It was a clearly grumpy bunch of lawyers and Judge Perry that heralded the start of day 9 of jury selection in the case at 8:30am this morning.

Everyone with a dog in the fight has their own gripe. Judge Perry is irked at the amount of time being spent in the Voir Dire process, it is now more than double his estimate. The costs alone are skyrocketing, costs that are being paid by the tax payers in the Orlando area.

The prosecution is sore over being disallowed a peremptory strike of a juror that they feel might hang the jury.

The defense is privateered over just about every aspect you can name. I am surprised that they have not yet filed a motion over the Courtroom decor, ‘Your honor we do not feel that our client can get a fair trial with this color of wood-stain used in this courtroom’.

Todays adventure in the legal wrangling surrounding the Casey Anthony trial started badly and rocketed down hill from there. Recess followed recess, sidebar followed sidebar. And what surprised me most was that having admonished both the prosecution and defense over time management he suddenly decided to declare an almost two hour lunch recess. This is not in his style.

Returning after the break things got even stranger. Jose Baez was not in court. In fact it is being reported by a number of channels that he left the courthouse and had not returned. Judge Perry was was short and sweet. He asked Cheney Mason if he had discussed the matter with Ms. Anthony, Mason replied ‘Yes Sir’, and with that Judge Perry called a halt to proceedings for the day. To restart at 8:30am tomorrow.

We have no real clue as to the reason for the delay. The internet is awash with theories, but few hold any water. Jose Baez did not appear to be sick this morning and apparently did not seem to be sick as he exited the building. But he was conspicuously absent when the court reconvened.

Another idea that his been floated around is that a plea deal is in the works. This seems somewhat unlikely, the prosecution must be masters at keeping a Poker Face.

From there we reach for more outlandish ideas. While the dynamic between Jose Baez and Casey Anthony seems to be somewhat missing in recent days it is unlikely that she did a Donald Trump and declared ‘You are fired’.

There is one possibility that does seem to have some credibility. An appeal over the voir dire process has been filed with the Appellate Court.

Till 8:30 tomorrow, we can only wait and speculate.

Simon Barrett