Experts: Anthony defense team faces uphill battle

Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla.

Legal experts say prosecutors’ meticulous murder case against Casey Anthony so far, along with the woman’s sensational claims that her father covered up her daughter’s death after the 2-year-old drowned, could make it difficult to avoid a conviction.

Saturday ended the second week of testimony in Anthony’s murder trial, and prosecutors say it also marks roughly the halfway point of their case. Prosecutors are trying to prove that the single mother, then 22, suffocated her daughter, Caylee, by placing duct tape over the girl’s mouth and then dumped her body in the woods near her parents’ home.

It’s a high-profile case that has demanded a methodical approach from a prosecution team with more than 70 years of combined experience — in part because, if convicted, Anthony could become only the fourth woman added to Florida’s current roster of 397 death row inmates.

Meanwhile, defense attorneys introduced a wild theory during opening statements, saying that the toddler accidently drowned June 15, 2008, in her grandparents’ swimming pool and that grandfather George Anthony helped dispose of her body. They also claimed he molested Casey when she was a child, leaving her emotionally scarred.

Even without a clear motive established for why Casey Anthony, now 25, might have killed her daughter, some court watchers said those defense arguments may be overshadowing any deficiencies in the prosecution’s case.

“I believe they have almost relieved the state of their burden of proof by making such strong assertions in opening statements,” said Karin Moore, a professor at Florida A&M University’s College of Law. “They are going to have to prove it now. It is going to be a difficult task for them.”

Caylee was last seen by her grandparents June 16, 2008. The state contends Anthony waited 31 days before telling her family the toddler was missing.