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January 6, 2009
Posted: 10:03 PM ET
NEW YORK–The next legal hearing involving Casey Anthony won’t take place in a criminal court of law, but will be this Thursday, January 8, in a civil venue before Orange County Circuit Court Judge Jose R. Rodriguez.
Casey Anthony This full hearing will concern the civil defamation action brought by Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez against Anthony herself. On September 24, 2008, Fernandez-Gonzalez filed suit against Anthony for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress saying she suffered irreparable damage to her reputation, severe emotional pain and suffering and public humiliation after Anthony told investigators in July she last saw two-year-old Caylee when she left her with her nanny, Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez. Attorney Jonathan Kasen, who is representing Anthony in this civil action, has filed a motion to stay a deposition of Anthony scheduled for next Monday, which would be taken by Fernandez-Gonzalez’s attorneys. Kasen told me today that these deposition questions would be too intertwined with the pending criminal investigation. He will be asking the court to stay the entire civil case until the conclusion of criminal proceedings, and says if forced to proceed with Monday’s deposition, his client will answer each and every question invoking her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Keith Mitnik, attorney for plaintiff Fernandez-Gonzalez, doesn’t believe the answer to this legal issue is so clear cut in Florida. Mitnik says that because Anthony has filed a counterclaim to his client’s civil suit, it puts her in the position of being a civil defendant and a plaintiff at the same time. Mitnik will argue to the court on Thursday that playing both roles in this case does not automatically entitle her to plead the Fifth to each and every question. Fernandez-Gonzalez will ask Judge Rodriguez to allow the deposition to proceed with answers handled on a question by question basis. If Anthony were to refuse to answer any questions the plaintiff’s attorneys believe are not entitled to Fifth Amendment privilege, Mitnik would likely take the issue to the judge to request that Anthony to be compelled to answer them. Mitnik says what his client really wants is for Casey Anthony to sign a written affidavit stating that Fernandez-Gonzalez had nothing to do with the abduction or murder of Caylee Anthony. That would go a long way, he says, in restoring the reputation of this mother with young children who lost her job managing cleaning crews because her name became a household word synonymous with the kidnapping of Caylee Anthony. Anthony told investigators in July that Fernandez-Gonzalez lived in the Sawgrass Apartments, and that she dropped Caylee off for the very last time at the bottom of stairs leading to the woman’s apartment. Fernandez-Gonzalez told police she did not live at the apartment complex, although in June 2008, she filled out an information card there but never rented a unit. How Anthony took police to the same complex where Fernandez-Gonzalez visited is still a mystery, and centers on some of the questions the plaintiff wants answered. –Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent Filed under: Casey and Caylee Anthony Jean Casarez |
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