Casey Anthony team focuses on Caylee tips, venue change

Sarah Lundy Sentinel Staff Writer
December 11, 2008

Oversized media trucks are jockeying for position in front of the Orange County Courthouse again.

That's a sign the Casey Anthony case is back in court today.

A status hearing -- expected to last about 10 minutes -- is scheduled at 9 a.m. before Orange Circuit Court Judge Stan Strickland. No motions are to be addressed.

Anthony's defense attorney Jose Baez has spoken several times this week about change-of-venue issues because of the media coverage, and plans to file a motion about it.

"We have done extensive research -- that's why the motion has not been filed yet," Baez said Wednesday at a news conference outside his Kissimmee office. "We want to be able to analyze the coverage in all the media markets in the state of Florida . . . We are compiling it together and preparing our motion."

...Her family continues to say Caylee Marie is alive and wants the Orange County Sheriff's Office to release reports of possible Caylee sightings for follow-up. They made that claim again Wednesday night on CNN's Larry King Live, which exposed no new revelations about the case."I can with 100 percent of my being say that Casey had nothing to do with Caylee's disappearance," Cindy Anthony told host Larry King but offered no proof.

At the news conference, Baez addressed reports that he has not picked up a CD of tips prepared by the Sheriff's Office. Several months ago, he asked the judge to force the Sheriff's Office to turn over the tips.

Orange County Sheriff's Capt. Angelo Nieves said the request -- ready a month ago -- cost $980, and took an employee a week to put together. I hope the Sheriff's office doesn't blow the case doing petty stuff like this. $980 for a CD of info that should have been sorted and filed anyway? What...the defendant has to pay for the sheriff's clerks wages? I think Casey should go away for life for what she's done, but this kind of pettiness could taint the jury.

Baez said he has been communicating with the Sheriff's Office legal department to clarify what type of tips -- Caylee sightings and not psychic reports -- he seeks. As part of the Anthonys' search for Caylee, Baez is pushing for surveillance videos from the Florida Mall, where there was a possible Caylee sighting Nov. 16. Baez recently filed in court a request that asks for a standing order to obtain video footage of "any possible sightings of Caylee Marie Anthony."