some rest, others rage
The State of Florida, in the murder trial of Casey Anthony, rested today.
They rested after bringing forward a very strong case – delivering a concise argument that meticulously and tightly binds Casey Anthony to the murder.
Understandably, the State did not use all the evidence in its arsenal. Perhaps they were concerned about overdoing their case in chief and so decided to wait until their rebuttal to introduce additional evidence. Forgive the pun, but I’m sure the State was concerned with “over-kill” with regards to the plethora of evidence they have.
Denied Motion for Acquittal
The rules of criminal procedure in Florida require a defense lawyer to submit a motion to argue its position for a judicial decision of acquittal. This is a standard practice in all criminal trials, and are rarely ever granted to a defendant.
The fact is, when a judge decides and rules in these matters, his or her explanation and reasoning for such a motion generally is a good indication as to what the outcome of the trial will be.
Today Mr. Cheney Mason argued the motion in front of Judge Belvin Perry, Jr.
Mason told the Court, there was no premeditation in this case. He said, there were inferences and speculation of it, but no evidence whatsoever of premeditation.
I beg to differ.
Mason also stated that there is no evidence of the defendant causing any pain or injury to Caylee Anthony. In fact, he says, there were many witnesses who were happy to attest to Casey Anthony’s success as a mother.
Mason argues that Caylee Marie Anthony died accidentally since the State did not prove that a homicide existed.
The Judge asked Mason where in the record is there evidence of “accidental death” and Mason admits THERE IS NONE!
Mr. Mason claims the mere presence of duct tape proves nothing – no evidence of anything, he says, raising his voice.
No evidence of culpable negligence, he says. And of course Mason brought up the Miranda Rights aspect of the case, which was previously argued repeatedly by the Court in pre-trial hearings. Mason wanted this on the record yet again. He obviously believes strongly that Casey Anthony’s rights were violated with regards the Court’s decision on these issues.
Mason grew increasingly agitated and demonstrative as his argument continued, and occasionally there was a fleeting glimpse of the good lawyer he once was. But, it was very clear that he simply was not listening to the testimony these last three weeks.
And, during some moments of his argument, things seemed to fall apart and Mr. Mason resorted to histrionics.
Listening to Mason today, it sprang to mind that if he were an actor, he’d make a very good King Lear.
The aged Lear, who attempts to divide his kingdom between his three daughters, eventually goes mad. He rages against storms, and descends into madness.
Lear bellows: “Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!”
You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
Strike flat the thick rotundity o’ the world!~King Lear
Anyway, that’s where my mind was when I listened to Cheney Mason – casting him as the perfect Lear.
Say What???
And so, the other big news today revealed that the defense wants to depose and possibly call to testify a convicted felon named, Vasco Thompson. The defense is inexplicably suggesting today that on July 14, 2008, George Anthony made four calls to this man, who was previously convicted for a violent crime – kidnapping to be exact.
The defense has not deposed this person as yet, and George Anthony, through his attorney Mark Lippman, is denying any knowledge of this man.
Can this defense get any more desperate? Are they changing strategy now? Since Judge Perry told the defense there is no evidence of an accident scenario, are they dropping the drowning, in favor of kidnapping?
And, why Vasco Thompson? Is this suddenly a Susan Smith kind of excuse? Blame it on a mean-looking black man? If anyone had a connection with this man, my guess it was Casey Anthony. Was she looking for a hit-man?
The motion about this new prospective witness, Vasco Thompson, reinforces my belief that Mr. Mason is well cast as King Lear.
Crack your cheeks! Rage! Blow!
p.s. Vasco Thompson has not returned calls from the defense team.
Andrea can you blame this man for not returning calls? If the defense team called me I would call le myself and ask wth? Jose and the scream team have been looking for someone to blame for the last 3 years. Anyone except Casey Anthony.
Thank you for keeping us updated daily, I appreciate it. 🙂
🙂 You’re welcome…. i wish I could report on more of the testimony! You’re right, Baez and Company are desperate to find as many patsy’s as possible….. sick!
Hi Andrea, Great post. I think the defense has lied so much they have gone MAD!! My guess is the juror’s cannot stand Baez and Mason by now. I bet they do drag in this convicted felon as they are soooo deperate but this will be the biggest mistake they can make. I think Mason and Baez should claim they are insane myself. therefore they cannot continue defending their client since they will be checking in to a mental institution. lol.
Hi Knight Owl! Thanks so much…. You’re sure right about the madness – we saw it in the flesh today. methinks the whole lot of them are mad! I am so sure the jurors are reacting with amazement at the defense….
Hi Laurili. Agree with your post.
Andrea, if these two clowns bring in this black man the juror’s are going to think exactly what you just said, ”is this suddenly a Susan Smith kind of excuse”. No one already in my opinion would believe the outlandish Opening Statement Baez gave, so if they use this guy now too they are going to cement in concrete how ludicrous this load of bull crap is they are trying to force feed the juror’s.
Oh I know and agree with you….it’s a complete load of hot air they give, and I sometimes am at a loss when trying to express how ridiculous the defense acts. And, then I get mad because Casey Anthony should have a competent defense and she’s getting nothing but a fairy tale. A mockery of a fairy tale – a tale too foolish to pass for fiction!
From the mean look of this Thompson guy he may just decide to make basketballs out of Baez and Mason. That i would love to see. lol.
Vasco Thompson is a desperate move by the defense to delay the trial until the guy is deposed by both sides. I understand VT called LE after the DT tried to get ahold of him. He’s on a 30 year probation from what I have read-he doesn’t need some idiot trying to implicate him in a kidnapping! It has to have scared the you-know-what out of him when the DT tried to contact him.
Here is what I’ve heard- it was a wrong number that George dialed on June 14th, thinking he was calling work, he was calling this man. AZlawyer from WS did research on this number back in ’09, I believe, and it yielded nothing. Yet, Baez asked for funds to pay his investigator, and, in my opinion, himself, so they could look it up on WS and persue it.
Great write-up on Mason. King Lear-good comparison! Every time you mention Shakespeare I kick myself for having given away my collection of his plays, copyright dated in the early 1940’s. I loved that bookset but loved the one I gave it to even more. {sigh}
AZLawyer over on Websleuths said this… OMG!! Vasco Thompson!! Hilarious–I investigated him and these phone calls like CRAZY probably back in 2008/2009.
IIRC I finally after much frussshhhtration as Casey would say decided that his phone number contained 2 numbers that were transposed in some public records database to inaccurately match up with the number George was actually calling. And I THINK–but I have to go back and check if I kept those notes–that the actual number he called was someone from his work.
Sherry!!!! When I read your post this morning I literally sang, WOOT! WOOT! Oh, the belly laugh it gave me! Thank you so much for this info! I was waiting and waiting for this to be mentioned in court today. Perhaps the mystery is now solved and it was not discussed so that Baez can save face? But, what about the money the taxpayers are doling out for this investigative foolishness???
One more thing to add: I don’t think that HHJP will allow this man to be implicated and brought in as a witness. This isn’t about a kidnapping but a body snatching by Roy Kronk. This guy does not fit in. Here is the really sad thing-just like Zenaida Fernandez will never live it down that she is the nanny, this guy will be forever in the conspiracy theorists’ minds that he kidnapped Caylee and put her in the woods or some such thing because he is a convicted kidnapper, afterall.
If this case goes to the appeals court this may be a possible reason for it.
I am not even sure where to start with all of this garbage. I am getting to the point where I cannot even imagine being involved in any part of the defense or its players-they are all pieces of garbage willing to throw anyone under the bus. I am in awe that I learned of a new piece of evidence today that has not been introduced. The needle found in the gatorade bottle, filled with chloroform and testosterone! WHAT?! that is a slam dunk piece of evidence! what the hell is the prosecution doing? I have to think that they are planning this GREAT bang of a rebuttal to just kick the defense to the curb. In my mind/heart I have been giving the doubt to Casey, trying to believe that she chloroformed her too much on accident BUT all be damned-this girl is a cold blooded, pre-meditating killer! she must have injected her and taped her mouth shut! oh geez I am so glad that God has to judge her in the end-this is too much for me.
Hi Whistler! I didn’t hear about this! I know these items were found, but not that they were actually tested and was positive for chloroform?? I wonder why it was not used?
And, you are so right…. There’s going to be a strong rebuttal – if it’s needed. But, if the defense is unable to bring forward any strong evidence or doubt, perhaps the STate will not feel it necessary to put on a rebuttal…. (though, I hope they do!)
Hi Knight Owl!
Wish I could rest….
Sorry to say, but I’m ‘RAGING’!
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`*.¸.*´
¸.•´ ¸.•*¨)¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´(¸.• (¸.•´¸¸.•¨¯`•.¸¸.♥ Keep this balloon going in memory of Caylee Marie
♥ forever in our hearts♥ TO HONOR CAYLEE’S MEMORY….PLEASE PASS THIS ON R.I.P. Baby girl Fly with Angels!!
I have it flying over at Jonathon’s, CptKD. It’s beautiful.
Hey Nan!
Good to see you….
Yes! This balloon was a MUST to pass around –
Especially today!
Hi My Friend CptKD! Thank you for this! It’s so lovely… and it’s amazing, too. Did you watch the travesty today? What a waste of air……..
What did we learn today?
There was no blood in Casey’s car or on her clothes.
Lee isn’t the father.
And that would be ABOUT IT!!!
(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´
¸.•´ ¸.•*¨)¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´(¸.• (¸.•´¸¸.•¨¯`•.¸¸.♥ Caylee Marie – Forever in our hearts♥
Hey Off the cuff… Yup, that would be about all we learned today!!!!! Big day, huh?