Casey Anthony – Motions Arguments

Well, the defense team apparently took the Judge’s admonishment to heart and brought Casey’s clothing to her in a timely manner and she is brought into the courtroom a few minutes before Judge Perry takes the bench.

George and Cindy are in attendance as well. 

Baez read stipulations into the record that he and Linda Drane Burdick had agreed upon.

I took no notes and just observed because frankly I’m pretty tired of this bull crap.  We heard it for three straight days and we all know the drill.

Mason takes center stage and begins closing arguments.

He is sarcastic and basically rants on about how Casey was never read her Miranda rights.  Don’t forget, even though she was cuffed for 3-5 minutes, she was never placed under arrest! Mason continues to embellish and paints a picture of the house and yard crawling with large cops with guns and full uniforms.  Ms. Anthony was patted down and put in the back of a patrol car – a caged area!  She was questioned until 3:30 in the morning.  She was never told she didn’t have to talk to them, she was free to leave, she could have an attorney.  Why wouldn’t she think she was under arrest?  She is a young 22-year-old woman with no prior experience with LE.

For God’s sake, at that point LE and the family was concerned with a missing child!  All the were trying to do was find a little girl!

He then goes into the trip to Universal and how this tiny woman was questioned by three large men in a 10×10 conference room with the door closed!  She didn’t know she wasn’t being detained!

Pardon me?  We’ve all heard the tape of the interview.  She was explicitly told the door was closed for privacy and she was free to leave!  Also let’s not forget, all this time, Casey – enjoying the attention – repeatedly agreed to cooperate and help LE find Caylee!

Mason goes on to cite several legal cases regarding Miranda which he provided for the Judge!

Next he addresses how George, Cindy and Lee were agents of the State.  They were duped by LE and repeatedly asked to get information from Casey for them! 

Mason dramatically appears horrified that LE was rude enough to question Mr. Baez’s ability and reputation!  He asks, ‘how dare they’.

Not much more to say that you haven’t already heard during the hearings!

Linda Drane Burdick begins the State’s argument by taking issue with the way the defense took many of the statements in their argument out of context.

She makes her case that Casey was never under arrest and reading the statements and transcripts clearly indicates that Casey was told numerous times she was free to leave.  She was several times left alone in the home.  Casey was also a willing and cooperative participant in trying to find her daughter.

She makes the point that if police are responding to a 911 call, a reasonable person would expect to be questioned.

With her usual professionalism, Linda takes the Judge through some case-law about whether being placed in cuffs automatically means you are under arrest.

What I found very interesting is the case-law referred to by both Mason and Burdick was already well know to the Judge! He did study all weekend! He was able to name the cases off the top of his head!  Impressive, indeed!

Linda refutes each and every point that Mason brought up in his argument.

I have to say, Linda’s version is far closer to what I remember reading in the reports or heard on the recordings than what was presented by the defense.

Again, I took no notes because with the exception of the case-law, everything was already said last week, but Linda rocked as always!

Mason responds sarcastically and is his usual obnoxious self!

Judge Perry says he will have an answer close to the end of next week!

4:15 p.m. he leaves the bench!