Casey Anthony attorney Linda Kenney Baden leaves defense team/ Kenney-Baden will remain as a consultant and appear periodically throughout the trial.

Long-time Casey Anthony defense attorney Linda Kenney Baden has left the defense team citing financial limitations in continuing to represent her.

Kenney Baden's motion to withdraw as counsel in the high-profile case was filed in court this afternoon.

The New York City based attorney cited financial reasons for her departure and state rules surrounding Casey Anthony being declared indigent for costs in the murder case.

She noted that the defense team must comply with Justice Administration Commission rules in this case.

"As out of state counsel I have been traveling to Florida and elsewhere to properly represent Ms. Anthony," she wrote in her motion. But, she added, it is her "understanding that the JAC prohibits payment of such costs to out of state attorneys even though they have rendered and are rendering their services free of charge."

Kenney Baden goes on to say she cannot continue representing Casey Anthony "in the absence of substantial funds to cover the costs of travel and reimbursement for expenses, which she anticipates will increase as trial approaches…"

She added that like Andrea Lyon, who also withdrew from the case as an out of state counsel earlier this year, she has worked hundreds of hours on the case.

"I believe in the client's innocence to the charges and do not wish personally or professionally to withdraw from this case," she wrote. "Nonetheless, because the state of Florida fails to reimburse out of state pro bono attorneys for expenses, I am forced to make this application…"

She says she cannot represent Casey Anthony "from afar without the necessary interactions and appearances in Florida."

Casey Anthony, 24, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee Marie. Her trial is expected to start in May. She faces a possible death sentence if convicted.

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WOW! The defense list of Attorneys are dropping like flies.. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I think they have known about this for weeks..that's why they hired that other DP qualified attorney. LKB is a forensics attorney. I can't remember..do they have one to replace her? If not, they will definitely need one. This news does not come as a surprise but yet, I find myself :cheering: :woot: :celebration: :cheers: :muahaha: :dancingbaby: :groupwave:

Good riddance. I wonder if Linda believes Caylee is alive like CA does? Because that would be the only way KC could be innocent is if Caylee was alive.

Happy Dance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, well. Milked it for all she could in publicity and now when she has to put her money where her mouth is, she quits. I see Baez and Mason in May 2011 and no one else.

The defense team of the mother of Caylee Anthony the two year old child that was murdered in June 2008, has yet lost another high powered attorney from their team.

Linda Kenney Baden apparently filed a motion to withdraw from the case as counsel yesterday in Orlando. Baden is a forensics and cross-examination expert that has been working with the defense since 2008. She is also the third attorney to drop out of the team this year. The others were Todd Macaluso and Andrea Lyon.

Baden claims that since the tot mom was declared indigent there were too many rules placed on spending in the case by the Justice Administration Commission. She stated, “As out of state counsel I have been traveling to Florida and elsewhere to properly represent Ms. Anthony.” Now she says it is her understanding that the JAC prohibits payments of such costs to out of state attorneys even though they have rendered and are rendering their services free of charge.

So now Baden says she cannot remain an attorney for the defendant in the absence of substantial funds to cover the costs of travel and reimbursement for expenses which they do expect to raise the closer the date for the trial comes. She had to travel to Orlando from New York so she could be in the courtroom with the defendant. She claims she would prefer to stay and continue on the team but she is forced to withdraw because the state of Florida fails to reimburse out of state pro bono attorneys for expenses.

As a high powered attorney that this woman is supposed to be it seems to me that she should have known all this before hand. I would have thought that any attorney on this team should have known Florida’s rule once the defendant was declared indigent. If all of them are going to cry now that they aren’t being reimbursed for their expenses, they never should have gotten involved in the case to begin with. I always was under the understanding that “pro bono” meant free of charge. Why should the taxpayers have to pay for the defense and their expenses anyway? I don’t think this defendant is so special that she would deserve to have the taxpayers foot her entire defense team bill to begin with. If she can’t pay for an attorney she should have had to settle for a court appointed attorney like any other defendant would have.

My question is, did Linda Baden really step down because of financial reasons or does she now feel like the defense is going to lose their case and she would rather not be a part of a losing team? True she is denying this but one has to wonder. Of course we wouldn’t expect her to announce that she was leaving the team because she now thinks the defendant is guilty but I can’t help but wonder if that is really why she is leaving. I can bet that I am not the only one to think this way as well.

I have always wondered if that was why Andrea Lyon left. She took pride in her claim that she never lost a case before in the death penalty phase, so maybe she thought for sure she would lose in this case if she stayed, so to protect her record she decided to leave. Of course this is all just questions in my mind, I have nothing to prove it but I am sure others think the same as I do.

As you all know, Caylee Anthony’s mother (sorry but I refuse to type out her name, she doesn’t deserve her name to be in print) has been in jail for about 2 years now since a grand jury handed down an indictment against her for first degree murder of Caylee. The state is also asking for the death penalty in the case that she is found guilty. She is scheduled to go to trial on these charges in May 2011. America will be watching and I know I will be waiting for justice in this case to finally be done so little Caylee can finally rest in peace. God bless her little soul.

Let us not forget all the children missing, including little Adji Desir and Haleigh Cummings, both from Florida to name a few. I pray that one day they will be found and they too will get the justice they so well deserve. God bless them all. I pray for them all everyday and won’t stop til they are found.

Jan Barrett

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WEll I see both sides in this one. LKB wants money for travel, auto's, hotel rooms and fine dining. The state of Florida is not paying that tab.

So it is better they part company. Why the hay should Casey be treated any different than any other innocent until proven guilty guest of the state?

To tell you the truth I can't believe we are still talking about Casey Anthony. This must be the longest case in history.

As statement analysis continues to show (and predict) that the Casey Anthony defense team continues to implode due to ego, folly, laziness, and... ego:
A month prior to her departure, Angel of Death Row, Andrea Lyon, spoke in Casey's defense regarding the death penalty and her sentence structure revealed her true feelings about Casey. We had told readers, based upon Statement Analysis, to expect her to quit the team due to her personal feelings about Casey Anthony as a human being.

She did just that. She had fought to keep many off death row in her home state, and her words revealed that she was personally impacted by each one of those cases, but with Casey Anthony, she chose words in her defense of Casey, that revealed how she personally felt about the accused baby killer.

Statement Analysis has also shown a split between Cheney Mason and Jose Baez. Is Mason next?

Lawyer Leaves Casey Anthony Defense Team

ORLANDO, Fla. -- One of Casey Anthony’s attorneys has decided to leave her defense team.
Linda Kenney Baden filed a motion to withdraw as counsel on Friday. She is the third attorney to leave Anthony's defense team this year.
Baden is a forensics and cross-examination expert, and worked on Anthony's case since 2008.
Casey Anthony is facing murder charges for the death of her young daughter, Caylee, in 2008.
Baden left the defense team because of issues regarding money.

Note: Linda Kenny Baden's reasons for coming on the case. Money wasn't an issue.

Casey was declared indigent, which means the state is covering the costs for her defense. The case had required Baden to travel to Orlando from New York to be in the courtroom, but the state won't reimburse out of state attorneys working pro bono.
Hours after learning Baden was leaving Casey Anthony's defense team, WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said Anthony's remaining attorneys, including J. Cheney Mason, will have a tough time filling Baden's shoes.
"Although Mr. Mason is a very very experienced and good lawyer, he's not known as an expert in the area of forensic evidence. This is going to be a significant loss to the defense," said Sheaffer.

note the sensitivity associated with Sheaffer's words regarding Mason. Note also that it is questionable if it will have any impact on the case. Had Baden had real forensic evidence in Casey's favor, she would likely still be on the case.
This comes after high-profile attorney and anti-death penalty advocate Andrea Lyon left the Anthony defense team in June, also citing financial reasons. In February, Todd Macaluso left the defense team because of a disciplinary issue with the California state bar, for which he was eventually disbarred.
"We've seen a number of attorneys who have been involved in this case who have advanced some personal interest of their own in representing Casey, that after they've exhausted that, have left the case," said Sheaffer.
Before joining Anthony’s defense team, Baden represented O.J. Simpson when he was charged with murder in California.

Regarding Jose Baez:

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ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Attorney Jose Baez insists the foreclosure on his Kissimmee home will not affect his defense of Casey Anthony.
Baez said he has no desire to leave the capital case despite financial trouble.
Legal experts said they doubt Baez would even be allowed to withdraw from the case.

An amendment went into effect this month in Florida that bans judges from appointing attorneys where an indigent client has already retained and paid a lawyer. Experts said the idea is to prevent a private attorney from pulling out once a client’s money runs out.
Criminal defense attorney Jeff Deen said Baez may have a tough time juggling this high-profile case along with his personal money challenges. Deen said Baez would not be allowed to withdraw as Anthony’s lead attorney.
“He's in now. I would be shocked if Judge Perry let anyone withdraw now,” said Deen.
Deen said the new law, enacted this year by the Florida legislature, was enacted in response to the Anthony case.

“If you start out with a private lawyer and ask the state to pay your costs, and if that lawyer tries to withdraw, it's not permitted by statute anymore that the person would get a state appointed lawyer,” said Deen.
Under the old law, privately retained attorneys who had already been paid could step down, leaving the state of Florida to pick up the cost of paying a new lawyer.
Baez did not return a request for comment Thursday afternoon.
Posted by Seamus O Riley at 5:52 AM 14 comments
source:
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Deen said the new law, enacted this year by the Florida legislature, was enacted in response to the Anthony case.

Nice to know something positive has come out of this case. Six more months. Bozo will be panhandling. He is actually losing his home? Wonder what the silent wifey poo thinks of that.

Maybe they can move in w/the Ant's!

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Central Florida News 13 saw it as “a major shakeup for Casey Anthony’s legal team.”
It was Linda Kenney Baden’s resignation from the team. “This is the most significant departure we’ve seen thus far,” WFTV-Ch. 9 legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said.

Do you agree?

Sheaffer predicted that the other attorneys — including “very, very experienced and good” Cheney Mason — would have trouble making up for Kenney Baden’s forensic expertise.

Kenney Baden, who had been on the Anthony team since 2008, cited financial reasons for leaving the case of indigent client Anthony. Kenney Baden could no longer afford to work on the case for free, Central Florida News 13 said, citing her as a key member of the team. Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her daughter, Caylee. The murder trial is scheduled to begin in May.

WFTV’s Eric Rasmussen noted that attorney Andrea Lyon also left the case for financial reasons and attorney Todd Macaluso departed the case for a disciplinary issue in California. Macaluso was later disbarred.

In his analysis, Sheaffer said, “We’ve seen a number of attorneys who have been involved in this case who have advanced some personal interest of their own in representing Casey, that after exhausting that, have left the case.”

But WFTV also noted that the Anthony team added three lawyers last month.

One of Kenney Baden’s most memorable moments in the case came during a “48 Hours Mystery” interview a year ago on CBS.

A stranger killed the toddler, Anthony’s defense team said in an interview with Maggie Rodriguez. “Somebody else is the killer of this child,” Kenney Baden said.

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Kenney-Baden will remain as a consultant and appear periodically throughout the trial.

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I think they just need to put me on the stand. I will tell them all what I think and what I think Casey deserves. Put her in a room with ME for five minutes. I would love that!!! I will show her how it feels to beg for her life. Not really, I am not cruel like that, but it sounded good.

I think this is a major problem for the defense. They have hired several other attorneys not as well known
but Baden's forte was forensics and they really needed her. Interesting that CF13 news is now saying she will act as a consultant and appear at the trial. I wonder if she heard the criticism of many who said she only signed on to milk it for publicity which is exactly true.
Ill be very surprised if she shows up a that trial. To do what? Moral support? Ha. There is still a lot of doubt that the JAC will approve payments to this new attorney Ann Finnell's services. In the end I see only Baez and Mason on this case. Mason cant hear a damn thing, and when complicated forensic evidence is given he is going to have a heck of a time understanding the witnesses! I bet Cindy was furious
at Baden's departure.

Actually I am suprised they haven't died of old age. How long have we been at it.

I bet there will be no delays in this trial. The judge is going to get this show on the road one way or another.