Trial Day 11, Friday May, 20.2011

It's the eleventh day of jury selection in the Casey Anthony murder trial.  Judge Perry says he'll swear a jury today. CaseyAnthony is in the courtroom along with her attorneys. The prosecution team is also in the courtroom.Judge Perry takes the bench.
The next potential juror is brought in, a white male in his 50’s.Judge Perry questions this new potential juror about his knowledge of pretrial publicity. Judge Perry questions this new potential juror about his knowledge of pretrial publicity. The potential juror says he has formed no opinions of the defendant's guilt or innocence. He insists that he can follow the law and be fair.The juror says he has a strong moral disposition against death penalty, stating “ I am actually quite offended that they do it in my name." The potential juror leaves the courtroom. Because of his death penalty views, he is excused for cause. Neither side has any questions on the publicity issue. So Judge Perry now moves to the issue of the death penalty.
There are about 15 spectators in the courtroom this morning for #CaseyAnthony jury selection. Roughly a dozen of them are reporters.
This juror leaves the courtroom. Because of his opposition to the death penalty, he is excused for cause (over defense objection).
The next potential juror is brought in. He is a white male in his 50’s. Perry begins questioning him on pretrial publicity. Because the State has no questions for this potential juror, Baez begins the defense portion of t pretrial publicity voir dire. Perry now moves to the issue of the  death penalty with this potential juror.The State has no death penalty questioThe voir dire of this potential juror is now concluded. There are no challenges, so he is still in play as the 17th possible juror.ns, so Finnell begins the defense portion of the death penalty voir dire. Prosecutor George begins the State's general voir dire of this juror. Mason begins his general voir dire of this potential juror. Judge Perry then calls for a 10 minute recess. #CaseyAnthony remains at the defense table. Judge Perry is back on the bench.  Defense requests a sidebar shortly after. Sidebar ends and the next potential juror is brought in.
The potential juror is a white female in her 30’s. This is the last potential juror from the first week of questioning. The judge questions this potential juror regarding pretrial publicity. Drane Burdick begins the State's portion of the publicity voir dire. Baez begins the defense publicity voir dire. Judge Perry now moves to the death penalty portion of this juror's voir dire. Neither side has any death penalty questions. The potential juror is excused for cause, based on her answer that she could not accept Casey Anthony 's decision not to testify. The next potential juror is brought in. She is a female and the first to be questioned from yesterday's new panel. Judge Perry begins the pretrial publicity portion of this juror's voir dire. Ashton begins the State's pretrial publicity voir dire for #CaseyAnthony jury selection. The defense has no publicity questions. So, the judge moves on to his questioning regarding capital punishment.
DRAMA: A LAGE WHITE WOMAN IN A FLOERED DRESS WITH NO SHES STANDS UP AND YELLS "SHE KILLED SOMEONE ANYWAY!"SHE HAS NO SHOES ON.  SHE IS QUICKLY REMOVED FROM THE COURT. CASEY APPEARS STUNNED. THE WOMAN SAYS " I AM SORRY" AS SHE IS ESCORTED OUT.
The court is in recess.
Judge Perry is back on the bench and brings woman back in court. Judge Perry asks the woman why she should not be held in court.She says she was in another court room hearing for her boyfriend.  She says she is bipolar, borderline personality disorder and goes to a methadone clinic daily.. She says she is mentally incompetant and states she has a 3 year old at home. She lists her meds at Seroquel, Thorazine and Methadone. So is she an opiate abuser as well? Judge Perry sentances the sniveling idiot to 2 days in jail instead of 179 days, for contempt. She is escorted out of the courtroom.
Ultimately, Judge Perry decides to excuse this potential juror. The next potential juror is brought up for questioning. At first, this new juror says that sitting on this jury would be a hardship. Then she says that it would actually be an emotional hardship.Judge Perry begins the pretrial publicity portion of this.potential juror's voir dire. Prosecutor George begins the State's pretrial publicity voir dire for Casey Anthony jury selection.Baez begins his publicity voir dire for #CaseyAnthony jury selection. Judge Perry now moves to the subject of the death penalty for this potential juror. The State has no questions for the potential juror, so Finnell begins her voir dire, questioning on the death penalty. Prosecutor George now begins the State’s general voir dire of this potential juror. The attorneys go sidebar to question the potential juror about some things privately. Casey Anthony remains sitting at the defense table.This juror is similar to Casey. Trouble with the law, history of writing bad checks and  a high school dropout.Neither side objects to the perspective juror so she stays in play as potential juror,
Recess for lunch.
CaseyAnthony has just been escorted into the courtroom.All of the parties are present, and Judge Perry has just taken the bench. The next potential juror has taken the stand and Perry is now questioning him.
The new juror has stated his opinion that #CaseyAnthony is guilty. Judge Perry questions him about that stated opinion. Despite his opinion, the witness thinks he can be fair in the #CaseyAnthony case "because of the stakes of this case." Drane Burdick questions this juror on the issue of pretrial publicity and his current opinion. Baez begins the publicity voir dire. There are more people in court than usual for Casey Anthony jury selection, with about 30 to 35 spectators at the moment. Judge Perry has now moved to the issue of capital punishment.This potential juror says he's against the death penalty for religious reasons. Neither side has questions for him and he is asked to leave the courtroom. The potential juror is excused for cause. The next juror, a female, is brought to the stand. She believes Casey Anthony is guilty. After some brief questioning by Judge Perry, neither side chooses to question her. She is asked to leave the courtroom..The potential Casey Anthony juror is excused for cause and the next juror is brought in.The new juror says that she doesn't feel she's qualified to sit in judgment in the #CaseyAnthony case. Neither side has any questions for the potential juror, and she is asked to step out of the courtroom. Due to this juror's claim of emotional distress, she is excused for cause, and the next juror, a male, is brought in. Judge Perry questions this juror about his knowledge of pretrial publicity.The State has no publicity questions for the potential juror. Judge Perry moves right to the penalty phase questioning.The State has no death penalty questions, so Finnell begins the defense death penalty voir dire.
The courtroom continues to fill up with spectators for Casey Anthony jury selection. There are now about 45 to 50 present in court.
Drane Burdick begins the State's general voir dire. The potential juror is a 25 year old male.Mason begins the general voir dire questioning for the defense. There is not objection the potential juror so he stays in the running to be on Casey Anthony‘s  jury. Perry calls for a 10 minute recess. #CaseyAnthony jury selection will continue when they get back.Mason and the last potential juror did a lot of trading quips back and forth, during which, Casey Anthony smiles at least twice. Judge Perry returns to the courtroom. The next potential juror is brought into the courtroom for Casey Anthony jury selection..The judge begins to question this potential juror about the issue of pretrial publicity. There are now about 55 to 60 spectators in court watching #CaseyAnthony jury selection. Ashton has one questions for his publicity voir dire. The defense has no questions in this area, so Perry moves to the death penalty issue.
The juror says that she doesn't believe in the death penalty. She is subsequently excused for cause (over defense objection). There is one more potential juror to be questioned today for Casey Anthony jury selection. Before the potential juror can enter, the judge calls the attorneys to a sidebar.
Back from sidebar now the next potential juror is brought in. She is the last scheduled to be questioned today. Perry questions this final juror about her knowledge of pretrial publicity on the Casey Anthony case. Prosecutor George now begins his publicity voir dire. Baez begins the defense publicity voir dire for Casey Anthony jury selection.The judge now moves to the topic of the death penalty. Ashton begins the State's death penalty voir dire. Finnell questions shortly on the death penalty issue. Prosecutor George comes up next to begin the State’s general voir dire. Baez begins general voir dire for the defense now. The potential juror leaves the room. Neither side challenges. She becomes the 20th juror .Perry calls the attorneys back to his chambers for a moment. #CaseyAnthony remains at the defense table.  The judge and the attorneys are in chambers to discuss a matter with one of the potential jurors. We don't know what this pertains to.Of the 20 potential jurors who have made it through round two of Casey Anthony jury selection, 9 are men and 11 are women.. For a moment, Judge Perry enters the courtroom (without his robe). He retrieves paperwork from his bench, then disappears back into chambers. While everyone else is in the back with the judge, Casey Anthony chats with defense attorney Freyer. The attorneys have reentered the courtroom. Baez crouches down next to Casey Anthony to talk to her. Finnell asks a court officer if there's a more private place they could talk to her. Still, all defense attorneys stay in the court room. Finnell talks to Case yAnthony, while Baez and Mason stand nearby. Casey Anthony and her defense team has just left the courtroom for the holding cell/chambers area.
The woman from the previous #outburst today, Elizabeth Ann Rodgers, is escorted into the courtroom. She is crying. Judge Perry is back on the bench now. Rodgers is now represented by counsel. Perry is setting aside his previous contempt ruling, and asks again why this woman should not be held in contempt of court. Rodger is dressed in Pinellas County Jail garb. She sobs, and explains once again why she said what she said, citing stress. Rodgers says she didn't actually take her meds this morning, as she said she had. She says she has been in a 2 year abusive relationship. Rodgers' attorney asks that she not be held in contempt.
Judge Perry says, "while it is a public trial, you do not have a right to stand up and say things” Perry decides not to alter his previous decision and finds Rodgers in contempt of court, sentencing her to 2 days in jail. Rodgers is escorted from the courtroom. Court is once again in recess.
CaseyAnthony and the attorneys are back in the court. Judge Perry is back on the bench.
The state uses a peremptory to strike juror 3308. That juror is then moved back to the end of the alternate list. The defense then uses its last strike to remove potential juror 1340. Baez then makes a motion requesting additional preemptories but Perry denies the request. The two sides have each agreed to strike one alternate (3281 for prosecution, and 4123 for the defense).The remaining jurors would remain. With this, it seems that there will be 5 alternates on the  jury. Baez notes that the defense does not accept the panel as seated. He makes a "vigorous" objection, which is denied. The judge questions Casey Anthony directly. She says she has conferred with her attorneys, and is satisfied with her input in the process.
The 12 jurors for Casey Anthony are 1398, 1019, 4055, 1319, 1429, 1025, 1007, 3015, 3185, 3310, 3016, and 3140.
The 5 alternates for the Casey Anthony jury are 3093, 3170, 4013, 4192, and 3308.
Judge Perry has called a brief recess to get the jurors into court to be sworn in for the Casey Anthony trial.
Judge Perry has left the bench, and the attorneys have turned their chairs around to face the gallery.Courtroom spectators have been moved to the rear rows, so that the new jurors can be brought into the room and sworn in. Judge Perry returns to the bench. He warns the spectators that he will tolerate no outbursts. Perry also warns that anyone who attempts to follow the jurors "may be guilty of jury tampering, and will be dealt with severely!" The jurors for the Casey Anthony trail are escorted by court officers into the first few rows of the courtroom. The jurors rise, and are sworn in to be jurors for the Casey Anthony trial. The judge gives the jurors some preliminary instructions.
The main 12 jurors for Casey Anthony are 5 men and 7 women. The alternates are 3 men and 2 women.The judge says he will now meet privately in the back with the new jurors. They are escorted from the courtroom. Judge Perry leaves the bench to go speak privately with the jurors. He will return shortly. In the meantime, court is in recess.Those who remain in the courtroom are comparing notes and jury totals. Judge Perry returns to the bench. Perry thanks Pinellas County for its hospitality in helping with Casey Anthony jury selection. "Words are just adequate to say thanks."
Perry says openings for the Casey Anthony trial will now be heard at 9:00 am on Tuesday, May 24. Court is adjourned for the day. Casey Anthony is escorted from the courtroom. FL v. Casey Anthony will begin on Tuesday at 9am.