NEW YORK - Casey Anthony, charged with first-degree murder in the death of her daughter Caylee, was in an Orlando, Florida court today to answer questions about whether her attorney has permission to sell her story. She says he does not.

Casey Anthony escorted in court on Wednesday

The brief hearing was ordered after the State Attorney’s Office asked the court to determine if Anthony’s attorney was selling photographs or home videos or engaging in book or movie deals pursuant to a fee agreement.

The prosecutor argued that attorney Jose Baez cannot act as Anthony’s attorney as well as an agent selling the story to pay his fee. If that were the case, there would be a conflict of interest as one could argue that Baez wasn’t always acting in Anthony’s best interest.

Judge Strickland agreed that Baez and Anthony needed to answer some questions. He said that if there is a conflict, then Anthony has two choices: waive the conflict to avoid a future appellate issue or get a new attorney. After questioning them in open court, the attorneys and Anthony left the courtroom to answer questions in private. The judge emerged minutes later and said he was satisfied there is no conflict of interest.

If Baez is collecting licensing fees for the use of photos and videos, then it is likely that Anthony retains the rights to her story and her photos and videos and that she is making the final decisions. So long as Baez isn’t controlling the transactions and making decisions independent of Anthony, the court won’t interfere.

No further action was necessary. Court adjourned…for the time being.

-Beth Karas, In Session correspondent

NEW YORK - Today, prosecutors in the Casey Anthony case filed a “Motion to Determine Potential Conflict of Interest and Waiver." That's a fancy lawyer way of saying: "tell us how she's paying you."  The State actually alleged in its motion papers that lead defense lawyer Jose Baez is managing his client’s assets; and since Casey doesn't have any assets, the State suggests, he must be selling her story”.  

Casey Anthony with defense attorney Jose Baez

"The Defendant’s seeming conversion from pauper to princess did not come from the sale of some tangible asset available to her prior to her initial arrest on charges related to this case.  The only asset that appears available to the Defendant is her story...” 

A well written pleading, but not well researched.  Instead, the state's motion is based on rumor, speculation and tabloid reports.

Mr. Baez has said in court documents and said today on the record that his retainer agreement with Casey Anthony has nothing to do with rights to her so-called story; and under oath, Casey has agreed.  There is no conflict of interest. How she will pay him, or even whether she will pay him, is none of the prosecution's business. Any communications between client and counsel are confidential.  That includes the fee arrangement. And the prosecution knows it.  

Maybe the state really filed its motion to harass or even embarrass Mr. Baez.  Whatever the motivation, the court correctly called it for what it was— nonsense. Motion denied. 

-Jami Floyd, In Session anchor

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico–Prosecutors in the triple homicide of Brandon Craig looked to a crime scene expert to boost eyewitness testimony that the defendant ambushed the teen victims with a semi-automatic rifle from a short distance away into the front of their vehicle.

Defense attorney Pamela Mackey stands next to client Brandon Craig

Two eyewitnesses testified Tuesday that Craig verbally confronted Kevin Shirley about a drug debt then went back to his truck to retrieve a rifle, which he allegedly used to unleash numerous rounds at Shirley and his two passengers, Matthew Hunt and Luis Garcia.

Crime scene analyst Steve Guerra, who is also a firearms expert, said he examined the 24 shell casings recovered from the crime scene and concluded that they were all fired from the same weapon. Guerra displayed to the jury the type of weapon most likely used-a semi-automatic assault rifle designed to eject casings to the right and forward, which would explain why crime scene investigators found most of the casings in a cluster several feet away to the right of Shirley’s orange Datsun.

Guerra also studied the bullet holes in the windshield and was able to perform trajectory analysis on 13 of the 23 bullet holes. He testified that assuming the shooter was six feet tall and firing the weapon from his shoulder as it is so designed, the weapon could not have been more than five feet away. His testimony would appear to corroborate the testimony of eyewitnesses who said Craig was on foot when he used a large rifle and fired at the victims a short distance away from the front of the vehicle.

The testimony of eyewitness Luke Morris, the defendant’s cousin, also got a boost when his sister testified that her brother told her in late 2005 that he was involved in a triple homicide and that “he got rid of the gun.”

Lacey Morris testified that Luke who was living with her in Cortez, Colorado, when he was called in to speak to cold case investigators. She said after the interview Luke was very shaken, “His comment was, they know pretty much everything, I don’t know how I can lie anymore.”

Over the next few days, Lacey said she discussed the triple homicide with her brother, and he told her, “I’m not the one that pulled the trigger. I got rid of the gun.”

Craig maintains his innocence and claims the eyewitnesses have concocted these accusations to save themselves their own legal problems.

Stay tuned to In Session's live coverage of this case with correspondent Jean Casarez.

–Grace Wong, In Session senior field producer

NEW YORK–Marty Tankleff, imprisoned for nearly two decades for the murders of his mother and father - crimes he did not commit – has filed a lawsuit against Suffolk County, Long Island for his wrongful imprisonment.

Marty Tankleff

Marty spent what should have been the best years of his life behind bars, from age 17, until his release at age 36. For 6,338 days, from the day he was arrested to the day he was freed, at the end of 2007, Marty maintained his innocence and fought to prove his innocence. No doubt, Marty Tankelff is owed great compensation for those lost years, especially because it is more than likely that Marty's wrongful conviction was due not to negligence, but to malfeasance.

The Tankleff lawsuit, however, is about more than just Marty or the money. It is about the hundreds of innocent men and women who, after exoneration, wage long battles for compensation - battles they all-too-often lose; it is about a system that allows - and in some cases even encourages - wrongful prosecution; it is about justice.

That is why Tankleff is filing a federal civil rights lawsuit against not only Suffolk County but also former detective James McCready and others involved in the case for malicious prosecution, failure to investigate, coercion, infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment and more.

In December 2007, an appellate court ruled that key evidence was overlooked. But that's the least of what went down in this case. Now, with this lawsuit, the whole truth can be told - about Marty's conviction and the failings of a system that allowed it to happen.

–Jami Floyd, In Session anchor

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico–One of the prosecution’s star witnesses, Jocelyn Schneider, testified Monday at the triple murder trial of Brandon Craig. Schneider walked to the witness stand without looking at her former boyfriend.

Jocelyn Schneider

Schneider was very emotional as she told jurors that Craig tried to collect a drug debt for her on May 29, 1999, and when he couldn’t get the money from the alleged debtor, victim Kevin Shirley, Craig took a rifle out of the truck the two were in and shot dead the three teens who were sitting in their car along a road in the East Mountains outside of Albuquerque. Craig stared at Schneider as she sat on the witness stand for nearly the entire day.

Families of the three victims have waited 10 years for this trial and listened in silence to Schneider’s testimony. Some had their heads bowed as she spoke, some were looking straight ahead and some were writing in notebooks as she testified.

The defendant’s family also listened in silence as Schneider told the jury that it was defendant Brandon Craig who pulled the trigger.

Craig is facing life in prison for the murders of high school students Kevin Shirley, Luis Garcia and Matthew Hunt.

Stay tuned to In Session for complete coverage of this case.

–Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico–Brandon Craig showed little emotion when his ex-girlfriend testified he wielded the assault rifle that killed three teens on the night of May 29, 1999. At the time, Schneider says she was selling drugs for a dealer connected with the Mexican mafia, and often fronted drugs to people she regularly sold to, including one of the victims, Kevin Shirley, who she claimed owed her $500.

Jocelyn Schneider passes Brandon Craig on the way to the witness stand

“Kevin owed me money, and everything I owned Brandon owned as well,” said Schneider. “So he was upset with Kevin for owing me money and he wanted to get that money back.”

Schneider said Craig was on a mission to recover the money and went to a party to confront Shirley. They left empty-handed when Shirley refused to pay him. Schneider said they waited down the road and when Shirley’s car went by Craig followed and signaled Shirley to pull over.

“Brandon grabbed the gun and started firing,” she said. “I was freaking out. I just remember gunshots. I do you know how many… a lot. I just remember, firing, pausing, firing, pausing and firing again.”

On cross-examination by defense attorney Pamela Mackey, Schneider conceded that when police questioned her in 2004 and 2005, she repeatedly denied knowing anything about the May murders, and denied knowing Brandon Craig and Luke Morris, the defendant’s cousin also an eyewitness to the shooting.

Schneider also admitted lying in her grand jury testimony, and sending text messages to Morris’ sister asking for details of the crime so they could get their stories to match.

Schneider also testified that she had been assured by law enforcement that she would not be prosecuted for her role in the triple homicide unless it was determined that she pulled the trigger. She denied that her cooperation gained her any favorable treatment for two drug felonies incurred in 2004, and a third felony for which she received probation for in 2008.

Schneider is the second eyewitness to blame Craig for the May 1999 homicides. Luke Morris, the defendant’s cousin testified earlier in the trial that he too saw Craig open fire on the teens.

Craig has pleaded not guilty to all charges in this case.

–Grace Wong, In Session senior field producer

NEW YORK–Closing arguments begin today in the second-degree murder trial of legendary music producer Phil Spector. Spector is on trial, again, for the shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson at his mansion in February 2003.

Phil Spector and wife Rachelle Spector walk into Superior Court of Los Angeles County

Spector’s first trial ended with a mistrial when jurors deadlocked, 10-2 in favor of conviction, in September 2007. Unlike the first trial, this time jurors will consider the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter.

The state’s case, basically the same in both trials, was built on circumstantial evidence presented in three parts: women who had dated Spector and had guns pulled on them by him, witnesses who were with or saw Spector on the evening of the shooting, and police and other forensic experts who collected evidence and interpreted the scene of the shooting. The state’s case was presented by Deputy District Attorneys Alan Jackson (recently promoted to the number two position in the Major Crimes Division) and Truc Do.

Spector hired a new attorney for his retrial but the defense was the same—that at 40, Clarkson was despondent with her struggling acting career and killed herself in a final dramatic act at his home.

Spector's new defense attorney, Doron Weinberg, presented expert witnesses not called in 2007. This time, there was a suicidologist who opined that Clarkson killed herself, and an expert in memory and eyewitness testimony who was called to discredit a key prosecution witness, limo driver Adriano DeSouza. DeSouza testified that Spector opened the back door minutes after the shooting, with gun still in hand, and said: “I think I killed somebody.” The expert witness described how witnesses’ recall of events can be erroneous when influenced by stress and how well they observe the event.

In each trial, evidence was presented over five months though fewer witnesses testified for each side in the retrial. In the first trial, the state called 42 witnesses and the defense called 35 witnesses. In the second trial, the state called 36 witnesses and the defense called 18 witnesses.

Both sides rested on March 16. Closing arguments are expected to last up to three days.

Spector faces 15 years to life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder. Involuntary manslaughter carries a sentence of two to four years. The use of a gun may also increase the sentence.

Spector has been free on $1 million bond since 2003.

–Beth Karas, In Session correspondent

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico–The triple murder trial of defendant Brandon Craig is expected to resume this morning with testimony from his ex-girlfriend, who police say is one of three eyewitnesses who saw Craig gun down three teens the night of May 29, 1999.

Brandon Craig

Prosecutors called a string of witnesses Friday to lay the groundwork to help support eyewitness testimony that the defendant ambushed the teens after one of them refused to pay a drug debt.

Luke Morris, the defendant’s cousin, testified earlier in the trial that Craig had gone to a party attended by the victims’ to collect the debt, but left empty-handed after Kevin Shirley surrounded by his friends refused to give him any money.

A number of party goers confirmed Shirley, Luis Garcia, and Matthew Hunt were at the party, that they left together in Shirley’s car, and not long after were found dead on the road in their car.

Stacey Lofton testified that the gathering broke up earlier than usual that night at about 11:30 p.m. because he and several others including Garcia and Shirley had a soccer tournament the next morning. He recalled helping the wheelchair-bound Hunt out of the house and into Shirley’s car. Lofton said he left within five to 10 minutes of their departure and traveling along Pinon Heights encountered Shirley’s car and a man with a flashlight telling him to move on, “These kids are in trouble. Get out.”

Several additional witnesses from the party confirmed the victims’ attendance at the gathering, but none could recall seeing the defendant, and only one party-goer said he saw people at the party he didn’t know. All testified that the gathering was low-key with most of the activity taking place indoors in one room. The witnesses described an argument between two girls over the same boy, but none could recall a heated exchange involving Shirley over drug money.

The jury also heard from several of the neighbors who heard the shooting. One neighbor, Valentino Garcia, appeared to corroborate some of the details in eyewitness Morris’ story. Garcia, who was in his bedroom at the time, recalled hearing “yelling.”

When the yelling got louder he looked out the window and saw, “A 4 X 4 parked up there. I could see the tail end.” He heard gunfire shortly after and a woman screaming. He said after the gunfire stopped he looked out the window to see scurrying around the car. Garcia said he did not see the victims’ car because it was blocked at the time by the 4 X 4 truck. He recalled only seeing the vehicle’s tail lights and thought it was either a pick-up or an SUV.

The jury also heard about a second car, a dark SUV, first referred to by Gary Looze, a neighbor who discovered the victims. Garrett Whitney appeared to have given the defense more fodder for an alternate shooter theory, by testifying about a dark SUV he saw approach the intersection of Pinon Heights and Jennifer (the corner where the shooting took place.) He said he waited, expecting the SUV to pass him so that he could make his right turn, but instead it stopped, backed up slightly and appeared to turn in another direction. He did not see in which direction it subsequently traveled.

Craig has pleaded not guilty to all counts and claims the witnesses have pointed the finger at him to save themselves from their own criminal misdeeds.

–Grace Wong, In Session senior field producer

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico–At the murder trial of Brandon Craig here, a neighbor who discovered the bodies of the three teens killed in a hail of gunfire outside his home choked back tears during his testimony as he was asked to recall what he saw that night in 1999.

Brandon Craig

Craig is on trial for the three murders after a drug deal between his girlfriend and one of the teen went bad, according to prosecutors. They contend that Craig is the person who fired 24 rounds from an assault rifle into a car driven by Shirley, killing him and two friends, Matthew Hunt and Luis Garcia.

“Three young boys…one in the back, one in each front seat,” said Gary Looze, pausing several times to regain his composure. “I hollered to my wife who was talking to 911. I turned the flashlight on and shined it into the car to see if I could do anything…. I observed the boys’ bullet-ridden bodies.”

Looze said he ran out of his house after the gunfire ended, stopping briefly at his van to retrieve a flashlight. He said he observed two vehicles in T-formation at the corner of his street. One was a dark SUV, the other an orange Datsun. He said they were not moving when he first observed them, but then saw the SUV make a U-turn and “take off” down the street.

He said he returned his attention to the Datsun, and knew almost immediately something was wrong because there was no sound coming from the car. He observed multiple bullet holes through the windshield. He testified that he was soon joined by another neighbor who was a nurse and wanted to see if any of the victims were alive. When she attempted to check the pulse of the driver, he slumped over causing his cap to fall out of the window. He said he pushed him back in an upright position and told the jury that it was clear that all three occupants of the car were deceased.

Defense Attorney Pamela Mackey focused her cross-examination on Looze’s description of the SUV and the T-formation of the two cars. Looze’s description appears to contrast that of Luke Morris’, the eyewitness who testified that he and Craig were in a gold or tan Z-71 truck, and that Craig exited the truck to fire at the victims.

Mackey suggested that if indeed the SUV was carrying the gunman, the T-formation of the two cars as described by Looze would have left little room for an assailant to fire from outside the car, and asked Looze to opine as to whether he thought the gunfire could have come from inside the SUV. “Possibly,” responded Looze, setting up what could potentially be a confusing scenario for the jury.

Testimony continues this morning.

–In Session staff

NEW YORK – Just as our new live trial, New Mexico v. Brandon Craig got underway yesterday, there was even bigger news breaking in the state. Governor Bill Richardson signed into law a repeal of the state's death penalty. 

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson

That makes New Mexico the second state to ban executions since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976.  The repeal, which passed a vote in the state senate Friday and was approved by the house a month earlier, will take effect July 1st and will apply to crimes committed after that date. Once in effect, the most severe punishment will be a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

Governor Richardson has long been a proponent of capital punishment.  But he had the courage to face the fact that our system of justice can never be perfect.  He signed the bill because his conscience compelled him to do so.  This was the "most difficult decision" of his political life, Richardson said, but "the potential for ... Execution of an innocent person stands as anathema to our very sensibilities as human beings."  And he's right. 

If the innocence movement has taught us anything it is that our justice system is not perfect.  We make mistakes.  Without the death penalty, New Mexico can avoid the kind of fatal error that is bound to happen elsewhere - if it hasn't already.

-Jami Floyd, In Session anchor