Casey Anthony Defense Team Press Conference

December 12, 2008

Earlier today, Orange Circuit Judge Stan Strickland denied a motion made by Casey Anthony's defense team, who was requesting access to the current autopsy being conducted on child skeletal remains that were found yesterday, which are suspected of being Casey Anthony's missing two-year-old daughter, Caylee Anthony. Following that hearing, Anthony's attorney, Jose Baez, along with co-counsel, Linda Kenney Baden, held a press conference outside the court house.

In response to questions about the motion the defense team had filed, Baez had this to say:

"We want in as quickly as possible to be able to inspect it in the same manner in which it is and to be able to inspect it appropriately. We have qualified people, the best in the business reviewing this evidence, so we will actually be able to verify it independently and that's all we're asking for. Nothing more and we're not even asking to hide it, we're allowing them to observe whatever we do.

"I have mentioned for many weeks now and I know a lot of people have not paid attention or it's been discounted, but I have been forming a defense team and Ms. Kenney Baden Is just another member of our team who was brought on it in her area, which is forensic science ... I'm not about pumping our chest and flaunting who we have or who we're bringing in, you'll see it when they come. We just want to do things right and do a professional job for Ms. Anthony."

Baez then turned the conference over to Baden. In regards to questions about a tentative ID of the skeletal remains, Baden responded:

"I have been doing forensic work since I was in the prosecutor's office in New Jersey and with the county since 1980. A medical examiner always makes a tentative ID on a case and before DNA what is now a tentative ID was always an official ID, because you didn't have DNA until the early 90s. So there is always dental records, hair color [and] charts in term of age when you have skeletal remains or partial skeletal remains, so there is always a tentative ID in any medical examiner's office as to who they think the person is. Then they do a confirmation with regular DNA. That's been my experience and I'd be quite surprised if the medical examiner's office is sitting out there and saying this is somebody unknown and devoting all this time and all this energy and all this press and all these objections because [they] don't believe that this is the child."

Baden was then asked if the defense team believed the skeletal remains were that of Caylee Anthony, to which she replied:

"Well, we believe there is certainly enough of an indication right now for us to come here with a motion for an inspection and preservation."

Baden then responded to questions about how the defense team felt about the judge's ruling.

"I think he was trying to conform [to] Florida law with the rights of somebody who was accused of what would be a horrible crime and that he is doing his best to do so," Baden said. "We just feel very sorry that the state and the county and the medical examiner couldn't feel that they could open their process up for us to see, when we're asking to do nothing, touch nothing, but to see. We agreed to open it back up and we're sorry they couldn't feel that and if there are any ramifications from that at trial then we'll have to suffer the consequences."

In response to questions regarding why the defense or Casey Anthony should be able to witness the autopsy, Baden had this to say:

"Well, in many states you are allowed to witness it ... If this is little Caylee Anthony, [Casey] is still the mother of this child and she's still presumed innocent and like any person, she would have a right to see remains, to view remains, and to hopefully deal with the remains in a manner that would be appropriate scientifically."

Questions were then turned over to Baez, specifically questions about comments Baden made in court, when she said the defense team had been notified that anthropological measurements and hair taken from the skeleton remains match those of Caylee Anthony.

"I'm not going to comment on any conversations I have with law enforcement or the state attorney's office that’s my standard thing, my standard rule," Baez said. "You have to rely on the record in court and I'm going to leave it at that."

Discuss The Caylee Anthony Case

Full Coverage : Casey Anthony Case

Caylee Photo Credit: Associated Press

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Comments

[Lexi]

It's times like this when I wish I was a lawyer....although I have very little trust in lawyers. I don't understand why Mr. Baez wants access to an autopsy. Is this normal procedure? I have often heard of a second autopsy being done if the first isn't conclusive, but never this. I just can't help but wonder where he is going with this. David, can you shed some light on the "lawyer mentality" of this kind of request? Maybe I don't watch enough crime shows or read enough crime books!

[Shelly]

Joe Baez is just another victim of Casey Anthony's. He took this case wanting notoriety, and he will get it. But when he loses, he will be remembered for trying to defend a cold blooded killer...and not suceeding. May Casey Anthony burn in hell.

[Harriet]

very interesting and thank you so much for keeping us updated. Just an FYI - in the article above you describe Dr. Baden as a "she" and he is in fact a man - a very renowned man, Dr. Michael Baden. You may want to change it - thanks for doing such good work. May little Caylee finally get the proper burial when this is said and done. I think that Casey should pay for this with her life.

-Edited by David Lohr to add: The co-counsel, Linda Kenney Baden-

[Kim]

Is it me or do these two need a lesson in English 101? It seems like they are really unprofessional, nothing they said at this presser made any sense.

[Kim]

Yes why do they want their expert to look over the medical examiner's shoulder? What will they gain? I don't understand this request either?

Will their defense be that LE and the state of florida are corrupted and are tampering with evidence right down to the medical examiner? It doesn't make sense.

[bubblybookworm]

I believe this lawyer is Linda Kenny Baden who is a "she" and not the same person as Dr. Michael Baden (although she may be a relative).

[Angela]

Baez was looking for notoriety for sure, I do hope he loses in this case and can maybe do some actual good with his education. I am sick of people getting away with horrible things because they have a so called dream team defending them. I only hope there is enough evidence so there is justice for the innocent victim Caylee Anthony... a 3 year old. If you can't trust your mom who in the world can you trust? reports have said there was duct tape over the mouth area... what could this possibly mean? I hate to think this beautiful baby suffered. Casey Anthony has showed no care for her daughters whereabouts if she was really missing no one would act this way unless they made peace with it, planned and did it. I just want justice for Caylee and hope this team of hers who is just looking for their own spotlight fails miserably. Caylee is an innocent victim, there was an out for Casey... there is always a choice and a way.

[moda]

no, Shelly -

Read it again. They are not talking about Dr. Michael Baden... see the first paragraph where it says:

"Following that hearing, Anthony's attorney, Jose Baez, along with co-counsel, Linda Kenney Baden, held a press conference outside the court house."

[dcfromca]

I also thought Linda Kenney Baden is Michael Baden's wife. Am I not correct?

[Deborah McReady]

Kenney Baden is a she. She is Michael Baden's wife.

[Ardra]

Yes, it's Dr. Baden's wife. They are both pathologists.

[Gracie]

Obviously, if they are proud of the fact they were "building a team" enough to announce the fact that they are willing to work on an OJ type defense... the glove didn't fit, he was taking a shower, taking a nap, chipping some golf balls, didn't hear the doorbell...

I am thankful the judge didn't play along with the overtly dramatic defense put on by Baden ... she wants the FBI to have 3rd party oversight??... she wants to look in on an autopsy on a body that her client insists is a live child being "held" across town or out of state?? How foolish would a judge be to allow that! I don't think there is a precedence for defense teams to be privy to unverified human remains - talk about a lawsuit!

Gracie

[JohnLloydScharf]

Given what they have done and "leaked" so far, I can see why they want a witness at the autopsy. They are already saying the girl had tape on her mouth and was strangled They have used pseudoscience to claim there was a decomposing body in the trunk and mitochondrial DNA testing that only tests less than 1,400 base pairs out of 16,569 total. I already found an unrelated individual on www.mitosearch.org . They have a nack for creating evidence and conclusions.

[BeckyM]

So what spin will Baez and his team give to the body? I am thinking they will go after that there is no proof on how Caylee died (meaning no proof choloform will have been used so to disprove pre-meditation) and the date of death.

They will want to throw doubt on when Caylee was murdered so they can continue to state that Mysterious Nanny Kidnapper took her and then murdered her a month later because of Casey being exposed by LE and the media.

Overall, I have to wonder about these experts that report something wildly different then the FBI and other LE experts. Obviously they are being paid, but don't they have any ethics? OTOH money talks and you can always find "another opinion" by an expert.

[Marsha]

I think that the defense probably doesn't really want to observe the autopsy, they just want to use the request as part of an appeal when supermom is convicted. It would be hard to believe that anyone wouldn't trust the Chief Medical Examiner of Orange County, Dr. G. of Discover Health's Dr. G. Medical Examiner, to do an excellent job on the autopsy.
In answer to JohnLloyd Scharf, as far as mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) goes, it mutates at about 10 times the rate of nuclear DNA and, on average, there will be a 42% variation in mtDNA between two unrelated people. So what are the odds that a stranger who happened to be dead, but had the same mitochonrial DNA as Caylee left a hair in Casey's trunk?

[MC Webb]

"Overall, I have to wonder about these experts that report something wildly different then the FBI and other LE experts. Obviously they are being paid, but don't they have any ethics? OTOH money talks and you can always find "another opinion" by an expert."
(Posted by: BeckyM | December 13, 2008 at 09:26 AM)

Becky,
In the recent case of Cindy Sommer, it was the paid experts for the PROSECUTION who had no "ethics" and testified to false and misleading expert results. One of the reason her verdict was thrown out by the judge was because of that!

It is very accepted in other parts of the country to have defense experts at an autopsy as observers if they request it. IMHO the prosecution has leaked misleading info already in this case and they are creating more problems for themselves by fighting so hard to block the autopsy observation.

The prosecution needs to be very careful in how they conduct themselves in this case. Two law enforcement officers have already been fired because of their involvement with Casey. They have released to the public such negative publicity on Casey in amounts like I have rarely seen in a high profile case! Why? It has raised a red flag to me and makes me question what they are trying to hide and why they feel they must convict this person in the media before a trial even takes place.

[vernon]

if these high priced forsenic scientist get Casey off i will lose all faith in the justice system. I think the Phil Spector trial was a travisty of justice. That S.O.B. should be in jail today. Casey should burn!

[fortwynt]

People are such morons.

Do you presume to know what happened to this child? YOu have a pretty high opinion of yourself if that's the case.

Do I think she's guilty? I wouldn't be shocked, but then again who's to say for sure?

She lied about this and that...but of course if someone were holding your child and told you that if you said anything to anyone they'd kill them...you'd lie too. Deal with it.

People asy, oh she killed her because she wanted to go party.....what a total load of rubbish....are you serious?

Fools of the highest order.

Public always thinks they know best.

Get a life.

[ed]

after seeing the "dream team" on caylees side
i think its going to be a great help to the prosecution that
Dr.G is on the prosecutions side. I think that finding of the body and 2nd search of the Anthony home. im just cant believe how much stuff they took out of that house after the body was found. the case will tougher for the dream team. they started in the evening about 5pm and didnt leave till the next morning
pat brown profiler sez she thinks casey will get what she deserves so that makes me feel a little bit better

[TD]

I agree with the poster, Kim (above) - Jose Baez is incredibly inarticulate and his grammar is atrocious!

His vocabulary is truly not what one would expect of a law grad (Baez thinks "disjustice" is a word!)

Still, I guess I shouldn't be surprised owing to the fact that Jose Baez went to a bottom-tier law school (St. Thomas) and took EIGHT YEARS to pass the bar exam.

It would be funny but for the fact that his (obvious) incompetence could end up grounding an "ineffective counsel" claim by Casey "Mother of the Year" Anthony.

[brenda]

CASEY ANTHONEY HAS BEEN INDITED BY THE STATE OF FLORIDA COURT ; ACUSED OF KILLING HER CHILD CAYLEE ANTHONEY IN A BRUTAL WAY OF DEATH, THE CORONER IN FLORIDA SAID; ON CAYLEE ANTHONEY DEATH CERTICATE; HOMICIDE BY UNDERTERMIND MEANS; WHICH MEANS DEATH CAUSED BY MURDER NOT KNOWING HOW MURDER HAPPENED; OR WHAT CAUSED THE VICTIMS IN THIS CASE CAYLEE ANTHONY HEART AND LUNGS TO STOP BEATING AND LUNGS STOP BREATHING CAUSEING DEATH, IT IS TRUE; THE STATE OF FLORIDA SHOULD GIVE CASEY ANTHONEY A FAIR TRAIL; BUT IN THIS CASE IT LOOKS LIKE THE THE DEFENSE TEAM IS EVERY TATIC THEY CAN TO GET THIS CASE MOVED OUT OF THIS COURT IN ORLANDO FLORIDA ; WELL THE CRIME WAS COMITTED IN ORLANDO FLORIDA IN THAT JURISDICTION] THE CASE SHOULD BE TRIED IN THAT JURDICTION] THE CRIME HAPPENED THERE; THIS IS ONLY FAIR TO THE CHILD THAT LOST HER LIFE CAYLEE ANTHONEY BY MURDER; SO WHAT IS CASEY ANTHONEY SMIELING ABOUT IN COURT BEING ACUSSED OF SUCH A HORRIBLE THING TO DO ; CASEY ANTHONEY SHOULD BVE BE SITTING IN COURT SMOBER LOOK ON HER FACE NOT SMIELING , IS CASEY ANTHONEY ENJOYING BEING IN THE NEWS EVERYDAY; IS SHE SHE PROUD OF WHAT SHE IS ACUSSED OF DOING? NO ONE KNOWS THAT BUT CASEY;BUT THE SMILE IN COURT SAYS SHE HAS NO CONSCIOUS WHICH MEANS SHE COULD BE A COLD BLOODED KILLER;IF LET LOOSE COULD KILL AGAIN. SHE THO IS INTITLED TO FAIR IMPARTIAL JURY,

[Sergyi Metok]

I personally think Casey Anthony's trial should be moved to Gitmo. She might get a fair trial then. I also happen to think her father is involved.