ORLANDO, Fla (Reuters) – The former fiancA© of accused child killer Casey Anthony testified on Tuesday that she claimed she once woke up to find her older brother standing over her, staring at her while she slept.
Judge Belvin Perry called Jesse Grund's testimony impermissible hearsay evidence, and said he won't allow the jury to hear it unless defense lawyers persuade him otherwise with sufficient legal arguments.
Grund said Casey told him about her experience with her brother after Grund asked her why she didn't want her daughter Caylee to be around Lee Anthony.
Prosecutors say Casey, 25, smothered 2-year-old Caylee on June 16, 2008 so that she could "live the good life" free of the demands of motherhood. They say Casey stored the child's body in her car trunk, then dumped it in woods near her home.
Defense attorney Jose Baez told jurors in his opening statement that Caylee accidentally drowned in the Florida family's backyard pool, and the death went unreported.
Baez said Casey was sexually abused, and that explained why she partied and seemed inappropriately carefree after her daughter's death.
But Baez has yet to produce evidence of the alleged abuse during Casey's murder trial, now in its sixth week.
Casey's father, George Anthony, has denied molesting her. Earlier this month, Perry scolded Baez when he asked a witness whether Lee could be Caylee's father.
Much of the testimony on Tuesday came from Roy Kronk, the water department meter reader who discovered Caylee's remains in a swampy part of a wooded area near the Anthony home in the Orlando area.
Kronk said he called the sheriff's department three times in August 2008 to report he found what looked like a small skull.
At the time, a nationwide search was underway to find Caylee, who Casey claimed was kidnapped by a nanny. Special phone lines were created to handle the thousands of tips and leads sent to authorities.
But detectives were zeroing in on Casey, who they knew had lied extensively about Caylee's disappearance.
Kronk said no one took him seriously until December 11, 2008, when he stopped at the location again and verified the object was in fact a skull. His supervisor alerted authorities, who arrived at the site and found Caylee's remains.
MAJOR DISCOVERY
Kronk is a key witness for the defense. Baez has insinuated that Kronk played some sort of role in the disposal of Caylee's body. The lawyer told jurors Kronk had sole "control" of Caylee's remains during the intervening four months and claimed he was motivated by a $225,000 reward.
However, the reward money was offered to anyone who found Caylee alive.
"I just simply tried to do the right thing," said Kronk, who noted he received $5,000 from the crime tip line.
Kronk testified he first spotted what looked like a skull on August 11, 2008 while taking a break with two co-workers, and called a crime tip line later that night to report the object.
Kronk said he called the Orange County Sheriff's Office again on the evening of August 12 and the morning of August 13 before finally getting deputies to meet him at the location.
Two deputies came but neither went into the woods nor asked him to show them the skull-like object, Kronk said.
One deputy walked as far as a flooded area, quickly looked from side to side, slipped on mud on his way back to the roadside, and then berated Kronk for 30 minutes for wasting his time, the meter reader testified.
Kronk's co-worker, David Dean, confirmed Kronk's account of discovering the skull. Within a few weeks, Dean testified, a tropical storm deluged the area with rain.
Prosecutors have suggested one reason no one saw the remains during subsequent searches in the area was because it was under water.
George Anthony took the stand briefly again on Tuesday, denying assertions by Baez that he had an affair with search volunteer Krystal Holloway. George testified he only went to Holloway's condominium to comfort her after learning she had cancer.
"I never had a romantic affair," George said.
He denied ever telling Holloway that "Caylee's death was an accident that snowballed out of control." He also said he never told her that he grabbed Casey by the throat, threw her against a wall and demanded Casey tell him where Caylee was.
"She (Holloway) is not a good person," George testified.
(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Jerry Norton)
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