On Friday, prosecutors presented witnesses who testified there was the smell of human decomposition emanating from Casey Anthony’s car, bolstering their case that Caylee’s decomposing body was in the trunk for sometime.
Simon Burch, the operations manager at Johnson’s Wrecker where Casey’s car had been towed, told jurors that, as standard practice, he undertook a cursory inspection of the vehicle, after about four or five days of the car being at the tow yard. Burch said as he inspected the car visually, he noticed a “fairly strong odor emanating from the vehicle.”
Burch, who said he has almost 30 years experience in towing vehicles, explained that, on several occasions he had smelled human decomposition in the past and had become quite familiar with being able to distinguish between various odors.
Burch told the court when George Anthony, Casey’s father came to collect the car and he opened the door the smell of human decomposition was even more pronounced. Similarly, when the trunk of the car was opened, Burch said, “the odor was even more strong and flies flew out.” He also said that there was a white standard garbage bag in the trunk that contained a pizza box and papers, which he tossed into the garbage.
George Anthony was called for a third time this week back to the stand. He told jurors when he went to pick up Casey’s car, as he approached it, there was a stong odor.
“I was concerned about the odor”, George Anthony testified. “I had smelled something like this before. This is a distinct odor. Once you smell it you never forget.”
George also told the court that his mind did race as he worried for his daughter and granddaughter, with whom he had not been in contact or seen for several weeks.
“I did not want to believe what I was smelling,” George said.
He said he offered a silent prayer as he began to unlock the car, “please God don’t let this be Casey or Caylee”, and was relieved not to see anything inside. George said that even after the white bag with the pizza box and plastic container was tossed out, the smell was “still very stong.” Although it was raining, he drove the vehicle away with the windows down because of the over-powering smell.
George said he did notice a stain on the spare tire carpet in the trunk of the car, the size of a basketball.
Lead defense attorney Jose Baez, subjected George to some tough cross-examination. The defense has claimed that little Caylee accidentally drowned in the family swimming pool on June 16, 2008 and George disposed of the body and covered it up.
“You smelled decomposition, but didn’t call police?” Baez asked George.
“No, I did not”, George replied.
“That’s because you knew already that Caylee was dead, did you not?” Baez challenged George.
“No, sir,” George Anthony replied.
“You knew that as a former detective you needed to be as far away as possible. You wanted to distance yourself as much as possible from the evidence, did you not? So you went to work”, Baez badgered.
George replied that, at the time, he did not know that Casey’s car would be evidence.
Earlier on Friday, Mallory Parker, the fiancee of Lee Anthony, Casey’s brother, was called to testify.
Parker told jurors that Casey and Caylee had a special bond. She cried as she gave her testimony.
Before Judge Belvin Perry recessed the court, prosecutors recalled Anthony Lazzaro, an ex-boyfriend of Casey’s to the stand. They were interested in questioning Lazzaro on instant messages between himself and Casey during the period April 29, 2008 to June 12th, 2008, some of which they said provided a motive for the murder of Caylee. It also appeared that some of the exchanges between the two were sexually explicit.
Following a long side bar between attorneys, Perry ruled the instant messages could not be introduced into evidence, saying they were not relevant and material in view of the prejudice they would cause with jurors.
Earlier prosecutors were able to introduce into evidence a string of videos from J.C. Penny, IKEA, Target, Blockbuster and Winn Dixie, among others, that showed Casey shopping carefree, during the time Caylee was “missing” and when she claimed to have been searching for her daughter.
Prosecutors have charged Casey Anthony with first degree murder in the death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee. She has pleaded not guilty and initially said her daughter was kidnapped by a babysitter. If found guilty, Casey could face the death penalty.
The court was recessed until tomorrow, at 9:00 am.
