K-9 Handler Testifies Over Jose Baez Objections

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Cadaver Dog Deputy At Murder Trial

Casey Anthony's defense attorney Jose Baez tried hard to keep an Orlando K-9 Deputy from testifying at the murder trial of his client Tuesday.

Objections by Baez were overruled repeatedly, and ultimately the Judge overruled Baez' attempt to keep a cadaver K-9 night time recovery video out of the trial.

Orange County Sheriff's Deputy Jason Forgey testified Tuesday afternoon in the Casey Anthony murder trial, and after extensive questioning by the prosecution, he established his expertise as a canine handler with the Sheriff's department and detailed for the jury the training of his cadaver locating dog "Gerus."

(Video: cadaver dog "Gerus" finds body in water at night)

The dog has been trained to find dead bodies and to demonstrate the dog's ability to find a drowning victim one of the exhibits shown the jury was a video of the dog "alerting" to a dead body in water. The deputy also relates to the jury other cases of the dog locating human remains.


Police Dog Alerts To Cadaver Scents In Car And Anthony Backyard

Deputy Forgey was called to the Anthony case on July 17, 2008 reporting to the Orange County Sheriff's Headquarters forensic crime (CSI) bay. Forgey was instructed to have his K-9 dog "Gerus" check out Casey Anthony's 1998 white Pontiac Sunfire automobile for the presence of human remain scents.

Forgey told the jury his dog did alert for the trunk area of the car, indicating presence of dead human odors coming from that area. Gerus' "alert" signal is sitting down when he smells human remain scents.

The dog and handler Forgey were also sent to the George and Cindy Anthony home to search the backyard at the request of the detectives investigating the scene. After Deputy Forgey's gave the command "Find Fred" Gerus gave an alert in an area near Caylee Anthony's playhouse.

A second K-9, "Bones" also did a search of the yard that evening with an Osceola County Sheriff's deputy and the dog did a final "alert" smelling human remain scents within 6 to 8 feet of the same area near the playhouse as K-9 "Gerus" had previously found.

Defense attorney Jose Baez is claiming 2-year old Caylee Anthony was the victim of an accidental drowning in the family swimming pool, and disputes the canine's ability to reliably locate cadaver scents, claiming many many alerts are false, when nothing is found.