Casey Anthony: Motion to Dismiss Denied

Judge Lisa Munyon has denied a request to dismiss a lawsuit against Casey Anthony. The lawsuit alleged that Anthony made numerous misrepresentations to Texas EquuSearch and its founder, Tim Miller.

From WESH:

Search group Texas EquuSearch, which aided in the search for Caylee Anthony in 2008, filed a lawsuit against Casey Anthony in July.

As a result, volunteers engaged in “extensive, costly and time-consuming searches for Caylee,” the lawsuit claims. “The time and effort dedicated to this search diverted resources from TES’ ability to provide its search and rescue operations to other families.”

Anthony’s attorney filed a motion to dismiss, saying the suit lacked any merit. Judge Lisa Munyon denied the motion Wednesday.

Casey Anthony: Sued By Texas Equusearch

Let the lawsuits begin! Casey Anthony was served with a lawsuit at the jail by Texas Equusearch earlier today.

$1000,000 for “wasting their time.”

From MyFox Orlando:

The search team that searched for Caylee Anthony is suing Casey for over $100,000.00. They claim she wasted their time searching for Caylee when Casey knew they would never find her.

Bonnie Moore from Process Express, served the lawsuit to Casey Anthony at the Orange County jail. Moore says it appears that Anthony had just woken up when she got there to serve here. “There was really no reaction. She just asked me if I had gotten a copy to her attorney.”

Casey Anthony: Defense Witness Admits She Altered Document

It appears that Laura Buchanan, a volunteer who helped in the search for Caylee Anthony, has admitted in a deposition that she changed a form she wasn’t even supposed to have.

From the Orlando Sentinel:

At best the documents portray Laura Buchanan as a person eager to inject herself into the case early on by taking part in searches for missing Caylee Marie in September 2008. At the time, Buchanan lived in Kentucky but was visiting Central Florida with her husband who was here for work-related training.

At worst, the documents show Buchanan altering Texas EquuSearch documents, providing a series of inconsistent statements and becoming the subject of an intense secondary investigation by detectives working on the Casey Anthony murder case.

From WESH:

Laura Buchanan claimed she was a team leader who searched Suburban Drive in September 2008 but did not find anything.

Buchanan signed a form swearing in her opinion that the remains were not there. Casey Anthony’s defense team has made the notion a key part of its strategy that someone other than Anthony places the remains in the woods.

“What we’re continuing to see is that this unyielding belief in Ms. Buchanan has come back to bite them,” said Orlando criminal defense attorney Richard Hornsby, who is not affiliated with the case.

In her latest deposition, Buchanan now claims she doesn’t know where the remains were and may have only gotten within 35 feet.

Casey Anthony: Did She Dump Caylee’s Body?

Maybe…or maybe not? Her defense team said today that it has more than a dozen new witnesses that support the claim that their client did not place her daughter’s remains in the woods.

What do you think?

From WESH:

Defense attorneys said they have 15 to 20 people who searched the exact area where Caylee Anthony’s remains were found but found no body.

In the past, Texas EquuSearch volunteers have given sworn statements saying that the area in question was under water and there was no way to figure out what was there.

Defense attorney Cheney Mason said the names of the witnesses will be given to Judge Belvin Perry on Friday.

Casey Anthony: Deposition Postponed?

It appears that a Texas Equusearch volunteer has requested that her deposition be postponed, or canceled.

From My Fox Orlando:

Laura Buchanan, the Texas Equusearch volunteer who claims to have searched the exact area of Suburban Drive where Caylee Anthony’s remains were found three months later, asked that her deposition be canceled on Wednesday. Buchanan was scheduled to answer questions under oath via the Internet.

Last month, discovery documents revealed that another Equusearch volunteer told investigators Buchanan may have falsified her search documents.

Casey Anthony: Defense Team to Review Search Documents

The defense team for accused murderer Casey Anthony will be reviewing Texas Equusearch documents this morning with the hopes of finding a credible volunteer who searched the area where her daughter’s remains were found, but that nothing was discovered at the time.

From WESH:

Prosecutors already have several sworn statements from volunteers who say that the area was submerged, increasing the likelihood that the remains were placed there before the rains came and Casey Anthony was locked up.

Defense attorney Richard Hornsby said the defense hopes to argue that a third party put the girl’s remains in the woods.

“That’s what the defense is banking on: third-party DNA and DNA still being there. It rebuts what prosecutors have been saying the whole time,” Hornsby said.

Casey Anthony: What Happened at the Anthony Home?

Some additional news coming out of the documents that were released earlier this week in the Casey Anthony case.

It seems that Texas Equusearch volunteers told police that the tension inside the Anthony home during the search for Caylee rose so much that there was nearly a physical confrontation between the Anthony’s and volunteers at their home.

From WESH:

“He went in there, grabbed a hold of her and they had it out,” volunteer Lisa Hoffman said. “(He) came out and said, ‘The answer to where the baby is is in that bedroom, and the (expletive) won’t talk.’”

“The words he said to me were, ‘I almost had her. I had her convinced to put an X on the map of the location of a body,’” volunteer Brett Churchill said.

After the tension died down, Texas Equusearch head Tim Miller said he asked the Anthonys where to search, but he said Cindy Anthony got angry and banned them from entering her house.

Casey Anthony: Texas EquuSearch Records Can Be Reviewed

Judge Belvin Perry has ruled that Casey Anthony’s lawyers can review all Texas EquuSearch records created during the group’s searches for Caylee Anthony back in 2008.

From the Orlando Sentinel:

While Anthony’s defense team can review the records, they cannot release the names of the searchers or any other information in the files to the public or the media, according to the order signed Thursday by Orange-Osceola Chief Judge Belvin Perry.

If Anthony’s lawyers want any copies of the records, the documents will be tabbed and brought before the judge.

Casey Anthony: Another Lawyer Jumps Ship

It appears that Brad Conway is the latest attorney in the case of Casey Anthony to step down, this according to a statement released early this morning.

From WESH:

WESH 2 News has learned that the attorney for Caylee’s grandparents George and Cindy Anthony, Brad Conway, will no longer be serving as the couple’s attorney. He turned in a resignation letter Monday morning.

According to sources, Conway’s move comes as a result of a new filing by Anthony’s defense in their ongoing dispute with Texas Equusearch.

From My Fox Orlando:

Early Monday Conway told FOX 35′s Holly Bristow this has nothing to do with the Anthony’s or anything they’ve done. Instead he said it has everything to do with Casey’s attorney José Baez.

Conway said that a motion filed by the defense last week made regarding documents on 4,000 Texas Equusearch volunteers, Baez claimed that Conway was given unrestricted access to look at those documents but only if he got the Anthony’s to sign a waiver of conflict of interest.

Casey Anthony: EquuSearch Records Hearing on the Horizon?

It appears that Texas EquuSearch are fed up with playing games with Anthony’s defense attorneys and are pushing for a hearing on EquuSearch records.

From The TV Guy:

Anthony defense attorneys Jose Baez and Cheney Mason visited the office of Mark NeJame, attorney for Texas EquuSearch, on Friday. The Anthony attorneys had gone to look at records of EquuSearch volunteers for the first time after an eight-month battle.

The defense had wanted photocopies of the records, but the judge twice ruled that the defense had to view them in NeJame’s office.

“The attorneys stormed out after the media showed up,” WESH anchor Martha Sugalski said of Friday’s visit.

From WESH:

For more than eight months, officials with Texas EquuSearch have waged an epic legal battle have fought to keep private records of Central Florida residents who answered their call for help.

A source said EquuSearch plans to file legal paperwork to have the judge order Anthony’s defense to review the records and be done with it.

EquuSearch attorney Mark NeJame would not comment on what the group is planning.