself, of her business trips to Tampa and visits to an old flame that later proved to be false. Through recordings of Anthony's police interviews, jailhouse visits and a 911 call, the silent woman at the defense table finally spoke.
Throughout the conversations, one sentiment is conveyed to Anthony again and again: stop lying, or face the worst of consequences.
Florida prosecutors say the lies did not end, and now Anthony could face the death penalty. She is charged with seven counts, including first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and misleading police in the 2008 death of daughter Caylee. The last time the little girl was seen was June 16, 2008. She was not reported missing until July 15, 2008, by Cindy Anthony, Casey Anthony's mother. Her body was found in December 2008, in a wooded area less than a mile from the Anthony family home in eastern Orange County.
Anthony, 25, has denied harming her daughter or having anything to do with the little girl's disappearance or death. Her lawyer has said that once all the facts were known, it will become clear his client is innocent.
In a July 16, 2008, police interview, which the jury heard Thursday, Orange County Sheriff's Sgt. John Allen told Anthony the time had come to reveal the truth.
"By burying this ... you are not going to get yourself to a better place, OK," Allen said. "What you're going to do is you're going to cause everybody else around you to suffer. And at some point this is going to come out; it always does."
After arrest, Casey Anthony insisted focus was on finding Caylee
Anthony heard the same sentiment again during in a jailhouse phone call to her mother, also on July 16, 2008. When Anthony blames her mother for her being in jail, Cindy Anthony fights back.
"Well, whose fault is your sitting in the jail?" she asked her daughter. "Blame yourself for telling lies."
The excuses
Testimony earlier in the trial, which began last week in Clearwater, Florida, revealed that Anthony lied to her parents and avoided them for 31 days in the summer of 2008 while Caylee was supposedly missing. This week, jurors learned more about what Anthony told her parents during that time and what she was actually doing.
From the witness stand Tuesday, Anthony's mother described heated confrontations with her daughter on July 15, 2008, after she learned she had been lying about her whereabouts for a month.
Those stories began with Anthony saying she was having a sleepover with a nanny named Zenaida "Zanny" Gonzalez. Then, Anthony was out of town on a work trip to Tampa. By the fourth week, Anthony's story was that she was out of town visiting an old boyfriend named Jeffrey Michael Hopkins.
Cindy Anthony caught her daughter in her lies by discovering she was, in fact, in Orlando with a different boyfriend. By the time her mother called 911 to report Caylee mising, Anthony had a new story.
"I know who has her. She's been my nanny for about a year-and-a-half, almost two years," Anthony told the operator in the July 15, 2008, call, which jurors heard Tuesday.
When asked by the operator why she waited so long to report her daughter missing, Casey replied, "I have been looking for her and have gone through other resources to try to find her, which was stupid."
No comments:
Post a Comment