On Day 21 in the Casey Anthony murder trial, a defense witness who is an insect expert spent virtually the entire day on the stand.
Dr. Timothy Huntington, testified that he did not believe that there was ever a decomposing body in the trunk of Casey’s Pontiac Sunfire.
On direct examination by lead defense attorney, Jose Baez, Huntington testified, if decomposition is assumed and there was a body in the car trunk, one would expect to find hundreds or even thousands of blow flies and legs. He said the trunk of a car poses very little barrier to flies entering the vehicle and there were no early colonizers (flies).
Huntington also told jurors the flies recovered from the trash bag found in the trunk of the car means nothing, as these sorts of insects would be expected on kitchen garbage. He added that the numbers associated with the trash bag would not be remarkable, as the type of flies found are not early colonizers, but one of the last set that show up in decomposition.
Nonetheless, on re-direct examination by prosecutor Jeff Ashton, Huntington did concede that Caylee’s body was at another location for about 3-4 days, before it was dumped off Suburban Drive where she child’s remains were ultimately found. He also testified that there were a few early colonizers, at some point, before the body was moved.
The issue of where Caylee’s body was located before being dumped in the woods is important for tying Casey directly to the murder of her two-year-old child. Prosecutors believe that Casey poisoned Caylee with chloroform and drove around with the child’s body in the trunk of her car for a few days, before dumping it. They have said duct tape was placed on the body before it was dumped. The duct tape on Caylee’s skull was similar to what was found in the Anthony family home.
Ashton got Huntington to admit that although more than two years had passed, there was still a smell, albeit weaker, coming from Casey’s car trunk, although he suggested that this could have been attributed to the garbage. Huntington added that the garbage contained tobacco spit or chew spit, which would have easily attracted flies.
Ashton demonstrated to jurors that the actual cans found in the garbage were empty and that no entomological remnants were in them. He got Huntington to concede that decomposing saliva from the tobacco spit would not smell like a decomposing body.
Upon examination of a salami container from the trash bag, Ashton got Huntington to testify that there was no food found in the trash.
Although Huntington had conducted a case study using dead pigs in the trunk of a car, Ashton pointed out that it did not replicate conditions in which Caylee’s body was found.
Ashton got Huntington to testify that he never had an occasion to work with a baby in a trunk of a car and had never worked with the bodies of small children in a car trunk.
“In your case study, how many involved small children?”, Ashton inquired. “How many were wrapped in blankets, wrapped in one plastic bag, a second plastic bag, then another bag?”
“Why didn’t you wrap your pigs in a blanket?”, Ashton pressed.
“I was focusing on the restriction of the trunk (car) itself”, Huntington replied.
Driving home his point to jurors, Ashton got Huntington to admit that the conditions under which his case study on pigs was undertaken were not an accurate description of the circumstances in which Caylee’s body was found. At it turned out, Huntington testified that he didn’t look at the the effect of chloroform on insects.
The prosecution has said that high levels of chloroform were found in the trunk of Casey’s car.
Although not contained in his report, Huntington testified that the stain found in Casey’s car trunk did not appear to be decomposition. Although discussed previously with Baez, Ashton pressed Huntington on why he had not rendered that opinion when he had written his report.
“My report focused on the insects”, Huntington replied. “There was no reason to make further assumption.”
Casey’s defense attorneys have claimed that Caylee accidentally drowned in the family swimming pool and George Anthony, Casey’s father covered up the crime. The defense has also said that their client was sexually abused by George, and her brother Lee.
Casey, if convicted, could face the death penalty.
