The following article is the first piece I wrote about Casey and Caylee Anthony. I published it on November 13 of last year. It doesn’t seem like it was a little over a year ago.

The search for Caylee takes a nose dive

I drove down to spend Labor Day weekend with my best friend, Stewart Bacheler, and his wife, An. They live south of Sarasota, on the west coast of Florida. I arrived late Friday afternoon and early in the evening, An started to ask me about the top mom. Top mom, I wondered. “Who is the top mom?” I asked her over and over again.

“You must know about the top mom. It’s all over the news and you live there. You can’t tell me you don’t know about the top mom!”

“No, I’ve never heard of the top mom.”

“That’s all that’s been on Nancy Grace.”

“I never watch Nancy Grace.” I sensed she was getting exasperated. “I guess that means we’re going to watch her tonight?”

Stewart butted in. “Oh, yeah. That’s all she ever watches at night. She’s obsessed.”

Later that evening, she put CNN on to watch the show. Right from the start, it was like a cross between the New York Post and the National Enquirer, but there it was plastered in a banner across the bottom of the screen: TOT MOM CASEY ANTHONY!!!

“Oh. You mean the Casey Anthony story. Sure, I know all about it. I thought you were saying top mom.”

“No! No! TOT MOM!“

I don’t think there’s a person in the country, let alone the entire world, who doesn’t know about Caylee Anthony, her mother, Casey, and her grandparents, George and Cindy. Poor George. Poor us. In the Orlando area, for months, that’s all we ever heard on the news until the presidential election kicked into high gear. Then, all we heard about was the election and Casey, Caylee, George & Cindy.

♦

Years ago, I used to go to Jay Blanchard Park with my girlfriend, Susan, and her young daughter, Hannah, to find minnows to take home for her fish tank. Hannah might have been 10 or 11 then and it was before she became obsessed with horses. Blanchard Park is a nice, peaceful place along the Little Econlockhatchee River. Or, at least it was until recently. In June of this year, a young woman with a very bright future was raped and murdered there. Nicole Ganguzza, a newlywed and just 26, loved to jog along the trails. Her murder has not been solved.

When the police were informed that Caylee Anthony hadn’t been seen in a month, they focused on where her mother traveled during a crucial date right after Caylee’s last contact with other family members. Investigators looked into pings off cell phone towers that gave important information regarding Casey’s approximate whereabouts on that day. A cell phone is always emitting a signal and as it bounces from tower to tower, it’s telling a computer its location, within the range of that tower. Phone companies keep logs on pings from all cell phones and certainly, she didn’t know that.

Blanchard Park became an area of interest when Casey initially told police she often took Caylee there and sometimes her “babysitter” would meet them or take Caylee herself when Casey was “working” at Universal Studios. Suspicion arose about the park because it’s right on the river and rivers have been known to swallow bodies in the past. It’s not too far from where Casey lived with her parents and she often mentioned the park when interviewed by police.

♦

When bond was set at $500,000 for Casey’s release after her initial arrest for filing a false report and child neglect, a bail bondsman from California, Leonard Padilla, came to her rescue. He felt she would open up if given a chance. She didn’t. She was eventually charged with first degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child and four counts of providing false information to law enforcement. Her bond was revoked, she went back to jail, and Leonard Padilla disowned her. She has been sitting in the Orange County jail since and he is now convinced she did it. No one visits her but her lawyers.

Recently, Padilla organized a search party and zeroed in on Blanchard Park and the Little Econ River, in particular, because of a cross found attached to a nearby tree with beads wrapped around it. He said the beads matched some the family owned. Casey later changed her story about dropping her daughter off with the babysitter at a nearby apartment complex when she told authorities that the park was where Caylee went missing when she left her there with her nanny. He hired professional divers to search the river and they have been searching since Tuesday. This morning, I decided to take a ride down there to take a look around. I figured if I can get close enough to get a few pictures to send to An, she would be totally elated. Not only did I get close, I had a chance to talk to good old Leonard and the owner of the dive company, Blackwater Divers, along with some of his men. I told them my story about the top mom to break the ice. I said that it would make An’s day if I e-mailed pictures to her, hot off the press. She’d never believe it.

Please forgive the quality of the photos. I had the camera on the wrong setting and the images were way over exposed and when that happens, the pictures are very red/pink. I did my best in Photoshop to fix them, but, as the old saying goes; you can put perfume on a turd but it’s still a turd.

Todd Bosinski

Todd Bosinski, the owner of Blackwater Divers, was very friendly. So was his dive team. He told me I could ask him anything at all, anytime I wanted. He even gave me his business card. They had been in the water earlier and were taking a break. He said if I could wait for a while until after he did his press conference, he would set up a group picture. I said, sure, that would be nice, but I couldn’t hang around too long. I did ask about how bad the water was to see anything. One of the divers held his hand up to his nose and said, “This is as far as you can see. The water is pitch black.”

“How do you look for anything?”

“We don’t look, we feel.”

“Feel for what?”

“Plastic bags. Anything that doesn’t feel like the river bottom.”

I turned to Leonard Padilla and asked if I could take his picture.

“Sure.”

Leonard Padilla

Leonard Padilla was nice enough. He didn’t say much, but he didn’t give off any signals like I was bothering him, either. When a woman wearing a Caylee T-shirt walked up, and I assume she is someone he knows, he invited us to grab a bite to eat.

“C’mon, everybody, there’s plenty of food. We’ll never eat it all. Join in.” Darn. I had just eaten, too, but the table was filled with platters of subs and, probably, a few other things. Then, he walked away to talk on his cell phone.

A few minutes later, I took a chance. I called An and told her where I was. “No way!”

“Yes, I am, and I’m walking over to Leonard Padilla right now.” He was off his phone. “Excuse me, Mr. Padilla, will you say hello to my friend, the one I was telling you about?”

“Sure,” and he took the phone. I know she didn’t believe it was him because I overheard him say that, yes, this is Leonard Padilla. A minute later, he handed the phone back to me. “Here, your friend wants to talk to you.”

“Oh my God!” she exclaimed.

Leonard Padilla talking to An

I thanked him and walked back to the area where the others were. I looked at the river and asked one of the other divers how much of an area had they already searched. He pointed at two orange traffic cones and said, 50 yards, down to the blue buoy in the water. I wondered why there, though, since it was so near the playground where Caylee played. Wouldn’t her body have drifted downstream? I mean, my grandparents lost a foster child years ago who drowned. I said they found his body a mile away.

“This water is only moving at about 1 knot per hour. That’s not much at all.” He was right. Ralph Armstrong drowned in the Raritan River, after a nasty rain storm. The water was treacherous. Another guy died that day trying to rescue him. Meanwhile, Todd was being interviewed by local TV stations…

The interview

The following three photos show the orange traffic cones, the divers getting ready to go back in the water, and the area where a bag was found later in the day, after I was gone. I took the final picture of the river because I knew that was going to be their next place to look.

If you look closely, you can see the little orange cones on the bank, in the distance

I was getting ready to leave as the divers were readying themselves to continue their search

Note the blue buoy in the river

The area where the bag of toys was found today

When I was leaving the park this morning, Leonard Padilla was walking to his truck. I asked him when he was going back to California. He mumbled something I didn’t hear. I asked him if he would stick around as long as it takes. He said, “I already said too much. I don’t need to be saying much more right now.”

Later in the day, I heard about a bag with toys and little bones that was found in the water. No way, I thought. I was there earlier and now this. How could I miss such a scoop. Heck, I could have been rich and famous, just like a particular bounty hunter I know! It turns out the bag held no bones. Now the police and FBI want to question Leonard Padilla and give him a lie detector test. I guess they are wondering whether the whole thing was an attempt to make him a little more rich and famous. Was it a plant? One thing that was allegedly found was a shamrock. Casey has a tattoo of a shamrock. Caylee loved shamrocks. Police were very upset he contacted the press with the find and not them first, plus the time and money wasted on a false alarm when local and federal officials showed up at the scene. My guess is the press remained there all day and were readily available when the false alarm surfaced. Padilla is going back out in the morning to continue his search. Earlier, rumor had it that he suddenly left the area and headed back to Sacramento. Tim Miller, founder of Texas Equusearch, told Nancy Grace that Padilla asked him to help with some of their divers, that big news was about to happen that would make them both rich. Miller said he didn’t want any part of it. Of course, Padilla denied the charge. Do I think he planted that evidence? He would be a fool to pull a stunt like that. Why would he jeopardize his career by baiting the authorities? No doubt, he enjoys the press attention, but I don’t think he’s stupid. Besides, from the time I spent with him, I didn’t sense any anticipation. He didn’t act like a man waiting to reel in the cops and media. It could have been a sad joke placed there by someone else looking for a big fish to fry.

♦

When Cindy Anthony was asked about the cross and beads attached to the tree, she told reporters that they have been there for months, placed there soon after Nicole Ganguzza was found dead. That’s rather funny, because I had never heard that news before. Funnier yet, because it’s not close to where her body was found.

The Anthony home looks very peaceful compared to a few months ago

The front door

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This is a letter I sent to Shawn Bartelt, the general manager of WFTV. [To anyone who wants to dispute my numbers, I will send you proof.]

Dear Shawn:

My name is Dave Knechel and I own a blog called Marinade Dave. I began covering the Caylee Anthony murder last November. Today, my readership has blossomed into nearly 100,000 visitors a month, which is very encouraging, considering that this time last year it was around 5,000. Since I live in the Orlando area, I feel I can proffer a unique and personal perspective through my writing and the videos I’ve produced pertaining to the case.

Recently, your legal analyst, Bill Sheaffer, started a blog concerning the Casey Anthony case. It was an incredibly smart move and he has been warmly welcomed into the blogging community. He is a very learned man and a wonderful asset to the myriads of people interested in this crime. Unfortunately, I am having a problem with his new site and I am going to ask for your help. I am not alone.

Because of the popularity of my blog, I have a handful of detractors. Certainly, this goes with the territory and I fully expect it. Everyone is allowed their opinion. I have no problem with that, except that this minority has decided to use Bill’s blog as their personal platform to insult and antagonize not only me, but the followers of my blog and each other. What they are writing is despicable and beneath human dignity. On his most recent post, Bill brought the issue up with his readers by writing, “Finally, I was more than a little surprised at the number of ongoing personal and vituperative attacks between and among some of you. Again, I am new at this. But, because I am a strong proponent of the First Amendment, I would like to avoid setting up a schedule of rules for this site, if possible. I am interested in hearing from everyone, regardless of his/her opinions or positions. I learn from you too. Please. Let’s make this a place for civil discourse. It is personally very difficult and time consuming to read through all of ‘the other’ to get to what most of you really care about: Can the State of Florida get justice for little girl Caylee Anthony? So thank you in advance.”

Quite clearly, he is well aware of the situation. My request is simple and identical to his. What these few people are doing is foul. They disregard completely the professional intent of Bill’s blog. They copy & paste comments directly from my site into his and rewrite them in order to be taken completely out of context. They lie about me and my readers and blatantly accuse me of Internet crimes I have never committed and it must end. They hide behind assumed names and distort words that blame me for coming in there to create more problems. I assure you, I have not, yet these “flamers” continue to taunt me and threaten people who frequent my blog. They demand that we all stay out. Believe me, I have done nothing on Bill’s site to encourage it. All I ask is that you take whatever steps are necessary to stop these people from attacking me and the contributors of my blog. Are they bordering on libel? I don’t know, but I am positive they are totally wrong to think that slander and belittling others are protected under the auspices of freedom of speech. How hypocritical that they deny any number of us a chance to defend ourselves while they spew venom with complete impunity.

What they are doing is taking advantage of Bill because he cannot moderate the blog throughout the day and, for the most part, all it has accomplished is nothing short of anarchy and it’s as if they set out to destroy him instead of doing whatever they can to encourage his input. In the meantime, interesting, poignant, comments and queries from good people are lost in the fray. His first post comments were horrendous and it continues on the new one. Ironically, they are too afraid to come to me and because they refuse to use real names, 1 person can easily become 6 and 6 can look like 36 in order to make it erroneously appear like a disproportionate number. On a humorous note, some of them stole identities from some of my contributors and began fighting among themselves like chickens without heads. Meanwhile, a few of the decent folks are now blaming me, too, because it’s all very confusing. Are they accomplishing what they set out to do? No, and they won’t.

Would you please establish some rules/guidelines in order to put an end to the insanity? Most blogs have moderators whose function is to weed out the comments that go off-topic or are insulting to others. Like everyone else, I was very happy to see a true professional join the world of blogging. Here is a man who can answer our most puzzling questions regarding this case, but it’s turning into a monster that must be quelled before his wonderful work is squandered and readers are frightened away. If they want to attack me, I think it is in the best interests of all concerned parties to move it somewhere else. It is unfair to Bill, there is absolutely no point in involving him, and it is a complete injustice to me and my contributors. What began as Justice for Caylee has mutated into something very, very disturbing. Perhaps, I should ask him to represent me.

Thank you,

Dave Knechel

If you wish to send a letter to Shawn Bartelt, GM of WFTV, please click HERE. Click on WFTV/WRDQ General Manager

To write a letter to William J. Sheaffer, please e-mail him: mail@defenselaw.net or through his Web site: http://www.defenselaw.net/

PLEASE VOTE FOR ME!

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I haven’t seen Ashley Judd in a number of years now, but I’ll readily admit I’ve had a secret crush on her for a long time. In 1999, she starred in a movie titled, Double Jeopardy. According to the IMDB Web site the plot line says “a woman framed for her husband’s murder suspects he is still alive; as she has already been tried for the crime, she can’t be re-prosecuted if she finds and kills him.”

I think that’s what we all think about double jeopardy; that no one can be tried for the same crime twice. So what’s with the Motion to Dismiss Counts 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13 for Violation of Double Jeopardy Clause filed by Casey Anthony?

First, we’ll have to take a look at the motions filed by the state. There’s no doubt that law enforcement and prosecutors like to throw the book at people to make some of it stick., and Casey Anthony made herself a perfect target for not only the check fraud charges, but the first-degree murder charge in the death of her daughter. It would seem like fraud convictions would be a walk in the park compared to facing execution, but there are reasons why this particular motion was filed by the defense.

Here are the three charges filed for each forged check written:

1. Fraudulent Use Of Personal Identification Information

2. Forgery Of A Check

3. Uttering A Forged Check

x4=12

Another charge was thrown in for good measure:

13. Grand Theft Third Degree

The motion to dismiss states that Casey is guaranteed double jeopardy protection under the United States Constitution as well as the Florida Constitution on the grounds of duplicative charges. Her defense claims that the additional grand theft third degree charge would be tantamount to punishing her for the same crime covered in the other 12 counts. In essence, Casey’s defense team points out that under law, she should be charged for one crime by one count. The defense also claims that charging her with multiple counts for the same act prejudices her, therefore the counts should be dismissed. In other words, she should be charged once each for all three charges and it shouldn’t matter how many bad checks she wrote. That means she should have only been charged with one count of fraudulent use of personal identification information, one count of forgery of a check and one count of uttering a forged check. No matter how many checks she wrote, they should all fall under the same umbrella of charges.

According to the motion, “Miss Anthony is guaranteed double jeopardy protection by the Fifth and Eighth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article 1, Sections 9 and 17 of the Florida Constitution for duplicative charges.” Let’s take a look at what the law says:

Amendment 5 – Trial and Punishment, Compensation for Takings

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment 8

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Florida Constitution – Article 1, Sections 9 and 17

SECTION 9.  Due process.

No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, or be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense, or be compelled in any criminal matter to be a witness against oneself.

SECTION 17.  Excessive punishments.

Excessive fines, cruel and unusual punishment, attainder, forfeiture of estate, indefinite imprisonment, and unreasonable detention of witnesses are forbidden. The death penalty is an authorized punishment for capital crimes designated by the legislature. The prohibition against cruel or unusual punishment, and the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, shall be construed in conformity with decisions of the United States Supreme Court which interpret the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment provided in the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Any method of execution shall be allowed, unless prohibited by the United States Constitution. Methods of execution may be designated by the legislature, and a change in any method of execution may be applied retroactively. A sentence of death shall not be reduced on the basis that a method of execution is invalid. In any case in which an execution method is declared invalid, the death sentence shall remain in force until the sentence can be lawfully executed by any valid method. This section shall apply retroactively.

The double jeopardy rule of the Fifth Amendment is intended to limit abuse by the government in repeated prosecution for the same offense as a means of harassment or oppression. It is also in agreement with the common law concept ofres judicata which prevents courts from relitigating issues which have already been the subject of a final judgment. There are three essential protections included in the double jeopardy principle, which are:

• being retried for the same crime after an acquittal
• retrial after a conviction
• being punished multiple times for the same offense

Does the defense motion to dismiss those extra charges, something it sees as ancillary in nature, hold any merit? In Solem v. Helm (1983) 463 U.S. 277, a split court found that a life sentence without the possibility of parole for a seventh nonviolent felony was unconstitutional. In Solem, a bare majority of the court held a court’s proportionality analysis under the Eighth Amendment should be guided by objective criteria, including the gravity of the offense and the harshness of the penalty; the sentences imposed on other criminals in the same jurisdiction; and the sentences imposed for commission of the same crime in other jurisdictions.

In Harmelin v. Michigan (1991) 501 U.S. 957, a life sentence without possibility of parole for possessing 672 grams of cocaine was upheld. The case produced five separate opinions. While seven justices supported a proportionality review under the Eighth Amendment, only four favored application of all three factors cited in Solem. As one court has concluded, disproportionality survives; Solem does not. (McGruder v. Puckett (5th Cir.’92) 954 F.2d 313, 316.) In Harmelin, Justice Scalia, joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist, determined Solem was wrongly decided and the Eighth Amendment contained no proportionality guarantee. Justice Kennedy, joined by Justices O’Connor and Souter, found the Eighth Amendment encompassed a narrow proportionality principle. In other words, the Eighth Amendment does not require strict proportionality between crime and sentence. Rather, it forbids only extreme sentences that are ‘grossly disproportionate’ to the crime. Moreover, in Solem v. Helm, the court focused on the nonviolent nature of both the defendant’s current offense of uttering a ‘no account’ check (one of the most passive felonies a person could commit) and his prior offenses. The majority acknowledged a life sentence for fourth-time heroin dealers and other violent criminals would pass constitutional muster.

What all of this legalese means, in my interpretation of law, is that Casey should be tried once for each of the three charges. If she is acquitted of the first 3 charges, the case should not be allowed to proceed. On the other hand, if she is convicted of the first 3 charges, the additional charges should no longer be relevant and she should be sentenced for just those 3. I understand the logic, but is it really constitutional? Suppose she is convicted on all 13 charges. She faces a long time in prison on each separate conviction. In essence, she could be sentenced to spend her remaining years behind bars. Also, as 13 separate convictions, she would be considered an habitual offender. Could she be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole as such? I believe she could. What we have to consider is not just this case, but prior cases and the issue of extreme sentences for others beyond the State of Florida v. Casey Marie Anthony. As much as many may want the book thrown at her, in its wisdom, the court does not see prejudice. It sees a defendant and the charges against her. She has the law on her side as much as it may or may not help her.

The defense motion cited Florida Statute Section 775.021 (4), which states that, “Whoever, in the course of one criminal transaction or episode, commits an act or acts which constitute one or more separate criminal offenses, upon conviction and adjudication of guilt, shall be sentenced separately for each criminal offense; and the sentencing judge may order the sentences to be served concurrently or consecutively. For the purposes of this subsection, offenses are separate if each offense requires proof of an element that the other does not, without regard to the accusatory pleading or the proof adduced at trial.”

I read that as meaning the offenses are separate from each other. In other words, each of Amy’s forged checks are really the same crime on different dates. As such, they should be charged as one crime because the Fifth Amendment forbids multiple punishments for the same offense. In Blockburger v. U.S., 284 U.S. 299 (1932), the Supreme Court held that punishment for two statutory offenses arising out of the same criminal act or transaction does not violate the Double Jeopardy Clause if ‘each provision requires proof of an additional fact which the other does not.’ Separate punishments in multiple criminal prosecution are constitutionally permissible, however, if the punishments are not based upon the same offenses. Are they the same offenses? According to Florida law (Florida Statute Section 775.021 [4][b]), the intent of the Legislature is to convict and sentence for each criminal offense committed in the course of one criminal episode or transaction and not to allow the principle of lenity as set forth in subsection (1) to determine legislative intent. Exceptions to this rule of construction are:

1.  Offenses which require identical elements of proof.

2.  Offenses which are degrees of the same offense as provided by statute.

3.  Offenses which are lesser offenses the statutory elements of which are subsumed by the greater offense.

I think it’s very clear why the defense filed this motion and it’s a very good one. Let’s move on and take a look at Casey’s grand jury indictment last October.

On October 14, 2008, Casey Marie Anthony was indicted by the State of Florida on these separate charges:

1) FIRST DEGREE MURDER (CAPITAL)

2) AGGRAVATED CHILD ABUSE (F1-L9)

3) AGGRAVATED MANSLAUGHTER OF A CHILD (F1-L10)

4) PROVIDING FALSE INFORMATION TO A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER

5) PROVIDING FALSE INFORMATION TO A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER

6) PROVIDING FALSE INFORMATION TO A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER

7) PROVIDING FALSE INFORMATION TO A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER

Yes, she was charged with premeditated first-degree murder under Florida Statute 782.04:

Murder.

(1)(a)  The unlawful killing of a human being:

1.  When perpetrated from a premeditated design to effect the death of the person killed or any human being

While we ponder the legality of the latest double jeopardy motion, take a look at the above indictment charges. How can a person be charged with murder and manslaughter*? Why are there four separate charges pertaining to providing false information to a law enforcement officer? Mark my words, when the murder case heats up more, we are going to see a slew of motions filed to throw out some of the charges. What will happen? It certainly is within the realm of possibility, but on the other hand, allow me to look at the April 19, 1995 Oklahoma City bombing which killed 168 people and was the deadliest act of terrorism within the United States prior to the 9/11 attacks. I don’t need to go into any detail of what transpired. This is purely about the charges, the trial, and the conviction.

On August 10, 1995, Timothy McVeigh was indicted on 11 federal counts, including conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, use of a weapon of mass destruction, destruction by explosives and 8 counts of first-degree murder. On June 2, 1997, McVeigh was found guilty on all 11 counts of the federal indictment. He was executed by lethal injection at 7:14 a.m. on June 11, 2001, at the U.S. Federal Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.

You may wonder why I chose this particular crime. To be honest, the double jeopardy motion has nothing to do with Caylee’s murder at this time. This is an entirely separate case, but I am looking at legal comparisons and how they could influence each trial, fraud and murder.

My Opinion

Despite killing 168 people, McVeigh was only charged with 8 murders. In my opinion, Casey Anthony will lose her Motion to Dismiss Counts 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13 for Violation of Double Jeopardy Clause. Why? If Timothy McVeigh’s attorneys used the same logic and prevailed in a similar motion to dismiss the counts by reducing the eight murder charges to one, that means out of 168 deaths he was responsible for, he would have been tried for one single murder and the entire weight of those deaths would have been reduced from 8 to 1. Would he have been sentenced to death for one murder? With Casey, it’s the same thing in my book, although the charges are not similar. I am merely making an analogy. Each forged check is a separate crime. The only charge I would consider dropping is the Grand Theft Third Degree. I think it’s extra icing on a 12-layer cake. One thing the judge may consider, and only if Casey is convicted on all counts, is to follow maximum sentencing guidelines allowed by the state, but to condense those 12 charges into 3 at sentencing. In other words, allow all of the convictions to stand, but don’t sentence each one individually. Of course, the judge should use his own discretion when deciding the imposition of concurrent or consecutive sentences and I am not concerned with that particular aspect. Regardless of what he decides, Casey will be locked away for a long time if she is convicted of these charges alone. I realize how unpopular my view will be with readers, but we must remember, when Casey stands trial on the fraud charges, she will not be convicted of anything yet and the court will not take Caylee’s death into consideration. Who else, other than Casey, would you want to spend a life in prison over stolen checks that amounted to less than $1,000?

On a final note, I think we’re all Jonesing for the fraud trial to begin. Any trial, actually, and speaking of Jonesing, wasn’t Tommy Lee Jones Ashley Judd’s costar in Double Jeopardy? Yup, he was. Too bad justice doesn’t always work the same way as it does in Hollywood. Casey Anthony’s role would have been written out of the script right after the opening credits. In the real world, that’s not the way it works.

*Amended by Maura on 2009/11/13 at 12:40 pm: According to a lawyer who comments over on Blink’s site, Florida law requires the inclusion of a lesser crime when a person is indicted for a capital offense. That’s why Casey was charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child in addition to first degree murder.

On the surface, it appears that the jurors will be allowed to convict Casey of both first degree murder (homicide with premeditation) and manslaughter (homicide without premeditation), which can’t logically both be true relative to the same homicide.

The resolution to that contradiction will be in the instructions to the jurors.

PLEASE VOTE FOR ME!

Who, what, where, when, why and how

Since July of last year, we’ve received mountains of information addressing the murder of Caylee Marie Anthony and her mother, who is charged with the crime. Because the evidence points to one person, I think it’s safe to say that 99.7% of the people interested in this case believe, without a doubt, that Casey Marie Anthony is guilty of killing her daughter.

So far, we know who it was and we are sure we know who was responsible. We know what happened. Caylee was murdered. Do we know where the crime took place? If Casey is truly guilty, odds are it occurred inside the Anthony home. Could it have happened anywhere else? Conceivably, yes, and more about this aspect may come out prior to or during trial.

We also know a bit about when Caylee was killed. The last time anyone saw her alive was June 16, 2008. Since she was never seen again, it’s fairly reasonable to conclude that on June 16, she died. Bingo. Cut and dried.

I don’t think we’ll ever know how Caylee died. Several theories are floating around. The latest one is death by injection of homemade chloroform, but there is no precise evidence to verify it. Lots of garbage was tossed into the woods where she was found. How will the state prove it was Casey’s needle? How will prosecutors explain the testosterone found on it? In court, “maybes” won’t count and the defense is well aware of that.

As we consider who, what, where and how, have we ever really sat down to ponder why Caylee was murdered in a, seemingly, cold-blooded fashion? If you think about it, none of the media outlets have given any thought to it. None. In April, I wrote an article titled, When a mother kills. In it, I took an in-depth look at filicide, which is the deliberate act of a parent killing their own son or daughter. In real life, Motown singer/songwriter Marvin Gaye was shot to death by his father in 1984. In mythology, Hercules killed his wife and children in a fit of rage induced by the goddess Hera. The list is long and society looks the other way, never considering possible causes.

What I’d like to know is why Caylee was killed. As much as we seem to know about this horrible murder, what are some of the possible motives? If, in fact, her mother committed the crime, why did she do it? Was it jealousy? To be able to party again? Was it because deep down inside, Casey never wanted to have a child? Certainly, to wander aimlessly for a month without fully comprehending the magnitude of her daughter’s death, was something terribly askew in her mind? What sane person would think like that? Could there be underlying factors at work? Are you aware of postpartum depression? The symptoms may hide themselves as manic-depression or bipolar disorder. Bouts of euphoria, agitation, sleeplessness, sexual promiscuity, and hyperactivity are not unusual. Very easily, poor judgment could be a result. This is, in no manner, meant to soften the blow, and Casey is not claiming she suffered from any form of mental disorder, but if she killed Caylee, why did she do it? Why haven’t the media taken an in-depth look into the mind of this filicidal mother, to discern and recognize some of the possible reasons? So far, all we’ve really discussed are the whos, whats, wheres and hows. Do we have any whys?

x

PLEASE VOTE FOR ME!

BOLO – Jason Rodriguez – silver, 2002 Nissan SUV with tag number D11UXR

UPDATE 2:10 PM:

Vehicle found at Hollowbrook Apartments/Curry Ford Road & 436 (Semoran Blvd.)

2:19 – SUSPECT IN CUSTODY

One person was killed in a shooting at a downtown Orlando office this morning. According to Orlando Fire Department dispatch and Orlando police, at least six to eight other people were shot and transported to ORMC (Orlando Regional Medical Center.)

The two dead people were found on the eight and tenth floors of the office building. The shooting happened at 1000 Legion Place at the Gateway Center.

Photo courtesy NAOMI RINGER, ORLANDO SENTINEL / November 6, 2009

WESH 2 reporter Gail Paschall-Brown, who is at the scene on the ground, said that 15 employees came out of the building very distraught. She spoke with one who said that a former employee came into the office who hadn’t worked at the company in over a year. Police have now named the suspect, but he remains at large. 40-year-old Jason Rodriguez is the man police are looking for. According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, he is described as a light-skinned Hispanic male wearing blue jeans and a Polo-style shirt. He is believed to be driving a silver, 2002 Nissan SUV with tag number D11UXR.

“At 11 o’clock, we received a call about shots fired at the 1000 block of Legions Place,” Sgt. Barb Jones said early this afternoon. “We deployed our active shooter teams.”

Rodriguez may have been a former employee of Reynolds, Smith & Hill, a transportation consulting firm. Police and Ken Jacobson, a spokesman for the company in its Jacksonville, Florida headquarters, confirmed the shooting took place in the consulting firm’s office. “We understand the shootings did take place in our office,” Jacobson said. “People were shot in our offices.”

♦

Apparently, Jason Rodriguez drove to his mother’s apartment. When she watched the story unfold on TV, she quietly called 911 to report that her son was there. SWAT personnel rammed his vehicle and entered the apartment, where he was taken into custody very quietly and very successfully.

PLEASE VOTE FOR ME!

More than 2,100 pages of documents were released this morning by the State Attorney’s Office in the case against Casey Anthony. Among the pages are evidence lists, a handful of photos, and e-mails between OCSO detectives and FBI personnel.

Syringe in bottle found near remains contained traces of chloroform

FBI lab technicians found an unknown liquid and chloroform inside a Cool-Blue Gatorade bottle. The bottle also contained a plastic bag labeled “Disposable Syringe Kit” with a needle inside. Traces of chloroform were detected inside the syringe.

PDF: Anthony Documents, Nov. 6, Photographs
PDF: Anthony Documents, Nov. 6, FBI Test
PDF: Anthony Documents, Nov. 6, DNA Tests
PDF: Anthony Documents, Set 13 (Nov. 6) Knife
PDF: Anthony Documents Nov. 6 Insects, Tires

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14
Part 15
Part 16
Part 17
Part 18
Part 19
Part 20
Part 21
Part 22
Part 23
Part 24
Part 25
Part 26
Part 27
Part 28
Part 29
Part 30
Part 31
Part 32
Part 33
Part 34

Please check back. I will be updating this post as new material becomes available.

PLEASE VOTE FOR ME!

The MLB (Major League Baseball) World Series is now underway, pitting the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League against the New York Yankees of the American League. It has been a time-honored tradition since 1903. That’s 101 years longer than I’ve been writing this blog, including my other one at Blogger. Along this path, I’ve learned a lot about people and the Internet. I’ve hit a few home runs where I’ve exposed a number of inconsistencies related to the people and stories about the Casey Anthony case. I’ve also made a number of good, solid, base hits. And like an umpire, I’ve tried to remain as neutral as possible. That has helped increase readership because I really do try to be fair to everyone. I don’t allow name calling or bashing. Sometimes, I have strayed out of the ball park of my own rules and some of those hits have been foul balls. Two, in particular, were errors. Before I go into that, let me explain a little more about myself and throw in a few other thoughts.

I used to make a marinade, hence the Marinade Dave moniker that’s stuck with me throughout the years. It was my own recipe and I sold it in many markets around Orlando. When I decided to blog, I figured I could dedicate it to marinades, marinating, recipes and all food in general. Sure, it started out that way, but it didn’t take long before I chose to expand my horizons by including matters of politics, religion and, of course, a little humor along the way. My choice to diversify was my own to make because no one owns the Internet. No one tells us what we can and cannot write about. Since those days of November, 2004, we’ve all come a long way, too. Six years ago, we never knew that words like YouTube and Twitter would work their way into everyday language, like Google had done before. Today, you Google something, no matter what search engine you use. Today, everyone knows what a blog is. Are tweets far behind?

Back in the early days of blogging, WordPress was an exclusive club. You couldn’t just open one like you can today. It was by invitation only and it stood above the rest. It still does. The person who invited me is a published author. He liked my writing style. We separated a couple of years ago or so over differences of opinion. An avowed socialist, he wanted to be the supreme commandeer of the Internet. I could never fathom, nor could I understand his outlandish notions that everyone on the Internet, you, me, and your little dog, had to be licensed to contribute anything at all. Not just that, but you had to use your real name. No nicknames. His law was written on a post titled, Why Do You Hide Your Identity? He also made a complete mockery of faith and religion. Consequently, he lost almost all of his readers and became recognized as an Internet basket case; the fanatic. Gone were the glory days. My job isn’t to pick on him or anyone else, but I must say all of us have been guilty of trying to force our views on others to some degree, especially on blogs and forums. In the real world of social sites, aside from child porn and very little more, there are no rules that guide us and there shouldn’t be. It’s stupid to think there could be one giant czar who would run the entire network of Web sites around the world, because each and every country has its own set of rules and values and the Internet is international. I would hope that common courtesy is recognized the world over, too, but that’s not true. Despite being such a huge cultural market, where people of all persuasions meld, rudeness is rudeness the world over. Only fools try to use their foreign customs as an excuse. Believe me, I know that first hand.

What we do on the Internet is hide behind the facade of anonymity. We live miles and miles apart from each other, sometimes oceans away. That seems to give some license to write whatever they want. George is Caylee’s father, I’ve heard before, but would the accusers ever scream that standing two feet away from him? Would people really spit in Cindy’s face because they feel she is just as guilty as Casey? It seems, the longer this case goes on, the nastier it becomes and the less we know each other, the more we are willing to throw barbs at each other, too. It has gotten downright nasty and little things turn into veritable wars. How sad.

One of the obstacles of writing comments is the personal void left because we can’t add real affection and innuendo to words. To write ‘I like you’ in a sentence is different from saying it while shaking one’s hand. To complain about something is mostly the same way. Something is lost in translation and it takes on a very personal tone. When a former commenter made claims about our stupidity over the Anthony case, it was, invariably, taken the wrong way for several reasons. One, this person, who speaks a different language, couldn’t understand English like we do and didn’t realize how words can hurt – or else she did so on purpose and used the language barrier as her excuse. What this person really failed to grasp was that words are like arrows and they cut deeply into the hearts of people. What was taken advantage of was the kindness of the host, in this case, me. Some people have never met a person they can’t insult and they will never change. It’s a very bitter existence.

Because of the delicate balance of what I call the “I” and “me” online persona, we remain relatively hardened and aloof to all outsiders, too. The easiest way to describe “I” and “me” is this way: “I” am what I am in the company of people who are not all that close to me. I might belch amongst my friends, but would I do it in church or in the theatre? Certainly, on a first date, neither person would make embarrassing bodily noises they might have no problem with later on, as they become more comfortable with each other. That’s when the “me” person takes over. The more relaxed we are, the more open we become. That’s happened here on the blog. The more we communicate, the more we open up. There may still be an element of stark separation, but it loses its coldness. It’s a shame that some people won’t relax and settle in, like at a campfire on the beach, listening to the roar of the calming surf.

Last night was very unsettling. A big fight broke out and I wrote an analogy of sorts in one of the comments. It went like this:

Years ago, I was in the restaurant business. I hired mostly high school and college age kids. I tried to be fair to each and every one of them, but of course, there were exceptions. Bear with me because what I’m going to say should make sense in the end.

In a retail establishment, certainly a restaurant, there is a front of house and a back of house. I never chopped onions in front of a customer, nor did I allow any of my employees to argue out front because it would alienate customers. Who wants to eat at a restaurant where people are fighting? They’re probably not paying attention to anything else, like the quality of the food. Do they wash their hands after they use the bathroom? No one likes a mess. No one.

Let’s say, for the sake of argument… no, I’m not asking for one… I have 20 employees and they all split hours. I’ll tell you right from the start, in no time at all, I’ll know who I can rely on in a pinch and I’ll know the ones I can’t, but the funny thing is, that’s not exactly what I mean. Let’s look at life and schedules. Some of those employees have other commitments; family, boyfriends/girlfriends, school, church, homework. Others have less. Some of them love to work and get their hands dirty. They are more interested in working for reasons unknown. Maybe, they like it because they get to work with me. Doubtful. Maybe, it’s because they like to work with their friends. It doesn’t matter, and no one becomes the boss’s pet. What happens is that everyone fits into their own schedule. They work according to their own needs. Some want 30 hours a week. Some want 10. Why would a kid working 10 hours a week gripe about the one working 30 when they are responsible for working the hours they asked for? As I said, no one is a favorite, but the one with the most hours is going to have the most experience and when Davey Boy needs time off, who do you think the extra hours should go to? Why gripe to that person? Why not come to me and only me and ask why I have a better working relationship with others?

One of the reasons why I had virtually no turnover of employees was because I tried to make their time at work a good experience. I tried to teach them morals and responsibilities. Throughout the days and years spent with me, I did my best to make that time fun. Sure, things got out of hand once in a while and I had to crack the whip. I asked them how they’d feel if I take a few hours off their schedule next week. Trust me, I’ve got a thousand kids banging on my back door, begging for a job. They didn’t like that, but that was then and they were employees. I paid them, but the similarities to those days are so eerie today. Sometimes, I feel like I’m working with youngsters again, not adults. Of course, this isn’t a job, but I’ve tried to mix fun in with serious investigative work. Just like in the days of the restaurant business, on the Internet, there are times to be serious and there are lots of times to have fun. We are working on a complex murder case. We get to meet hundreds of people with individual personalities. Because of the very nature of the crime, we need to unwind once in a while and let our guard down. It’s human nature. Believe me, I understand why some of us will never be friends, but can’t we get along fine, just the same?

Initially, it’s a lot more complex to bond on the Internet and because of online threats and just plain, old fashioned common sense, we remain on guard. Person-to-person meetings reduce caution and tension a lot more than conference calls and certainly, even more so here, since our only means of communication is typing, where words are taken out of context all the time. Because we can’t add that dimension of real-time, live affection and emotion, sentences become weapons when in most cases, they weren’t meant that way at all. I make it a point to never ask anyone a forward question, like for their e-mail address. For one thing, I hate the fear of rejection, but more importantly, it places the other person in an awkward position. It backs them into a corner and no one comes out a winner. No one, because in a matter of seconds, an Internet acquaintance, one that may have eventually blossomed into a friend, immediately goes on the defense and sometimes, both people fade into the sunset of commenting. It sours them. The thought of that happening on account of my blog, in particular, greatly depresses me. I don’t want people to be so personally involved in any site that they take words to heart.

Do I have room to talk?

I’ll be the first one to admit I’ve made mistakes online and I’m sure there are more to go. I’m far from perfect, and now to the heart of the matter; the baseball connection. In this World Series of Blogging, and it has never-ending innings, I’ve made a couple of errors. The most recent one was the article titled, My views on the cruise, clues and recent news. I dropped the ball on that one.

On June 2 of this year, I published a post titled, From the Vomiteria. Don’t go looking for it. I took it down. In it, I admonished several of Hal Boedeker’s¹ commenters for writing scathing reviews of Andrea Lyon based on her looks instead of her credentials. Actually, I quoted two columns². I ended up ridiculing those people for ridiculing her. Were they wrong? Yes, but so was I and for more reasons than one. I wasn’t really concerned about plagiarizing anyone by lifting those unflattering comments and placing snippets of them into my post. To plagiarize is to “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own: to use (another’s production) without crediting the source.³“ I wasn’t guilty of that. I linked the sources and provided the names of the people who wrote them. Only, I was wrong. Two lines separate comments and those who write them on Boedeker’s online Orlando Sentinel column. There is a thin line directly above the name of the individual and a thin line directly below the body copy of the comment. I sandwiched the name and comment between the two lines together. Wrong. The first line separates the comment from the name of the writer, just below. All of the comments I claimed were written by folks like Rose and Sally were actually written by someone else. They recently brought the mistake to my attention and I promised I would make it right by apologizing. As a matter of fact, to show how fair & balanced I really am, compared to some who will never refrain from picking fights with others, I apologize to everyone there, including Hal Boedeker. I like to think I’m a more sensitive and sensible writer than I was then, that I’ve grown, and that I would be nothing more than a liar and a hypocrite if I didn’t own up to my mistakes. Whoever I’ve offended in the past, I apologize. I do have a feisty side, but I shouldn’t point the finger. As a matter of fact, no one should, and that leads us back to our constant and underlying problem with infighting. Can’t we just all get along? The trial is nearly a year away and I would like us to focus on the crime more than on how we can’t stand each other. No one said we had to be the best of friends, but I sure would like to run a happy blog. I’d like to be around to continue covering this case, too, from my unique perspective, but I’m getting tired. The bickering and backstabbing is getting old. We are adults.

If you have a situation, all I ask is that you bring it to my attention. That is the proper Internet protocol. If you want to get closer to another commenter, the only real way to make a connection is through private channels. If you want to complain about someone, it’s the same thing. You send me an e-mail and leave that person alone. Since I host this blog, I am the go between. It is safe, discreet and it is what we commonly refer to as netiquette. Everything that’s ever said to me is kept in the strictest of confidence and I think, by now, you know you can trust me. Believe me, I am not just here to write. I am here to listen and everyone has a voice. If you feel a fight coming on, take it to the brand new Fighting Page. It’s right at the top of the blog, up there with Blog Rules. I wrote them for a reason.

I had something else I wanted to post today, but I’ll do it tomorrow or Monday. In the meantime, this is a story I first wrote in 2006. Because it’s Halloween, I’m republishing it – with several modifications. Please don’t be frightened.

The Night I Screamed On Halloween

A few years ago, I told my mother about the scariest Halloween moment in my life. She questioned whether she would have let me venture out on my own at the tender age of 6. I was with a friend from the neighborhood and we were in the same class at school, so I wasn’t really alone. I told her, sure, why not? Times were different then. We left our windows open at night. During hot summer months, most houses were without air conditioning and the only thing that separated us from the rest of the world was a screen door. Crime wasn’t something that was ever present in our minds. It was a different time…

It was a chilly autumn night, so, so many years ago. It was my first foray out with a friend on Halloween. No moms allowed! I was a man this night, or so I thought. Harold and I went out to make the rounds just as darkness fell. There were lots of kids in all sorts of costumes milling about, stopping at most of the homes in the close knit community. Some were decorated and they seemed like the most inviting – the ones that would give out the best candy! I remember the flickering of candlelit pumpkins with each eerie twist and turn throughout the neighborhood. Skeletons hung from trees and porches, swaying in the gentle breeze. We talked of ghosts and goblins and tried to stay away from dark alleys and back yards. No way! Oh yeah, and houses with their lights off, too, because that meant they were going to grab us and take us to the basement where we’d never be seen again. Maybe, it really just meant they weren’t home, but we weren’t going to take any chances.

I had a big brown paper shopping bag to stuff all that tooth rotting goodness in. There were no paper or plastic options at the grocery store back then. These were the days of old when the milkman left glass bottles at our doorsteps and on freezing winter morns, the cream would expand and push the cardboard cap up and out a few inches. Brrr. Rabbit ears were the best way to watch our round screen black & white TVs.

Harold wanted to finish the night at his house. “OK,” I said, “we started at mine, we can stop at yours.”

I had never been to his place before. He lived about 6 or 7 houses up and on the other side of the street. When you’re six years old, that’s pretty far away and I wasn’t too crazy about being almost out of sight of my own place. We must have visited all kinds of critters, I mean people, while working our way to his house. I was slowly approaching unmarked territory. At night, too. In the dark. Halloween night! I was getting nervous. OK, this is far enough.

“I think it’s getting late. I’m getting tired,” I said. We’d been out long enough and had plenty of goodies to last a long time. We probably had bewitching hours, anyway. It was probably a school night.

“OK. Let’s go to my place,” Harold said.

“I’m ready!” Besides, I was getting bored.

Everywhere I went, everyone made me take off my mask. “Oh, you’re Sam & Dottie’s boy.”

When we got to his house, we walked up the sidewalk and scaled the stairs to his front porch. The porch light was off and it was downright spooky. I sensed evil lurking about. We knocked and suddenly the door opened.

“TRICK OR TREAT!” We screamed in unison.

“I want to see a trick!” his father quickly replied. A trick? I didn’t know what he was talking about. Saying trick or treat meant I was going to get candy. That’s all. What was this trick thing all about?

“When you say trick or treat, I can ask you to do a trick first. Then I give you a treat. Do you have a trick?”

Harold and I gave each other a puzzled look and said, “Huh? Nooooo?!”

“Well, then, I have a trick for you,” and just like that, his top teeth popped out and back into his mouth in an instant. I froze dead in my tracks and just stared up at him. Then he did it again. Those teeth popped out of his face and dangled for a second and then zipped right back inside his mouth.

I let out a blood curdling scream that woke the dead at the cemetery down the street. Today, neighbors would call 911 after hearing the panic in my voice. I turned to run, when all of a sudden, Harold’s mom suddenly appeared from behind his father and quickly came out the door to comfort me. Whatever his name was, she sure did scold him. Then, she turned to me…

“He shouldn’t have done that.” The guy was rolling on the floor with laughter. Harold didn’t know what to do. “Sometimes when people’s teeth go bad, the dentist has to pull them out. Then, he gives you new ones to chew your food and have a nice smile. They come out and you put them back in. They’re not real. Lots of people have them,” She turned to him. “Apologize right now!”

I don’t remember if he said anything or not. He was still laughing. I was pretty rattled and couldn’t stop shaking in my boots. She said she would walk me home. I was not about ready to venture out of that neighborhood by myself. When we got back to my place, she explained to my mother what a horror filled trauma I had just gone through. I sensed a snicker or two and I’m not talking about the candy variety.

“Mom? Can I sleep with the light on tonight?” I asked. “I’m never going back to that house again,” and I never did. “Mom, would you lock the front door, just in case?” For the longest time, I wouldn’t even look at that place and I sure was glad when we moved.

I never saw Harold’s dad again. We never discussed it in school, either. When I was old enough to understand, I wondered how the father of a six year old boy could have lost his teeth so young.

Maybe, he ate too much Halloween candy.

Or so it says on OkamiKage’s YouTube Channel

Last signed in: 1 year ago

Commentary

I learned how to use a gun when I was a child. One time, my father took me out squirrel hunting. I was the spotter. Look, I said, as I pointed up a tree. My father took aim and squeezed the trigger. Pow, just like that, the squirrel fell off its perch and down to the ground. I walked over to it. It was writhing in pain and I watched intently until it took its final breath. That experience really impacted me tremendously. I couldn’t have been more than 10 years old, if that, but I never wanted to see an animal die again. Because of my reaction, my father never hunted again, either. To this day, I have never owned a gun or weapon of any kind and I never will. I don’t mind skeet shooting or target practice, but I have no desire to watch anything die by the hands of another.

Even at that age, I knew the difference between life and death. I still can’t figure out why I am not a vegetarian.

x

“If I had a child, I would want the community to be there to support me.”

People of all ages came out to honor the memory of 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten of St. Martins, Missouri, on Wednesday afternoon. If they didn’t attend the service at Concord Baptist Church, they stood along Horner Road near the entrance to Hawthorne Memorial Gardens, where she was laid to rest.

Meanwhile, an as yet unidentified 15-year-old neighbor girl sits in jail, charged with her murder. Her attorney, Kurt Valentine, said Elizabeth’s death has put Jefferson City in turmoil. “In the local high school, friends of both sides have been getting into arguments and had fights over this case,” he said. Quite clearly, a lot of people seem to know the girl’s identity.

She was arrested last Friday after leading authorities to Elizabeth’s body, police said. Hundreds of people had searched the area last week after she disappeared. The Cole County Sheriff’s Department said she was well concealed in heavy woods and foliage.

On Tuesday, I received an e-mail that proffered information and a trail for me to follow. As an inquisitive sort of guy, I did just that. What I found was the name of the girl who now sits behind bars and a photograph of her from an Internet social site called SingSnap that bills itself as “the biggest, baddest and best singing community in the world.”

If you Google SingSnap, it says that it’s “a free online karaoke community where you can sing and record from a large variety of karaoke songs and comment on other karaoke enthusiast’s” material.

Of course, that led me to her profile by searching for her screen name. She has been a SingSnap member since October 22 of 2007 and she’s made a total of 8 recordings. The profile includes her name.

This placed me in a perplexing situation. Should I reveal her name or not? In a unanimous 1979 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment protects the rights of journalists to use the names of minors in stories deemed newsworthy as long as the information is lawfully obtained and reported truthfully. In the case of Smith v. Daily Mail, the court struck down a West Virginia law that had been previously used to prosecute two newspapers from the state that printed the name of a 14-year old junior high school student who allegedly shot and killed a 15-year old classmate.

OK, I guess that protects me – sort of – but I just received an e-mail from a concerned reader who cautioned, “Nancy Grace has her picture and her name also and she stated she is not allowed to disclose any of it by law until she goes to court and is deemed to stand trail as an ADULT. You can be in some serious trouble over this, why would you want to put yourself in that situation for a ’story’ on a blog?”

Because of these mixed signals, I was not going to reveal her name, but news is now leaking, so I will compromise. I will give you her SnipSnap screen name, along with other social sites she belongs to. Here, I’ll tell you her first name is Alyssa. If you are interested, look for yourself.

A month ago, Alyssa wrote a tweet on her Twitter account. A tweet is a post or status update on the microblogging service. She goes by the name alyssadailene. This was the entry dated September 28: “this is all i want in life; a reason for all this pain.”

On September 9, she wrote, “encompass’d with a thousand dangers; weary, faint, tremblinng with a thousand terrors; i in a fleshly tomb, am buried above grounnd. – william cowper”

She also has private Facebook and Myspace accounts. On Facebook, her name is, well, her real name. On Myspace, she goes by alyssaheartsyou<3.

Several bits and pieces of information, whether factual or not, have surfaced online and in rumor mills. In one text, an alleged friend wrote, “She told my friend that she wanted to commit a murder to see if she could get away with it” and, “She told this to many kids at her school”.

The messages continued…

it was her sisters best friend

she killed her little sisters best friend

Word also leaked that she had not only planned it, she dug the grave the week before. All names have been removed.

can you see this

im here saddened ..

ok

yes I can see the chat, but not NG

I have this information only cus I have actually talked to the murderer online sitting at my ex gfs house

shes on Singsnap as Wolf_Heart

there is a picture of her there too

She planned the murder

my friend Jennifer told me all of it this afternoon

she lives there

her boyfriend helped her bury the body

she told someone she did it for fun

shes a monster

no not really

parents are ?

Allysas mom is a drug abuser

She lives with her grandmother

She should get the chair

that grandmother must be beyond herself with emotions too

imagine her little sister

oh absolutely

it was Allysas little sisters best friend

that grandmother must be beyond herself with emotions too

imagine her little sister

oh absolutely

it was Allysas little sisters best friend

It was a murder plain and simple

she killed her to see if she could get away with it

I’ve sent you a private message.

Oh BS….. 15 yr olds know right from wrong !!!…..they can’t get away with saying a 15 yr old is not compitent to stand trial !!

she slit the girls neck and wrists according to my source

When I called the Cole County Sheriff’s Department yesterday, I was told that the deputy in charge is Colin Murdick. He was in a meeting and chose not to talk to me. Instead, I was instructed to e-mail him the information I had received, which I did, minus the sender’s address. I wrote a nice letter explaining to him that I, in no way, wanted to hinder the investigation by revealing anything still left unpublished. Here was his entire response:

No comment

Rather terse. Anyway, please feel free to look around for more information. In the meantime, this is a picture of the alleged suspect from SingSnap. I covered her eyes. Remember, whoever committed this heinous crime has not been officially named yet. The girl behind bars will remain there until November 18, when a judge will decide whether to charge her as an adult or not. Until then, she is still a minor and only a suspect.

Judge opens adult certification hearing to public

x

For anyone who thinks I am buttering up to the judge, guess again. We’ve already met and I doubt if we will do so again, unless I have an opportunity to attend part of the murder trial next year. Even so, I will be there as an observer and I seriously doubt he would hold me in contempt for anything or need to reintroduce himself.

Photo courtesy of Orlando Sentinel

After my experience in the courtroom at Casey’s last hearing, I read several comments elsewhere that questioned Circuit Court Judge Stan Strickland’s wisdom because he acknowledged reading my blog. I’m sure he reads many others, including forums. He may have recognized me because my face is plastered at the top, in the banner. Easily, he could have told me I look better in my picture than I do in real life and I’m sure he would be right, but I firmly believe he is fair and extremely discreet, and I’m convinced he wouldn’t agree with what a lot of people continue to say about the entire case. Yes, at times that would include me, I’m sure. I wonder what he thinks about breaking news reports of signed book contracts that prove later to be unfounded? Does he pay close attention to the frenzy of the screaming crowds and how they may fuel the defense motions for changes of venue?

It saddens me to read any negative comments about him anywhere, because he can’t just stick his head in the ground until this case is over. He shouldn’t stop reading the Orlando Sentinel or watching the nightly news. He can’t just sequester himself and close his eyes and ears. Please give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, he didn’t achieve this stature by basing guilt or innocence on nothing more than other people’s opinions. In many cases, very skewed opinions. That’s why he’s the real judge and we are not. I do not believe for one second that by perusing Web sites pertaining to this case, it would have any bearing on him regarding how he renders a decision. If anything, it would enlighten him to the madness of it all.

Upon watching him in the courtroom, I found his candor to be quite refreshing and I welcomed his open-mindedness. I saw live how sharp and focused he remains at all times. He is very well-mannered, well-informed, highly intelligent and because of his personality, humble to boot. Later, when I returned from the courthouse and read around the Internet, I found it rather peculiar that some would judge the judge and deem his qualities questionable at all for requesting to meet me, as if he must recuse himself from this case for keeping up with current affairs, including blogs and forums about all of the Anthonys and Casey’s defense lawyers.

I wonder what makes those who scrutinize Judge Strickland qualified to make broad assumptions about his reasoning and character. Why have some moved on from judging Casey to judging the judge? My, my, what narcissists some can be.

Recently, I was discussing this case with an attorney I know. I wrote about it in a comment on a post written prior to attending court, but it’s well worth repeating today. I asked her (the attorney) why, since Judge Strickland was moved from criminal to civil court in early 2009, was he hearing this criminal case? I knew then that judges are routinely moved from court to court to court and it has nothing to do with any issues pertaining to reputation or anything, unless it’s obvious. She told me that judges can take cases with them when they are moved elsewhere. She emphasized that Judge Strickland is an incredible judge and he is highly regarded, well liked and well-respected by his peers, which includes not only judges but all practicing attorneys in this entire area we call Central Florida. She added that his reasoning for taking this case with him had nothing to do with ego. Quite the contrary. It was all about not wanting to burden any other judge with this ever-expanding mess. He wouldn’t wish this on anyone.

What she told me spoke volumes about the man, his integrity, and his fairness. In the end, whatever he reads, sees and hears about this case – the stories and theories that plague the news and Internet on a daily basis – he completely understands how to judge it all, and the bottom line comes down to two things and two things only: Justice for Caylee – and no matter what anyone else thinks – Justice for Casey.

See also: Ninth Circuit Court

In August of 2008, the Central Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers published its annual Judicial Poll findings. In the Public Comments of Ninth Judicial Circuit Court Judges in Orange County, here are some of the results of what criminal defense lawyers had to say about Circuit Court Judge Stan Strickland:

• Hard working, knowledgeable, superb judicial demeanor – the epitome of how a judge should act!

• Smart, pleasant, efficient. Judge who definitely knows the law although he does not necessarily always follow it.

• Judge Strickland is a fine judge with a good temperament.

• No matter which side he rules in favor of, he always seems to make the correct, legal and wise decision.

Thank you, Maura

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By JWG

Readers of Dave’s blog will recall his August 4 post on the “zenaida” Myspace page. Since it’s discovery early this year, that simple web page has drawn interest from many of those who follow the Caylee Anthony case because it seems to scream premeditation with its connections to Casey Anthony. To recap the features of interest:

• The sign-up date, which can be found on the View All Blog Entries link, is June 16, 2008. This is the date Caylee was last seen alive.
• The last login date, which can be found on the main page, is October 14, 2008. This is the date Casey was indicted for murder and jailed. It is the last possible date she could have used a computer.
• Zenaida’s profile picture is that of “Dora the Explorer” – the iconic image also found on Caylee’s abandoned backpack.

Could it be a hoax?

Now, none of the above proves this Myspace page is connected to Casey Anthony. In fact, many have wondered if someone set up the page as a hoax. I spent some time this spring trying to find ways to “spoof” the sign-up date and last login date, and I was indeed successful in making the last login date of my own Myspace page appear to be October 14, 2008. For fun, I also spoofed the age, sex, and location fields, making me appear to be a 24-year old female from Miami.

The “hack” was pretty simple. Anyone using Myspace profile version 1.0 can click on the Edit Profile button and add some simple HTML code to the Headline section. I won’t list that code here because it really is not important. This particular hack was not used on the zenaida Myspace. How do I know? When a hack is used, it shows up in the HTML code for the web page. Not only that, the real last login date also shows up in the HTML code. Looking at the HTML code for the zenaida page I saw only the October 14 date and no hack. I was never successful in finding a way to spoof the sign-up date.

Casey Anthony seems to have had an interest in Myspace hacks. Remember those infamous searches on Google for chloroform recipes? Earlier that month – March 6 to be exact – someone on the Anthony desktop computer searched for ways to hide their Myspace page and blog. I will give you three guesses as to who performed the search, but two of them don’t count.

So while it seems Casey searched for Myspace hacks, it does not appear from my own research that the dates can be completely faked.

The Myspace user number

A couple of weeks after Dave wrote about the zenaida page, the person who originally discovered it – Valhall – had an epiphany. Myspace assigns ID numbers sequentially. There is no choice in the matter. If you go out and sign up for Myspace today, you will be assigned the next available number.

So Valhall checked Myspace ID’s on either side of the 389838213 ID assigned to zenaida. Sure enough, those Myspace members signed up on June 16, 2008. In fact, the 100 thousand or so IDs on either side of 389838213 all show a sign-up date of June 16, 2008. There can be no doubt when this page was created.

An update to the zenaida page

When Valhall first discovered the page she sent an email to OCSO describing her find. It is unclear whether or not they acted on it then. She certainly was not expecting a response, but to date nothing has popped up in discovery indicating the IP logs were subpoenaed from Myspace. It is very possible that information just has not bubbled to the surface yet. It is also possible, given the many, many “helpful tips” they receive on the high-profile case, OCSO had not prioritized it. Certainly my first reaction when I saw the page was “it is an obvious, poorly done fake.”

Information regarding the latest discovery was also forwarded on to OCSO. If they had not looked at the page back in February, maybe it was time to look at it now. The notion that the page is a fake was evaporating rapidly.

And now it seems that may be what happened, because the page was quietly updated in the past week. We have Valhall to thank for noticing.

Recall that Dave posted a comment on “zenaida’s” video channel. Here is a screenshot of what he posted:

What link did Dave use to make that comment? He just clicked on the Videos link found on the main page:

This past week, however, that Videos link was removed from the Myspace page. The last login date still shows as October 14, 2008 (not faked.)

I know that the link existed at the beginning of the week because I looked at the video comments. I still had the visit in my browser history, so I clicked on the link to see if the comments were simply hidden. This is what I got:

It seems someone other than the owner has taken control of this Myspace account.

JWG grew up in Indiana and Michigan, but moved to the northeast US after graduating from college in the early 1980’s. He has a degree in electrical engineering and has spent his entire career in the computer systems industry. His many hobbies focus mainly on sports and outdoor activities, but he does have a fondness for word and number puzzles.

He was attracted to the Anthony case because the large release of discovery has afforded him the opportunity to think like an investigator in solving a complex puzzle. It has also allowed him to learn new and interesting things he otherwise would never consider, such as cell tower operations, the chemistry of human decomposition, and the manufacture of duct tape.

As I have highlighted in the past, the Orlando Sentinel has a weekly poll that asks questions pertinent to current affairs. I only write about those that pertain to the Casey Anthony case. The questions are posed every Friday and the results are published in the following Friday’s edition, in print and online.

Here are last week’s questions and the results. I will only include the opinions from the Anthony poll. Remember that anyone from anywhere may respond.

Will Congress pass an unacceptable health-care-reform by year’s end?

YES: 38.1%

NO: 61.9%

Should children who commit heinous crimes be tried as adults?

YES: 73.1%

NO: 26.9%

Given the national media coverage, can Casey Anthony get a fair trial?

YES: 55.1%

NO:  44.9%

Here are some of the opinions from readers:

Jurors take their duties seriously

Casey Anthony can get a fair trial. My past experience as a litigation attorney has shown me that jurors take their civic duty very seriously, and consider the evidence presented in the courtroom very carefully before reaching a verdict.

More importantly, why does the Orlando Sentinel continue to give space to Casey Anthony and the rest of her dysfunctional family? Nobody cares about these people anymore, and I’m getting tired of the media beating a dead horse month after month. It’s time for the vultures to pick a new carcass to fly over, and let the chips fall where they may at Casey’s trial.

Joy Stricker Longwood

The court of public opinion

Maybe down in Immokalee … but not locally. I have never witnessed an untried criminal case where so much of the case evidence has been released to the media for [public] scrutiny.

Support her or condemn her, Casey Anthony just [marked] her first year behind bars on nothing more than a very weak case by the prosecution and, in my opinion, a rather poor legal-defense counsel. This case is being tried in the open court of public opinion. …

nailman (from the Web)

Media want ratings and advertisers

If she can’t, all the media can do is blame themselves. In their quest for ratings and sales, they have swarmed the Anthony case like flies on a fresh cow patty. Given the media’s recent history, I have to wonder if they even bothered to check the facts of the stories they have reported on the case before broadcasting and printing them.

Sadly, the people most likely to give Casey Anthony a fair trial would never be in a jury pool. They can provide good enough reasons or excuses to get out of jury duty.

mikep-ovi (from the Web)

Did Caylee get a fair trial?

I don’t look at this sordid case through the eyes of a liberal lawyer, fretting and losing sleep over whether Casey Anthony can get a fair trial. I instead ask: “Did little Caylee Anthony get a fair trial?”

[We] become increasingly sick at our stomachs when we continue to read stories fretting and fussing over the rights of the perpetrators and [there is] no mention at all of how their victims must have lived their final hours. …

mycatchoco (from the Web)

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According to the Orlando Sentinel, a syndicated radio shock jock recently offered Casey Anthony’s parents a $25,000 payment to appear on his show for an hour.

Bubba the Love Sponge, whose show broadcasts live in several cities, including Orlando, offered the money to George and Cindy on the air on his show earlier this week.

The Anthony’s attorney, Brad Conway,  said the radio personality has not contacted him. He became aware of the offer after being contacted by the Orlando Sentinel.

“My clients are not selling interviews to people,” Conway said.

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Update: Elizabeth Olten body found

Mixologist74 brought this to my attention. Please go to her site and read her post about Elizabeth Olten.

There is an update to this story, unfortunately, with a bad outcome. They found her body today.

http://www.connectmidmissouri.com/news/story.aspx?id=366189