Jose Baez and Team Sanctioned In Court Yesterday
Showing that he means business, Judge Belvin Perry found Casey Anthony’s defense team in willful violation of a court order, ordering that Jose Baez personally pay the prosecution for the costs to file the motions for sanctions.
According to the state, Baez and his team have not complied with an order to turn over a listing of details as to what the experts plan to testify about at trial.
“The defense team in this case is in deliberate, willful and contemptuous violation of this court order” — Judge Belvin Perry
Baez and his team were ordered to submit this list to the state before December 14, 2010. Baez blamed his experts for the delay in turning over the list, saying that his experts still have not turned over information to him.
The state was asked to calculate the cost of filing the motion and submit it to Judge Perry. Baez can challenge the amount. Baez did not comment about the sanction.
Meanwhile the remainder of the hearing was for the defenses 20 plus motions they had filed asking to have certain pieces of evidence suppressed from the trial. The only motions ruled on were ones the state said they had no response. The JibJab video of Casey dancing to the Monster Mash is a piece of evidence the state has no plans on using.
The state plans on filing responses to several of the motions filed before Judge Perry makes his ruling, and some of the motions will require their own separate hearings.
Also, not far off, Judge Perry has intentions to begin discussion the process of jury selection. As you may recall, the court ruled that the trial will be held in Orange County Courts in Orlando, Florida, however, the jury will be found in another city, and then sequestered in Orlando. The Judge stated that when they make their trip to another city, the attorneys will have hotel rooms booked under assumed names. He may also go as far as to place a gag order on all those involved.
