The attorneys for Casey Anthony and the state met in court chambers Monday morning to argue whether Casey was competent to proceed, after three independent experts, psychologists Dr. Daniel Tressler, Dr. Harry McClaren of Quincy Fl, and Dr. Ryan Hall examined her on Saturday and Sunday.
Normally mental examinations are done before trial, leading to a belief that something new may have been alleged in her current mental state so as to allow the motion to be granted by the court for an emergency competency exam.
This is not an insanity test say legal observers, but instead testing competency to understand what is happening at trial and whether she can aid in her defense.
A Sunday Morning News story noted Anthony is most likely a compulsive liar and may have been lying even to her attorney and if so would not be able to help in her own defense if she could not understand the importance of giving her attorney truthful, relevant information during her discussions in and out of court.
The psychological examinations would need many hours for each expert and that was why the Saturday court was recessed mysteriously. Judge Belvin Perry told the jury this morning that both sides reviewed the experts opinions and based on the reports he said "the defendant is competent to proceed."
The reports are under court seal and filed with the clerk of the court.
The Court filed into the record the emergency order appointing experts for the examinations. The motion to determine competency cannot be sealed and is public record. However, it only says the motion is based on privileged conversations between Casey Anthony and her attorneys which led to the emergency motion made in chambers Saturday morning. The transcripts of the closed Saturday hearing in the Judge's chambers are also sealed.
Although the reports are sealed speculation on why Jose Baez filed the emergency motion may be:
1. Baez will try anything he can in the way of new motions to save his client.
2. Casey Anthony has continued lying to attorneys and may be changing her story as time goes by, rendering her incapable of aiding her defense
3. She said something last week to attorneys that gave them concern for her ability to continue with the trial.
Link to previous story - Why Casey Anthony Will Walk Free
I think this entire incident was planned from the start. This is Baez's "out" to keep him from having to put Casey on the stand thereby giving an excuse for not providing evidence to support his opening statement! He's a sleeze.....
ReplyDeleteThe "concern" for her ability to continue with the trial I think is because Casey is insisting on testifying. Even Bozo knows that would be a very bad idea so he did a last ditch effort to stop her.
ReplyDeleteBaez is, indeed, a sleaze. I agree it was his idea entirely.
ReplyDeleteThings like this are supposed to be done in good faith, but Baez seems not to care about that. The guy should be disbarred.
A Google of "Caylee" turns up a lot of finds. Here's one I recently clicked:
ReplyDeletehttp://horrorworld.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=10147
So sad.