San Diego, CA– Blink on Crime has learned that Todd Macaluso, newly introduced member to the Jose Baez Law Firm Defense Team, is under investigation for a check written on his behalf for 8, 000.00.

It is alleged the check did not clear funds available.

It is unclear if the check in question is a Client escrow account or a direct check from Macaluso’s professional or personal funds.

WFTV’s Kathi Belich asked Mac about the issue following the end of the Motions hearing today to which he replied “the matter is being resolved.”

As of 5PM EST today, no Pro Hac Vice motion has been submitted to Judge Strickland on Macaluso’s behalf, although he has given several interviews espousing the defense position on the case.

A lawsuit filed in Federal Court in July 2003 on behalf of a former litigant to a suit led by Macaluso, the former Cytodyne Technologies, currently operating under the name Nutraquest, Inc,  alleges that Macaluso and a reporter for the San Diego Union Tribune conspired to slant their coverage to attract more Clients for Macaluso and defame Cytodyne.

The suit identifies Pennie Crabtree as the wife of Richard Pittner, a senior researcher at SanDiego based Amylin Pharmaceuticals, who is developing an anti obesity drug. The suit accuses Crabtree of a direct conflict of interest, in that Cytodyne and her husband’s company were potentially direct competitors.

Macaluso is slated to appear at a status hearing in front of the California bar in LA on March 24, 2009 on the check issue.

Orlando, FL– Casey Anthony appeared in court alongside Jose Baez and Linda Kenney Baden today to hear the most recent motions brought forth by her attorneys.

Linda Baden came out of the defense corner swinging. When she was told their motion for benchnotes was moot as she did not cite a Florida case to support her request, she became openly argumentative with his Honor Stan Strickland. Strickland in essence told the defense he is not their lackey, and the state has no burden to chase down documents for them. 

Baez was next at bat with a heavy swing and miss. He brought the motion for sanctions and in effect tried to say “nevermind”, I’ll get them in the witness chair. Prosecutor Linda Drubnick objected heavily and reminded Baez that she gave him several options to rescind the motion and ample notice of same. She stated he made specific allegations and they in fact should be heard, by way of his own testimony subject to cross examination. She got her way.

A lengthy bench conference ensued with the microphones turned off. Baez first called Gerardo Bloise, CSI employee for OCSO to question his processing of Casey’s car on July 16^th. The State objected twice to his questioning as the scope of the motion limited to the date of November 14. The objection was sustained. Judge Strickland reminded Baez they were short on time. Baez line of questioning seemed to be disorganized and unprepared. He repeated questions that were not appropriate to the witness as it concerned the work of Mr. Bloise’s supervisor, Michael Vincent. At one point, Bloise requested Baez actually call Vincent as he felt uncomfortable answering questions that did not relate to his work product. Judge Strickland remanded Baez to allow the witness to finish his answers when prompted by the State’s objection.  On 4 seperate occasions Judge Strickland reminded by Baez that he was there on his sanction motion, not to get into discovery and disallowed the question, to which Baez had no further questions for the witness. After changing his mind twice about calling another witness, Baez elected not to and began his argument for sanctions. 

In short Jose Baez made the case for sanactions because they were not told that the Prosecution has A ROD on their roster, or in this case the Entomologist equivalent, Dr. Neil Haskell. 

Baez did not so much as recommend an intended sanction, however he did say he thought that the State should foot the bill for Dr. Lee, apparently as they are at their roster salary cap and feel it is an unlevel playing field.

The State hit back hard that in no way did Baez lay out a case for improprietary requiring sanctions in any way. The Judge agreed.

Motions for Sanctions D E N I E D.

Lastly, Baden is out of the dug out to argue the motion that they want more examinations notes from Ricardo Morales’s computer, of which they are currently in posession of the hard drive. It would seem the theme today is “penny pinching”. The State argued that they are not certain what they mean by screenshots.  

George Anthony appeared to weep when discussion of his suicide note ensued, and the decision was made that there are no public information requests on grounds of irrelevance to the case, and the media is free to bring motion to challenge that if they choose.

3 Motions, 3 strikes and the Defense was O U T .

Uh-oh. John Morgan, attorney for Zenaida Gonzalez in her civil defamation suit against Casey Anthony filed a motion to compel this afternoon.

Morgan and co-counsel Keith Mitnick want Lee Anthony to answer the two questions he was advised against answering during his February 27^th deposition:

Do you know who Caylee’s Father Is?

Do you think your sister is responsible for her daughter’s disappearance?

Thanks to Good Ol’ YouTube, we already know that one of those questions he has the answer to, and moreover, he L I E D during his deposition.

“We will never release the name of that person who has passed away, whose family who had knowledge that he was even the Father..

“If I know she’s gotta know, she told me..” This is not new news to us, we have known for years..”

In his deposition testimony on February 27^th, when asked by John Morgan if he thought Caylee’s father could have something to do with her disappearance, he answered “If I knew that door would have been knocked down a long time ago, You couldnt stop me from it..”

Lee’s Depostion can be found here: 

There has been much public outrage about the possibility that the media or Entertainment rights brokers are footing the bill for Jose Baez and his hand-selected dry aged dream team. Could we be close to finding out the truth?

The latest discovery documents, ongoing Florida Bar Investigation into his representation and this Friday’s Special hearing request by the State’s Attorney’s Office all seem to include a common denominator: Kaitlyn Folmer and abc.

Ms. Folmer is an NYU grad and producer at ABC. She has credits for segment production on the Good Morning America Show and several bi lines as a reporter. She also has a large expense account apparently. It has been verified through several witness interviews and security footage directly from the Ritz Carlton; She paid the Camp Casey dinner at Norman’s for 10 people and 4 rooms for 3 days. She had help. 

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*Update 1*  Marti MacKenzie, spokesperson for Jose Baez, says Baez will file a response to the State’s Motion seeking disclosure of how his Client, Casey Anthony ,is paying his legal bills by 4PM Today.

Check Back for Updates

Orlando, FL– Late this afternoon Prosecutors filed a motion to reveal how Casey Anthony, facing murder charges in the death of her daughter, 34 month old Caylee Marie Anthony, is footing the bill. Ms. Anthony has not had gainful employment with the exception of stealing from others since 2006. Neither George nor Cindy Anthony, Casey’s parents, have worked since Casey’s arrest in July 2008. 

To date, Jose Baez and The Baez Law Firm has hired eight attorneys to participate or consult in his client’s defense. Using a Fashion analogy, these barristers would be found in the Couture salon of Neiman Marcus, not off the rack at Tar Jay. As I first requested via sister site Scared Monkeys , several letters asking for inquiry and expressing concern for a possible trial outcome that would be wrought with possible appellate issues were sent; it appears your voice was heard.

 If no investigation into the possible conflict of interest of Atty Baez’s representation of Casey Anthony occurs prior to a disposition in this case, the likelihood a verdict could and would be overturned in this case is very high. Think Keyser Soze and Kobayashi.  Any conceivable scenario you can come up with as a disposition to this case causing an appellate ground swell would cost the taxpayers MILLIONS.

As I have written previously, and still believe, if Baez is toting an attache (editor’s note: bag would contain Lexis Nexis logo) of waivers from his Client corresponding with every transaction and or conversation about questionable issues that might compromise his representation, we’re done here and this case will proceed accordingly and probably leave us to draw our own conclusions.  I am not holding my breath this motion will be heard or disclosure of same, publicly. Are you ready to react? What media are you willing to give up in this case to make your stand for Caylee?

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Orlando, Fl-Discovery documents show that Casey Anthony’s boyfriend, Anthony Lazzaro, went undercover for the Orange County Sheriff’s Office early on during the investigation. Documents show that TonE Lazzaro was fitted with audio and video surveillance on his person and in his vehicle before he met with Lee Anthony on July 29.

 More than 1,000 pages of legal documents have been released this morning by the State Attorney’s Office as part of its case against Casey Anthony.

The documents look to contain mostly phone logs, photos and the statement of Jim Hoover, former Anthony Private Detective.

Brief Summary So Far

1. Lazzaro in sting against Lee Anthony in his car outside of a Subway in July. Lee says Casey never said name Zenaida, but thinks he recalled her visiting the Hope Springs address previously.
2. Jim Hoover confirms they were in the location of Caylee’s remains digging on their hands and knees while the Anthony’s were digging at the Ritz Carlton, courtesy of ABC. He went on to say that he felt it would be questionable they would stay together as each blames the other for “throwing Casey under the bus”
3. OCSO followed up on every Zenaida they could locate, and ran down tips that Casey was involved with prostitution.

The Yak Factor

Hoover appeared to spare no details, lurid or other into the relationship between Casey Anthony and her attorney, Jose Baez.  The most interesting declaration was Hoover’s account of an alleged jail incident involving red licorice, Baez and his client, Casey Anthony, as told to him by Dominic Casey.

“He [Baez] started eating on one side and you know, she [Anthony] was eating the other side so it looked like they were kissing through the glass or something,” Hoover told investigators. “Yeah, kind of like spaghetti thing.”

Hoover went on to say that if he were George Anthony, he would have been very concerned about a meeting that occurred in Brad Conway’s office where Cindy Anthony and Dominick Casey were holding hands and caressing each other’s arms.

(editor’s note: Apologies for posting at lunchtime)

Download Docs Here

Hoover Transcript

Roy Kronk Interview

Tony Lazzaro Transcript

Casey Anthony Transcript

Casey Photo Images

Jerrold White Interview