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Casey Anthony, Most Memorable Story of Decade, Year

Not surprisingly, the murder of little Caylee Anthony and the first degree murder charge against her mother, Casey Anthony has come out tops as the most memorable story of 2009 and also of the decade, says cfnews 13.

Casey Anthony

Casey Anthony, 22 years, gained national notoriety when news broke that her two-year old daughter Caylee disappeared from her home in Orlando, Florida in July 2008.  Initially, the Anthony family, including Casey received a lot of sympathy from the public and a massive search to find the little child was launched.  However, matters began to unravel quickly and questions surfaced when it was learned that Casey Anthony waited one full month before reporting her daughter was missing.

As the investigation continued other questions arose as to why searches for chloroform were found on Casey’s computer and why did she go partying with friends, less than one week after her daughter disappeared.

Meanwhile, Anthony insisted all along that Caylee was kidnapped by a baby sitter named Zenaida Gonzales whom she claimed baby-sat the child from time-to-time.

In July 16th 2008, Casey was arrested but was subsequently released when a $50,000 bond was posted by California Bounty Hunter, Leonard Padilla.

Anthony was re-arrested on check fraud charges, after being accused of stealing checks from her former friend, Amy Huzienga, and cashing them.  Again she was released on September 5th 2008, with a monitoring device.

With more evidence in hand, Casey was finally arrested for good on October 14th when a Grand Jury indicted her for first degree murder of her daughter.

Subsequently, on December 11th, Caylee’s remains were found a few blocks in a wooded area near the Anthony family home, by a meter reader, Roy Cronk.

Now in the Orange County Jail for more than a year, and no where to turn, her defense team over the intervening months has filed a series of motions.   These include efforts to have the death penalty taken off the table and nine of the thirteen check fraud charges dropped.

In arguing for the removal of the death penalty, Anthony’s defense team suggested the prosecution was bringing a death penalty case against their client in bad faith and that Casey’s constitutional rights are being violated as a result.

But prosecutor Jeff Ashton argued that Caylee’s death was particularly cruel. “Her killer would prepare some substance in advance that would render her physically unable to resist,” Ashton said during the pretrial hearing. “If the killer looked at her face, maybe the killer saw her eyes … First one piece (of tape), then two, then three so that no breath was possible.”

In making the case as to why the death penalty should remain, Ashton persisted, “Could Caylee have understood what was happening to her? Did she try to resist? Could her killer see the fear in her eyes as the tape was being applied?”   According to the prosecutor, these are the questions that only jurors will be able to answer when the case is presented to them.

Regarding the check fraud charges, the defense maintained that their client would suffer double jeopardy should all these charges remain.

However, earlier this month, Circuit Judge Stan Strickland ruled that the death penalty will remain and the 13 charges in relation to the check fraud case will also stand.

With Strickland’s ruling it means that, should Casey Anthony be found guilty by a jury, of murdering her two-year-old daughter, she could be put to death.

Anthony’s check fraud trial is set to commence on January, 25th 2010.  Her murder trial is also expected to begin in the summer of 2010.

See CFNews 13 other Top Stories Here

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1 COMMENT

  1. This hardly surprises me as most of Florida’s News teams have had a full banquet whilst milking this cash for horror cow!

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