CASEY ANTHONY TRIAL: CANINES AND COMPUTERS!

 Marion Pellicano Ambrose

Osceola County Canine Sgt. Kristin Brewer testified this morning about what she and her canine, Bones experienced when checking the Anthony back yard. Bones alerted to human decomposition on the same spot in front of Caylee’s playhouse as Orange County Canine Gerus alerted to on the first investigation. The next day neither dog alerted on the spot. Sgt. Brewer stated that whatever evidence had been there was most likely scraped away when investigators removed the topsoil looking for further evidence.

Detective Sandra Osborne of the Orange County Sheriff's  Office then took the witness stand to testify about photos and Internet searches on a computer at Casey Anthony's home. Prosecutors have said previously that an Internet search on chloroform was conducted with the computer.

CASEY ANTHONY: JUNE 7th AFTERNOON UPDATE

Marion Pellicano Ambrose

Deputy Forgey and Gerus

Judge Belvin Perry dismissed the jury a little early today after the testimony of Orange County Deputy Jason Forgey and videos of the canine search for remains. Deputy Forgey remained calm even as Baez poured on the pressure. He was also cross examined intensely by the Prosecution.  The Defense hoped to prove that Forgey was speculating on the behavior of his canine, Gerus.  Forgey reported that his canine jumped into Anthony’s car and made a beeline for the back seat, reaching toward the trunk. When led to the trunk, Gerus gave his “final alert” indicating that he detected the presence of decomposition of a human body. The dog also hit on an area in front of Caylee’s playhouse in the Anthony’s back yard. The impressive record and education of the dog was highlighted, as was the training and experience of Deputy Forgey.

FBI agent Dr. Michael Rickenbach testified today that he found miniscule amounts of dried chloroform residue in the carpet of the car. Baez pointed out that the amount of chloroform found was equal to that of what could be found in cleaning products.  This was in contrast to previous testimony that large amounts of chloroform were found in the air sample.

Judge Perry will start the day tomorrow with the testimony of yet another Canine Officer. He chose to wait until tomorrow rather than keep jurors past their usual end time of 5pm. The judge announced that he had several details to work out which included meals and scheduling for tomorrow.

CASEY ANTHONY TRIAL: THE FORENSIC EVIDENCE

Marion Pellicano Ambrose

The Casey Anthony trial resumed today and the first witness called was Dr. Arpad Vass, researcher at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (aka “The Body Farm”) in Tennessee. Vass has discovered a new technique for detecting human decomposition from air samples. Vass testified that the odor of human decomposition is different than the smell of animal decomposition.

"I jumped back a foot or two," Vass said of the odor he detected when opening a can containing an air sample from Casey’s car, "It was shocking that strong of an odor could be in that little can."
Vass presented charts showing high levels of certain compounds in samples taken from Anthony's car. One of the compounds present, chloroform, Vass said was found in "shockingly high" amounts on a sample taken from a stained portion of carpet in Anthony's trunk.

The Prosecution hopes to prove that traces of Caylee’s decomposing body were found in the carpet of Casey’s car.  Defense attorney Baez dismissed the evidence calling it “junk science”

 Over the weekend Orange County Sheriff's Office crime scene supervisor Michael Vincent testified saying that he helped obtain several air samples from the car trunk. Vincent said air samples also were taken from a bag of trash that had been in the car trunk. Vincent assisted in the processing of Anthony's car in July 2008, collecting stain and air samples from the vehicle, including the trunk. Vincent said processing Anthony's car was the first time that he had ever collected an air sample. Again Baez dismissed the evidence saying that it was too new and unprecedented.

On Saturday, FBI forensic expert Karen Korsberg Lowe testified as an expert that one hair removed from the trunk of Casey Anthony's car was consistent with hair from a dead person and was similar to hair pulled off Caylee Anthony's brush. Under cross-examination Lowe said that she could not be 100 percent certain that the hair was from a dead person or specifically from Caylee.

There’s a lot on the line for Casey Anthony, who is facing the death penalty if convicted. She has seven counts against her, including first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and misleading investigators.

Justice for Caylee