Testimony From Key Casey Anthony Witness Could Be Falling Apart/Entomolgist's Testimony Will Be Compelling

Posted: 5:04 pm EST November 17, 2010
Updated: 6:50 pm EST November 17, 2010

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Testimony from one of Casey Anthony's key witnesses may be falling apart. Casey's lawyers were hoping to use EquuSearch volunteer Laura Buchanan to show Casey couldn't have put Caylee's body where it was found.
WFTV reporter Kathi Belich was the only one there when Buchanan was questioned Wednesday and her lawyer said she has no idea exactly where Caylee was found. He said if prosecutors show her a map and ask if she had searched specific locations in the woods off Suburban Drive, she'd be able to tell them.
Buchanan showed up Wednesday for a second round of questioning under oath by prosecutors after calling in sick last time and then getting a new lawyer. Now, she's under investigation by the Orange County Sheriff's Office for allegedly faking a document claiming she and other volunteers searched right where Caylee Anthony's remains were found three months earlier, and found nothing.
Buchanan is also accused by another volunteer of using the bogus report to try to convince him to go along with her story.
Buchanan wouldn't answer WFTV's questions Wednesday, but her attorney did.
"She did not tamper with any witnesses. She just answers questions she was asked and she will do so today," attorney Bernard Cassidy said.
The defense is using Buchanan to argue someone else put Caylee's body in the woods after October 14, once Casey was locked up on no bond. But Wednesday, Buchanan's lawyer told WFTV she doesn't even know exactly where Caylee was found.
"I believe she signed an affidavit that she searched the area where the body was found. Somebody may have suggested where the body was found, but she has never been to that area to see precisely where the body was," Cassidy explained.
WFTV asked Casey's defense attorneys Wednesday whether their case is crumbling based on the new information, but they wouldn't answer. WFTV asked how Buchanan could have even had EquuSearch documents, because volunteers were supposed to turn everything in; he said she'd answer all those questions behind closed doors if prosecutors asked about it.

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Bugs, Smell Of Death Key To Casey Anthony Prosecutors
Forensic Entomologist To Testify At Anthony Murder Trial Next Year
UPDATED: 1:19 am EST November 18, 2010
RENSSELAER, Ind. -- On a farm in northern Indiana, Neal Haskell looks inside the mouth of a dead sow for signs of life.
"Here's a blowfly! Right there!" he exclaims upon closer inspection. Maggots let the forensic entomologist know he's looking at the early stages of decomposition.
The creepy, crawly and smelly nature of his work might make some people gag, but not Haskell. He's been studying bugs for more than 50 years and has testified in more than 100 trials.
Haskell insists that while his work may look like something out of a science fiction movie or TV drama, there's no junk science in what he does and it's no newcomer to crime solving.
"The first use of forensic entomology was 1265 in China," says Haskell.
The Connection To Casey
Next year, he'll take the stand for the prosecution in Casey Anthony's murder trial.
In a 30-page report that's key to the state's claims, he noted that microscopic scuttle flies, or "coffin flies" as he refers to them, were feeding on decompositional fluids in the trunk of Anthony's car as well as paper towels that may have been used to clean the vehicle.
"They're not there accidentally," Haskell said during a recent visit from WESH 2's Bob Kealing. "They're coming there for that specific smell."
According to Haskell, the tenacious insects have been known to burrow six feet into the ground or through cracks in concrete in search of one thing -- the smell of a decomposing body.
"When they're going through all these barriers, over and around and down, they're being attracted to the smell of decomposition," he said.
Haskell inspected the trunk of Anthony's car in December 2008, six months after the prosecution claims Caylee Anthony's body was inside.
In his report, he noted that a "strong decompositional odor was still present" in the trunk.
Haskell says he's smelled decomposition thousands of times and he wouldn't mistake the familiar odor for anything else.
Orlando criminal defense attorney Richard Hornsby, who is not affiliated with the Anthony case, says the flies identified by Haskell provide a scientific basis for prosecutors to argue that Anthony was driving around with her daughter's corpse in the car.
"There's little doubt this is going to be compelling evidence for the jury," he believes.
Theory Says Time Isn't On Casey's Side
"This is reliable because it's worked in hundreds if not thousands of cases."
- Neal Haskelll
Using the same formula that he teaches forensic entomology students at Saint Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Haskell was able to use insects that were found at the Suburban Drive crime scene and compare them with Florida temperatures that summer to come up with an estimate of when Caylee Anthony's remains were dumped there.
"This is reliable because it's worked in hundreds if not thousands of cases," Haskell says.
According to the his estimates, Caylee Anthony's remains were placed in the area off of Suburban Drive in late June to early July, while Casey Anthony was still free.
Haskell's scientific opinion could blow up any attempts by the defense team to create reasonable doubt by suggesting that the remains were placed in the woods in October, after Anthony was locked up in the Orange County Jail.
Anthony's murder trial is scheduled to begin in May.

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Is it too late for Casey to get a plea deal? If not and I was her (which I am NOT and will NEVER be ), I would be BEGGING for a plea deal.. Oh wait.. never mind.. she and Bozo are too confident to take a plea deal and we all know, Casey would never admit to N E THING :whatever:

At this point, I doubt the State would accept a plea deal.

Defense: No 'Coffin Flies' In Casey's Trunk
Trial Could Pit Bug Experts Against One Another

POSTED: 6:06 pm EST November 18, 2010
UPDATED: 6:31 pm EST November 18, 2010

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Casey Anthony's defense is firing back at one of the prosecution's key witnesses.
In 2008, forensic entomologist Neal Haskell identified microscopic flies he said were feeding on decompositional fluids in the trunk of Anthony's car.

Now, for the first time, Anthony defense lawyers are disputing the finding.
Haskell's report is key to the prosecution's claim that Anthony drove around with her dead daughter's body in the trunk.
In an exclusive interview with WESH 2 News, Haskell showed how insects that are drawn to decomposing bodies always follow the same pattern.
"Going from this critter that's pretty fresh down to bleached bones, we have a whole array of insects that come in at different times of that decomposition progression," Haskell said as he hunched over the body of a dead sow.
Haskell said in his report for the Anthony investigation that the presence of so-called coffin flies and a lack of other insects indicated that a body in the later stages of decomposition had been in Anthony's trunk.
"Sometimes the absence of insects can be just as important as the presence," he told WESH 2 News.
Anthony defense attorney Cheney Mason said the defense disagrees with the finding. Mason said defense experts claim there were no coffin flies in the trunk at all.

Haskell has studied entomology for more than 50 years and teaches students at Saint Joseph's College in Indiana. He teaches a formula that uses temperature and environment to predict a window of time when someone died.
"It's totally reliable," he said.
Haskell said he trained the defense team's entomologist, Dr. Tim Huntington, which could set up a potential trial showdown between teacher and student.
Anthony's defense team will depose Haskell via Skype on Friday.

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Source: Star Witness In Anthony Case Changes Tune
Defense Team Turning To Science To Raise Reasonable Doubt
POSTED: 12:49 pm EST November 26, 2010
UPDATED: 1:15 pm EST November 26, 2010
ORLANDO, Fla. -- The latest moves by Casey Anthony's defense team show that lawyers are hoping to use science to raise reasonable doubt about who put Caylee Anthony's remains in the woods.
Anthony's defense team recently won the right to do out of state DNA testing on a pair of Caylee Anthony's shorts and a laundry bag found near her skeletal remains.
"You're seeing them trying to find the next red herring," said Orlando criminal defense attorney Richard Hornsby, who is not affiliated with the case.
If tests turn up foreign DNA on either item, the defense could make a stronger case that someone other than Anthony put her daughter's remains in the woods.
The defense's latest motion asks for Judge Belvin Perry to approve an expert witness on decaying and fossilized bones.
Signs of the scientific effort come as at least one of the defense's star witnesses loses her luster.
A year ago, Anthony's defense produced statements from Texas EquuSearch volunteers Laura Buchanan and Joe Jordan that indicated there was nothing in the area off of Suburban Drive where Caylee Anthony's remains were later found.
Jordan later told detectives that was not his claim, and a source with knowledge of Buchanan's recent sworn deposition said her statement has changed as well.
"The defense seems willing to rely on questionable witnesses and incredible people to try to save Anthony's life, and in the end it's only going to do her more harm than good," Hornsby said.
The source told WESH 2 News that a recent deposition of meter reader Roy Kronk's son, Brandon Sparks, was not helpful to defense efforts to paint Kronk as a potential suspect. Kronk discovered the remains in December 2008.
Anthony's trial is scheduled to begin in May.
A status hearing in the case will be held on Monday afternoon. Anthony is expected to be present. WESH.com will stream the hearing live.

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First of all I don't believe the state will enter a plea agreement for Miss Casey. No way. They have too much on her.

Second is if Haskell is from Indiana..well what more can I say. Go Hoosiers!

I would say the defense is in a lot of trouble. With the sunshine law if they had a good defense we would already know about it. The defense is like a sinking ship.

Entomologist To Be Deposed In Case Against Casey

Posted: 9:02 am EST December 28, 2010
Updated: 1:45 pm EST December 28, 2010

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- A deposition is scheduled for Tuesday in the case against Casey Anthony via Skype with forensic entomologist Dr. Tim Huntington. The board certified entomologist is also a biology professor at Concordia University in Nebraska.
Entomology deals with the study of insects. As WFTV has reported, investigators found coffin flies and maggots in the trunk of Casey's car.
Documents say Huntington could give counter-testimony from the state's expert entomologist at Casey's trial next year.
Meanwhile, Casey is scheduled to be in court on Monday, January 3 for another hearing.

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Tim Huntington joined Concordia's natural science department as a full-time faculty member in 2008 and served as an adjunct faculty member in 2003 and 2005. His teaching emphasis is in organismal biology, and his research interests focus on forensic entomology (the use of insects as evidence in legal investigations), carrion ecology, and taphonomy.
He has not been teaching very long. Anyone know who the State is using?

LM, the state is using Dr. Neal Haskell, who taught Huntington...so, teacher vs. student.

Haskell has studied entomology for more than 50 years and teaches students at Saint Joseph's College in Indiana. He teaches a formula that uses temperature and environment to predict a window of time when someone died.
"It's totally reliable," he said.
Haskell said he trained the defense team's entomologist, Dr. Tim Huntington, which could set up a potential trial showdown between teacher and student.

Interesting.

Not sure under which topic to put this so I am planting it here.

Another hearing tomorrow at 1:30 if anybody is interested.