TRIAL ~ 06/06 Day #11

[CSI]

Baez had several objections before the jury came in.

Dr. Vass is the first witness. I believe he is a forensic scientist. He is from the body farm.

[Ber]

Baez is actually shaking his head and laughing at the testimony. Such an ASS!!!

[Heli]

Can it be possible that this jury fails to see Baez as a complete and total moron?

I feel most sorry for the judge, who must send the jury out intermittently and read the law to Mr. Baez.

Dr. Vass is a clear and concise expert witness. He has a friendly demeanour notwithstanding the technical nature of what he's testifying about and he has the ability to explain the science to jurors in a down-to-earth manner. It's his first time testifying as an expert and I think he's doing a marvellous job.

Cross-examination should be a laugh and a half.

[CSI]

Baez's cross of Dr. Vass is getting hard to listen to. I do not understand why Baez does not allow one of his more qualified team members to do the cross.

He is trying hard to discredit Dr. Vass.

[Ber]

His ego wouldn't allow for it. Dr. Vass is getting annoyed w/ Baez too.

[bbeba103]

Oh lord watching Baez cross examine Arpad Vass Base is becoming painful to watch.

You can tell Vass is becoming annoyed Vass did throw a little punch line before going to there afternoon break.

Really isn't Baez and everyone involved in this case going to profit one way or another ridiculous, that Baez would only point Vass as someone who's hoping to profit from this case.

Baez is the biggest one benefiting in this trial.

[Betty Boop]

Man the defense is sssooo irritating. Dr. Vass looked like he was getting irritated by it, he was slouching and speaking like he was talking to a two year old (sorry but it appears he is). I hope the Dr.s attitude is not off putting to the jury. I can understand it but I hope the jury can see what is actually happening and not just the irritation radiating from Dr. Vass.

[wildroses]

I wish Judge Perry could sanction Baez for being boring, and I haven't even been watching for all that long today.

[CSI]

Dr Vass has to keep correcting Baez on his spelling, pronunciation, and Baez's, understanding or lack of understanding, of what Dr. Vass is talking about.

[CSI]

Baez continues to try to impeach Dr Vass. Attny's are once again, in another side bar.

[wildroses]

Dr Vass has to keep correcting Baez on his spelling, pronunciation, and Baez's, understanding or lack of understanding, of what Dr. Vass is talking about.

Baez doesn't seem to be able to comprehend/grasp much of anything Dr. Vass is saying/explaining. I think Baez is just trying to confuse the jurors, and in the process is confusing himself more than he is confusing them.

[Betty Boop]

You know, the defendant must of have been eating several pounds of raw hamburger in her car trunk with a plastic bag over her head; and then someone smoked a bong or two also in the trunk of Casey's car.

Did the defense earlier try to connect all of that to the garbage in the truck and kind of got this answer from Dr. Vass? I think it was in several answers but it was all there.

[Eliza]

I had to laugh when Dr. Vass referred to his deposition, by Bozo, as the "inquisition."

The only way it could have been any more humerous had Dr. Vass called his deposition the "Spanish inquisition."

Then, he would have been labled a "racist."

[Betty Boop]

Biaz asked Dr. Vass a question and then objected when he started to answer. The judge pointed out to Biaz that he had asked the question. So Biaz had to withdraw the question.

Biaz has given everyone some really good quotes today......

[Betty Boop]

Oh Oh when Biaz asked Dr. Vass if he had heard of Dr. Vass and Dr. Vass replied, "I am Dr. Vass"; you really can't make this crap up.

[Betty Boop]

It is sad that this is ground breaking testimony and it was sullied by the defense's utter lack of experience. When the firsts are studied in college this will be shown as the first time air testimony was made in court in the US. And the defense's bumbling will be what is shown as cross. I bet the first time DNA was used didn't get a cross like this.

[CSI]

It is sad that this is ground breaking testimony and it was sullied by the defense's utter lack of experience. When the firsts are studied in college this will be shown as the first time air testimony was made in court in the US. And the defense's bumbling will be what is shown as cross. I bet the first time DNA was used didn't get a cross like this.

It will be interesting when it is the defenses turn to present their case in chief, because they will be calling Dr. Vass again. I am wondering what else Baez can ask him, or if Baez is going to let some one else question Dr. Vass.

[Betty Boop]

I hope he lets one of the other attorneys. But Cheney Mason is so grumpy & insulting to the witnesses he isn't much better.

[Fashionista]

<center>Air Samples of Anthony's Trunk Could Be O.J. Simpson Moment



Casey Anthony watches during her trial at the Orange County Courthouse, June 6, 2011, in Orlando, Fla.
(Joe Burbank/AP Photo)

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By JESSICA HOPPER
June 6, 2011

The judge in the Casey Anthony murder trial is expected to decide whether to let jurors smell air samples from a car trunk that witnesses have said reeked of human decomposition.

Use of the air samples would be controversial and a groundbreaking legal tactic. It could also pose a danger to the prosecution's effort to convict Casey Anthony for the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee in 2008.

One expert described the use of the untested method as an "O.J. Simpson moment," referring to the use of a glove that backfired on prosecutors when it didn't fit Simpson's hand.

"It's a new forensic technique that has not been tested by the courts and so whenever that happens, the court has the responsibility to make sure that the science behind it is solid," said Michael Seigel, a University of Florida Levin School of Law Professor.

The prosecution has not yet asked to open the canisters containing the air samples, but they did put Dr. Arpad Vass on the stand today. Vass is the man behind the groundbreaking science that analyzes the air samples. He spent the morning explaining his expertise in research about the smell of human decomposition. Vass works at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee where he analyzes the odor of death by working with cadavers at a "body farm."

He is essentially working towards finding a signature for human decomposition that will lead to the creation of an electronic detector that does the work of a cadaver dog. His research is already being used by the FBI to create a database of the chemical compounds found in human decomposition.

Vass said that the air samples taken from the trunk of Casey Anthony's car had an abundance of chloroform, a sign of human decomposition and a chemical that also can be used to commit murder.

"I essentially jumped back a foot or two…I was shocked that that little itty bitty can could have that much odor associated with it…I would recognize it as human decomposition," Vass told jurors.

The way an air sample is taken is first through a stainless steel tube called a triple sorbent trap. The triple sorbent trap is full of three types of activated carbon. The tube is placed near where the odor is emanating, whether it be a body bag or in this case, a carpet sample from the spare tire cover of Anthony's car. An air pump is used to draw air into the trap. The trap is then sealed. The stainless steel tube is then heated up to concentrate the sample. From there, the sample is injected into a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer test which finds the chemical compounds present in the sample.

Vass said that chloroform is normally found in trace amounts, in parts per trillion. The trunk sample showed chloroform in the parts per million range, significantly higher than the average.

"We were shocked. We had never seen chloroform in that level in environmental surroundings before…at least I never have," Vass said.

Until today's testimony, the prosecution has mainly relied on surveillance videos, the testimony of friends and family and jailhouse conversations to establish Anthony as a liar who was not looking for her daughter when only she knew that Caylee was missing.

Now the prosecution hopes Vass's testimony will provide the much needed physical evidence linking Anthony to the murder of Caylee.

Anthony's defense team claims Caylee accidentally drowned on June 16, 2008. Caylee wasn't reported missing until July 15, 2008. Her remains were found in December of that year.

Vass's emerging research has never been used in a criminal trial before. The defense fears that the prosecution will be allowed to unscrew the lid off the canisters containing the smell of death and allow jurors to take a sniff.

"The prosecution contends that there's an odor to the naked nose and they want the jurors to smell it. Typically, we do allow jurors to experience the tangible evidence...if it's a photo, they can see it. If it's a gun...they get to look at it and if they really want to, as long as it's not loaded, they probably get to touch it," said Seigel.

Seigel said the testimony of Vass is damning enough for the 25-year-old Anthony. She could face the death penalty if convicted.

"If the odor is there, it's extremely damaging because it's obviously a hard fought point and the fact that there would be the evidence of the decomposition in her automobile is extremely significant and corroborates a lot of evidence...it would be a very important nail in the coffin," said Seigel.

But it could also be a risky move the prosecution if Judge Belvin Perry allows the cans to be opened.

"This is the kind of moment in the case that can make it or break it," Seigel said. "If the judge allows them to smell it and they don't smell anything, to me, that's like the O.J. Simpson glove incident where the glove didn't fit."

Simpson's not guilty verdict in the murder of his ex-wife was attributed largely to the prosecution's claim that a glove involved in the murder belonged to Simpson, but when he was told to put on the glove in court it did not fit.

Use of the novel approach could also turn out to be crucial in a potential appeal of a guilty verdict.

"Whether or not this evidence should have been admitted in the first place because of it being novel and untested. That gives them a juicy appellate issue," Seigel said.

Casey Anthony Trial Turns Forensic With Air, Hair Samples

The other key component of the state's physical evidence is a 9 inch strand of hair found in the trunk of Anthony's car.

An FBI hair analyst testified over the weekend that a hair found in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car likely came from a dead body.

Karen Korsberg Lowe said she felt definitively that the sample of hair removed from the trunk showed post-mortem banding, meaning that hair was consistent with hair from a dead body, not a live one.

"It has a darkened band at the root portion of the hair. This is consistent with apparent decomposition," Lowe said during the court session this morning.

Lowe said the hair was similar to one removed from Caylee and not the same as a sample from Casey Anthony.

Prosecutors say the hair is evidence that Caylee was dead inside the trunk and not alive.




http://abcnews.go.com/US/casey-anthony- ... d=13773007


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[CSI]

I sure hope they do not make the jury smell the decomposition. That would be a good way to lose a juror or two.

Casey is starting to look bad. I wonder if she will be able to make it through the whole trial?

[Fashionista]

I sure hope they do not make the jury smell the decomposition. That would be a good way to lose a juror or two.

Casey is starting to look bad. I wonder if she will be able to make it through the whole trial?

almost as if she's medicated



.

[Eliza]

I sure hope they do not make the jury smell the decomposition. That would be a good way to lose a juror or two.

Casey is starting to look bad. I wonder if she will be able to make it through the whole trial?

Perhaps she's "medicated?"

[wildroses]

I sure hope they do not make the jury smell the decomposition. That would be a good way to lose a juror or two.

Casey is starting to look bad. I wonder if she will be able to make it through the whole trial?

I don't care if they have to bring her in on a stretcher, she'd still be in better shape than her daughter.

[Eliza]

I don't care if they have to bring her in on a stretcher, she'd still be in better shape than her daughter.

Remember the stunts Geregos (sp) pulled with Michael Jackson?

[CSI]

What I can't understand, is if she had this big break through about the supposed sexual abuse prior to the trial, why is she not all crying and everything over Caylee's death now that her "secret" is out? She sure is not playing "the game" very well.