The judge in the Casey Anthony murder trial set a strict tone at the start of Day 23, blasting both sides for wasting the court’s time. Judge Belvin Perry was upset that defense attorney Jose Baez and prosecutor Jeff Ashton spent nearly 30 minutes this morning arguing about legal matters in the case, while the jury sat waiting in another room. At one point, an angry Perry asked Ashton and Baez to turn around and look at a clock on the wall and tell him the time. Ashton said it was 9:25, while Baez said 9:26. “That shows the two of you will never agree on anything and will never interpret anything the same way,” Perry chided. He said he was aware of the “gamesmanship” and “friction” between attorneys – something he said will have to be sorted out later. “That is something that I guess the Florida bar will deal with,” Perry said. “At the conclusion of this trial, the court will deal with violations which may or may not have occurred but it is not proper for the court to deal with it now during dependency of this very serious litigation.” Anthony, 25, is accused of multiple charges including capital murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child and misleading law enforcement in the death of her 2-year-old daughter. The prosecution is seeking the death penalty. Before calling a 30 minute recess, Perry had this warning for both sides: “If I was the state or the defense I would make sure when we recess this afternoon that I would go through the reports of all my experts and make sure that their opinions were contained in the reports or depositions… Enough is enough,” he said. Testimony was set to resume after 10 a.m., but for reasons not yet known Perry ultimately recessed the trial until Tuesday morning. SEE PHOTOS FROM THE CASEY ANTHONY TRIAL: Expanded coverage here.
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on June 20, 2011. Filed under News.
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Posted by
on June 20, 2011. Filed under