The defense rested in Casey Anthony's murder trial in Orlando, Florida, Thursday after calling members of the family back to the stand to testify. In the last day of defense testimony, much of courtroom activity centered around George Anthony, Casey's father, and a woman named Krystal Holloway who claimed that not only had he had an affair with her, but he had once told her that Caylee Marie Anthony's death was an "accident."
Most noteworthy of all, though, was that Casey Anthony did not take the stand in her own defense. According to WKMG, a CBS affiliate, Judge Belvin Perry asked if it was her decision not to testify and the defendant acknowledged that it was.
Instead, her defense team called to the stand Krystal Holloway, a woman who claimed that she had an affair with George Anthony after Caylee disappeared. She testified that Anthony had told her the death was "an accident that snow-balled out of control" in November 2008, which was four months after Casey Anthony and her mother, Cindy, reported the 2-year-old child missing. A month later, Caylee's remains would be found in a wooded area near her grandparents' house outside Orlando.
According to CNN, Holloway admitted to lying to police about an alleged affair she had with George Anthony, but said she had to come forward after her sister told the story, so she told it to the National Enquirer, who paid her $4,000 for the interview. She also admitted that Anthony had given no details about the "accident" nor said he was present at the time of Caylee's death. In the end, Judge Perry issued special instructions to the jury that Holloway's testimony could not be used to determine Caylee's manner of death or Casey Anthony's guilt or innocence.
The child's mother was charged with the murder of her daughter in October 2008. After the remains were found and identified, the state attorney's office moved to include the death penalty phase in Anthony's trial.
George Anthony was recalled to the stand by the defense as well. He denied having an affair with Holloway but admitted to having been in her home several times.
The defense's case rests on the claims that Caylee Anthony accidentally drowned while in the care of her grandfather and that he and Casey Anthony had attempted to cover up the death. The defense also stated in opening arguments that the then 22-year-old mother had been a victim of sexual abuse -- by her father and brother since the age of 8 -- and that it was the control exerted over her by dysfunctional family that saw events spiral out of control and point the finger of blame at their client.
Still, the defense never presented evidence or corroborating witnesses to testify about the Casey Anthony's sexual or emotional abuse.
Anthony's brother, Lee, and mother were called to talk about the way the family disposed of its dead pets. George Anthony was also asked about the process he used when disposing of the dead animals. When asked if he had bagged and sealed the dead animals in the bags with duct tape, Anthony acknowledged that he had on some occasions. On cross-examination, Anthony told prosecutors that he had never disposed of the bodies in a swampy wooded area.
The prosecution's case presents the now 25-year-old Casey Anthony as a self-centered murderer bent on living her life without the responsibilities of a parent. In opening arguments and with subsequent witness and forensics testimony, prosecutors attempted to show the jury that Anthony had premeditated and carried out the murder or her child with the use of chloroform and a duct tape gag that caused her to suffocate. She then stored the small body in the trunk of her car for up to five days before disposing of it in the wooded area near her parents' home. At the same time and for weeks afterward, the prosecutors contended, Anthony continued to go about her life as if nothing untoward had occurred, partying, having sleepovers with her boyfriend at the time, and even getting a tattoo.
The case is circumstantial at best and the defense has worked to poke holes in the evidence, bringing out their own forensics experts to refute the prosecution's case and offer various explanations for the presence of the evidence. The prosecution was working without the benefit of witnesses to the death and without a confession to the killing.
At the end of the day Thursday, the defense rested.
On Friday, prosecutors will continue to offer a rebuttal case, which was started Thursday afternoon, to the defense's witnesses. Closing arguments for the case could be heard on Saturday. Jury deliberations will most likely begin either on Saturday afternoon or on Sunday.
Casey Anthony faces seven charges, foremost of which is the first degree murder of her daughter, Caylee. If convicted, the trial will enter the death penalty phase.
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