To be honest I was in no way surprised when I heard about this alleged affair George Anthony was supposedly to have had with a woman he met during a search for his 2 year old grand daughter, Caylee Anthony two years ago. I mean after all who wouldn’t stray if they had to live with Cindy Anthony day after day after day!
Now suddenly the woman, identified as River Cruz is singing to the prosecution about what he has told her during this alleged affair. Accusations have come out that she is only saying what she is saying to try and get money out the deal but she insists that is ridiculous, especially since she never went to anyone with her story, they approached her first. She is claiming that George confessed to her details about his grand daughter’s murder saying it was an accident that snow-balled out of control.
Now of course Anthony is denying any such affair saying it is all a lie. His attorney, Brad Conway says, “George did not have a sexual relationship with her. He did not receive $5000 or whatever she is claiming she gave him.â€Â Conway also denies that his client has any knowledge whatsoever about how little Caylee Anthony died. “Their motives need to be questioned,†said Conway.
WFTV reported that River Cruz picked up her camera and cell phone from the Orange County Sheriff’s office after they were examined by detectives and when asked about the alleged affair she denied trying to exploit the Casey Anthony case for financial gain. She told the reporters that she made an official statement under oath and she told the truth about what happened.
A former prosecutor, Jeff Dean, says they want to cast a wide net now for information such as this and then if they find it necessary they can confront witnesses like George Anthony with what they find out.
They say if Anthony decides to change his story to go in favor of his daughter then he could possibly face some serious consequences himself.
River Cruz’s sister, Skye Benhaida told WFTV news that her sister was in love with George and that she specifically told George she would never ask him about what happened to Caylee and that was when he told her Caylee died from an accident.
The thought that comes to my mind here is that this woman’s private life is now going to be under a microscope. You can bet Jose Bozo will have someone try to destroy her credibility as a witness just like they seem to do to anyone that becomes involved.
Personally I could care less if George Anthony had an affair. That part of this news means nothing to me but the accusation that he supposedly admitted Caylee’s death was an accident means a lot. It would prove that he and his low life wife have known all about what happened probably since before Caylee’s remains were even located, which is something I have always said. My thoughts and opinion have always been that they were probably not involved in her death but definitely involved with the cover up, but as I said that is of course my own opinion.
Cruz claims she gave George $5000 because he was claiming to be broke, and according to the Examiner she wasn’t the only one that he received money from. Also reporter Kathy Belich from WFTV who has been following Caylee Anthony’s murder case from the beginning says that Cruz was given a polygraph text and also had two intimate photos of George along with several “racy†text messages that she gave to the police.
WFTV News anchor, Bob Opsahl, says that the woman, River Cruz, “looks a lot like the description George gave detectives of Zanny the Nanny. Skye Benhaida told Belich that George modeled his description of Zanny on her sister even down to the Asian style tattoo on her arm.
Also in the news on this case was the motion hearing today with the wanna-be dream team trying to get the tax payers to pick up the tab on the expenses of the case. I am a taxpayer and I strongly object to my money being spent on this. If I am going to have one red cent going towards this case I would prefer it to be going to a public defender that gets paid for handling cases when a defender has no money which they are clearly saying that Casey Anthony has none.
Of course this comes at the perfect timing after George and Cindy Anthony’s home is supposedly going into foreclosure after they haven’t paid their mortgage payment in months. The part about that which really made me laugh is how they showed their ignorance about being surprised when they heard about it happening. Anyone and everyone knows if you don’t pay for something it is going to be taken back. I mean come on now, they can’t possibly think they could go that long without paying their house payment and NOT think they would take it away from them did they?
Court today was entertaining if nothing else. It seems the Bozo, Baez was backed into the corner and found himself with no choice but to explain some things about all this money. First we heard about Andrea Lyon receiving $22,500 and him receiving $89,000 plus, which was all they were mentioning in court. They just couldn’t leave well enough alone though. This new attorney, Cheney Mason just couldn’t keep him his mouth shut. They all ended up in another room discussing how they were going to explain where all the money went to and when they came back to court, Baez, under oath was forced to admit that ABC had indeed paid Casey Anthony $200,000. There was another $75,000 received that was forced to be explained which Bozo says $5000 came from a donor and the rest, $70,000 came from a previous member of the defense team. Now they have to explain where the rest of the money is since they clearly stated that Baez and Lyon are the only attorneys that have received any finds.
OK I am not a rich woman. I don’t think I have ever had that much money in my hands before but it seems to me that is an awful lot of money to go through and not have to account for. Surely they have some record of how the money is being spent.
Judge Stan Strickland deferred a ruling on the issue until he receives further materials from the defense, as well as from the Justice Administrative Commission, the state agency that oversees funding. The commission has voiced opposition to allocating funding for Anthony’s defense, saying in court papers it has “severe concerns” about whether Casey Anthony even qualifies for financial assistance.
I guess we will have to wait for the judge’s decision on this but I would think that the public’s response should have a say in it. After all, they as the taxpayers should be able to voice their opinion since it is their money that this wanna-be dream team are asking for. I did like one thing the judge said though. He asked why not use specialist from Florida instead of from out of state, which makes perfect sense to me. I mean normally anyone that needs professional help doesn’t receive it unless THEY can afford it. They say Casey is broke so why does she deserve a special defense team. As I said before get her a regular public defender that is automatically paid by the taxpayers and get rid of the whole wanna-be dream team.
Caylee Anthony deserves better than this. She gave her life for a mere few hundred thousands of dollars so her grand parents could enjoy luxury cruises and her Mom can receive expensive defense attorneys to get her off the hook. Let them take the money out of Casey’s commissary account to pay those expenses. She doesn’t need the brownies and candy and lingerie she seems to buy.
We need to demand that Caylee Anthony gets the justice she deserves so she may rest in peace. She is the only real Anthony that has suffered anything through all this that she didn’t deserve. The rest deserve everything they get. God bless you Caylee. We all love you honey!
Jan Barrett
37 users commented in " Caylee Anthony Murder Case Update: Wanna-be Dream Team At It Again "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackJANNNNNN! You’re back! Great article! Amen Sister! I hope you are feeling better! You sure sound like you’re loaded for bear and ready to take on the world! Welcome Back! We MISSED You!
Jan, if you break down the money over 1 year it adds up to 754.00 per day (365 days per year)and he hasnt even started depositions yet!! What exactly has he done, not much considering he claims he has about 2000 hours invested. (Is bozo including all that kissy face time Casey was in his office and late night visits to the jail?) Give me a break, there is no way on this planet that incompetent ooph spent that kind of money in a year and half!! He hasnt even started yet!!
I am one of the taxpayers here in Florida and I do not feel Casey needs all this special treatment!! This down right angers to me to no end! I believe we taxpayers should have the right to deny her these special priviledges!! Give her the public defender and that is it. I do not care if there is a cap on what this dream team can spend on depositions, travel and experts etc…. It is bad enough that we will have to flip her bill while she waits on death row for however long that will be and pay to put her to sleep. I hope by then the Anthonys can at least afford her burial. JUSTICE FOR CAYLEE!!!!
lfj – I’m hopeful that enough tax payers in Florida will speak up! This is insane. If justice is supposed to be equal then ALL the people going to trial should get these fancy lawyers. Oh, but I guess there isn’t book deals, interviews, and opportunities to get RICH from the everyday sort of crime. No, they jumped on this bandwagon not because they thought Casey was innocent but because they saw an opportunity for themselves. GIVE CASEY A PUBLIC DEFENDER that has NOTHING to gain from defending her. That way Casey gets proper council and the State of Florida doesn’t go bankrupt taking care of a baby killer!
Jannie! my angel.. don’t frighten me like that, I need you and Simon tanned rested and ready to expose these evil doers. Welcome back!
Personally, I believe the ‘affair’ simply another side-show down the midway. And the Anthonys’ official denial (Atty Conway) only lends a legitimacy to my conclusion. The use of a little reverse psychology on the public jury pool, maybe. The importance of the show, of course, to reduce the crime (in the public mind) to an accident with the ultimate purpose of moving the death penalty off the table. JMO
Afer all, where is our illustrious first family with their calls for libelous revenge of their sacred reputations? Or their outrage over the money that might have exchanged hands for its publication? The blogosphere understands full well their animosity for criticisms in all shapes and sizes. And just where is that animosity now? JMO
Also, as far as the defense not bringing their documents with them for the hearing. They were simply looking for some kind of a closed door session with the judge to better keep away our prying eyes. And to that end they somewhat succeeded.
looking for Justice: Since you live in Florida you should write the Justice Administrative Commission and tell them they better have a rep PRESENT at court when Judge Strickland reviews the rest of the $164,000 of unaccounted for money. The judge already said he will NOT go over that with JAC on the phone so JAC had better BE THERE!
It is clear that Bozo did not want to tell anyone at court today that there was a grand total of $275,000 to begin with AND he did not want to tell the court what happened to any of the money besides what he and Big AL got.
That’s when they had the big private PowWow.
So something is up with that and JAC should look into it before agreeing to pay a penny.
The other thing is that Bozo was asked about any deals NOW! That does NOT preclude deals later! It just means that “supposedly” there is no signed agreement NOW! Doesn’t mean that a publisher or movie producer didn’t give him the wink for a deal to happen after the trial.
Also Big AL’s sister is a documentary film producer. I’ll just leave it at that.
I wonder if that $5,000 from the donor was actually the $5,000 that River Cruz gave to George Anthony? I have wondered what he would need the sum of the alleged $5,000 that was given to him. Could he have asked her for this money to help with Casey’s defense? It’s not like he could suddenly start buying things and not have Cindy notice new purchases. Could it be possible that there really was $5,000 from George’s mistress and it ended up going towards Casey’s legal expenses? I hope this is all investigated thoroughly.
Holly – this mistress case is falling apart. She and her twin sister have been arrested MULTIPLE times. The sister claimed on NG that they were NOT selling the story to the National Enquirer or in this for money/fame and the next day it is in the National Enquirer. On NG it sounded like it was all one lump sum $5000 that she gave him….then in other statements it sounded like she gave him a little here, then a little there…supposedly writing checks for cash then giving him the money…so there would be NO record. Neither of these sisters work than anyone can tell….not sure where they’d get $5,000….have been to jail for jewelry theft and other crimes. NOT looking good. The defense would chew this woman up and spit her out! They also said she passed a LDT through LE…when actually it was the National Enquirer who gave her the LDT with no confirmation she passed. I was REALLY enjoying this story but alas it is starting to fall apart a little bit. It was fun while it lasted.
In my first marriage, I had a husband who loved the women and therefore, I know about affairs. In this case, I simply could not blame George for an affair, look what he lives with! This woman has not come forth, they searched her out so she can not be said to try to ride the coat tails of this story. I have no doubt that she did not give him money nor do I doubt that he took it if she offered it. This family has their grubby paws stuck out for any amount of money anyone will hand to them, obvious. They do not think they are supposed to have to work for a living and they taught their daughter the same lifestyle. They feel they are above the law, life is worth nothing unless it is their lives. If someone gets in your way,just kill them and go party some more. If Casey Anthony walks away from this, there is no further need for a court system in the U.S., it is all a joke. I am praying that Judge Strickland will remove the dream team and give her a public defender, with a very short time span to prepare for the already scheduled trial. If tax money is used to pay for her duhfense, then she should not be allowed to have a dream team. Bozo needs to furnish all records of financial manner and account for money spent, just as anyone else would have to do. In the beginning, such a big secret as to how they were being paid and there was some talk of pro-bono representation, well what changed? Is free getting too expensive for Bozo? He asked for this by accepting her case now let him whine all he wants but do not furnish his wages to pay for this mess. I hope the judge can see through all this junk and throw this motion right out the door. Let the little murderous wiggling butt pay for it herself or have her parents pay for it with the funds they have been paid for interviews. If they are in foreclosure, whose fault is that? I personally do not know anyone who can live in a house without paying for it for that length of time. To my knowledge, at least in my state three months overdue and foreclosure begins. There should be no surprise in finding that you did not pay for six months, dummy do you remember paying the payment or not? This whole thing gets sicker by the minute and as I said before, if this judge allows this to continue, he needs to be removed from his official seat and let someone sit there who can handle it. If George has knowledge of Cayless murder, which I have always felt he did, if he does not come clean pitch all of them in the same jail cell with the little murderer they spawned! And, take away the commissary account.
OMG – I just read this on wftv.com
This is SERIOUS. I can’t believe it. The NEW scheme team member is really a very GOOD lawyer with a huge number of wins. The Cheney Mason guy. What makes me SICK is (see below) he’s putting off retirement to take this case and he’s doing it for “The fun of it.”
After I throw up I am going to write him a letter. Caylee is dead. There is NOTHING FUN about this. D all lawyers like him to hell.
—
Excerpt from article at wftv.com (about game changer)
““You do not come any larger than J. Cheney Mason,” WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said. “He’s going after an acquittal, not just to get her off a death sentence.”
Mason has 39 years of experience as a criminal defense lawyer and a largely winning record.
“This is the most significant event for the defense since the discovery of Caylee’s body,” Sheaffer said.
Mason was awarded the highest honor in the country in 2004 by National Criminal Defense Attorneys and has been successful in defending 50 first-degree murder cases.
“He has a great deal of talent and a great deal of credibility,” Sheaffer said. “This is a game changer.”
Thursday, Mason said defense lawyer Jose Baez asked him to join the defense team and he agreed, just for the “fun” of it. WFTV asked him if he’s a “game changer.”
“I don’t know. I guess when a jury says ‘not guilty’ we’ll find out,” he replied (watch full interview). “This case is going is going to be fun to try and we will walk out of here with Casey in arm. Stand by.”
Mason said he’s putting off retirement to do this and said he’s already amassing a team of others who are willing to work for free, as he is, to give Casey a fighting chance against what’s becoming a tougher and tougher case for her.”
It’s not that I don’t want her to have a fair trial. But THIS guy is going to pull every trick out of the hat that was ever invented. It will NOT be fair at all. He’s a trickster like all his kind. He doesn’t care about Caylee at all.
If he gets her off, he can retire to hell in shame as far as I’m concerned.
My opinion is i don’t care how big this new attorney is,the fact”s are in the evidence he cannot take away the fact that casey did not report her child missing,the fact that george and cindy knew a dead body was in the car,the computer evidence,it all adds up to someone in that family killed caylee and if they did not kill her themselve they damn well know who did and is covering it up
and as far as george and this affair,H;ll yeah i believe it is true,i always thought there was something about george i didn’t like,he rubs me the wrong way
It’s how a guy like this will deal with the facts. We’ve seen fancy footwork before that fooled a jury. I’m just sick about this. PLUS he’s amassing a group of highly qualified people to work for/with him.
This really is a game-changer.
Sickening.
Jan! I am surprised to read that you believe these “mysterious twin sisters'” story.
If I call a tv station to tip them off that I am at PCSO to picking up some evidence they took from me re: Haleigh Cummings case, would the media accompany me inside of the Sheriff’s Office Building? No. [For one thing, I wouldn’t call them until I was getting out of my car in the parking lot.]
I could walk back out of there with my cellphone, turn to the camera man, hold it up for all to see and say, “They took my cellphone to get the incriminating text msgs Teresa Neves sent to me.”
If I’m full of bulloni, when someone calls PCSO to confirm, PCSO is likely to say “No comment.” Even if they didn’t know WTH the reporter was asking about.
The only PROOF we have that Winter and Skye [or River and Mono, or whoever those “ladies” are] were contacted by LE is what THEY told Kathy Bellich [all hail, Kathy, Queen of Investigative Reporters]. Kathy has NEVER ONCE said that the claim was backed up by law enforcement officials. She HAS said that she finds the Seester Tweens VERY BELIEVABLE.
I think Mz Kathy is not being very straightforward with her devoted flock of viewers.
I say we throw John “For the People” Morgan into the mix and really make a circus of it. Thank goodness Caylee is in the arms of the Lord.
why are you all being ridiculous? No way is she beating the murder charge..its all over except for the formalities, like a trial and sentencing. Shes dead meat and to make hay about her lawyers and their devious ploys is ludicrous..this case is signed, sealed and delivered.
What I don’t understand is that this alleged mistress says George told her it was an ADT. What kind of ADT ends with a child dying with duct tape around her mouth? Accident my eye, that baby was murdered.
OJ @ 11:10pm
DEEElighted that you are not concerned. I had assumed you knew something about the case from which you took your screen name. Guess not. Justice DOES go awry sometimes.
For monster to have THIS attorney now, who is also bringing along a LOT of others to help (partly to get to work with him and partly because they so against the DP) will make it a MUCH harder battle for the state to win.
CHeney Mason has defended something like 50 capitol cases and won most of them. He means to get her acquitted – not just NOT fried.
m2c I agree! This Cheney Mason is a ringer for the defense. We have seen stragic play by tricksters like this that completely acquit the guilty. It makes me sick! Caylee needs Justice!!!
Cheney in court yesterday telling the Judge that he thought they had already had the hearing for going over all the expenditures. BS he knew!! He thought he could get it done by the testament of Lyons and Baez on what they spent it on. Thank God! the prosecution came prepared and alert.
This old crow needs to go and retire. I do not see anything FUN about little Caylees death.
looking for Justice:
Old crow or not, Cheney Mason is 100 times the lawyer Bozo is. He’s the real deal. Lots of experience on Capitol cases AND has WON a lot of them – acquittals!
Bozo will be lucky if CM even allows him to “watch and learn.”
Not sure how all of that works- if Bozo has to stay lead attorney even if in name only or if somehow CM and the rest of them will kick him out.
It’s ironic that Bozo has actually done Monster the greatest service possible – his astounding ineptitude got her a REAL criminal defense attorney for FREE.
I was asking yesterday if anyone knew anything about him. I watched and you could see how well he plays the court. He did not get much accomplished yesterday, but I am sure it is coming. You are right about this guy being 100 times the attorney Baez is. He makes Baez look wet behind the ears and fresh out of law school.
Hi, lfj! Go to wftv.com and see the article under “Casey Anthony” that’s called “Game Changing Attorney….”
I’ve put the link below but you can find it the way I described above if the link does not appear. This guy is going to change everything from here on in.
http://www.wftv.com/news/22876305/detail.html
THREE HOTS AND A COT IS TOO GOOD FOR HER!!!!!!
Simon a great show as usual, Thank you. Jan I hope you are feeling better.
Now back to what we used to call the Dream Team, I have renamed it the Rooter Router Team, the Taxpayers are getting screwed and are going to get it big time to pay for this defence. This makes me sick, all the blood money they recieved from the Media. What happened to proving where this money went, overnight it was decided and the public has no more information then we had before. What is the big secret that we are left in the dark. And why does Casey need 2 death penalty lawyers.
With the economy the way it is so many out of work, familys suffering, this is a big total waiste.
Hi, Pat!
Fortunately all the defense lawyers are working for free now. Mason, Bozo, Lyons and Kenney-Baden. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lyons disappears. You’re right. Mason is DP qualified and Lyons isn’t needed and may not want to have to pay her own expenses.
But the state will only pay for certain things and there are limits set for certain things – experts and stuff. All the costs will be reviewed before paying by the Justice Administrative Commission. So the duhfense will HAVE to account for every nickel they want the state to pay for.
m2c
I was really expecting a hearing to actually see where all the money went. And I do not think that was all they recieved. Just listen to them the defence fumble on how much and where it went does not add up right. Bozo knew they would ask where the money was spent and where it went and as usuall he came with out paper work and proof. Hide the money and hide the proof that is the name of the game.
Hi, Pat!
I was shocked that there wasn’t a hearing or more time/emphasis spent on whatever “accounting” of expenses Bozo submitted. And I think you’re right, that we don’t even know how much money they actually received.
What I’m thinking is that Judge Strickland just wants to move this case along. To have handled this indigency thing differently would basically be opening up a “new case” so to speak. I guess as long as JAC was okay with it, I think Judge S just wants Caylee’s case to get the heck off the ground!
m2c
I do not look for it to get off the ground, with a new attorney coming on board. I see more delays. Justie for Caylee will have more delays. It seems like the only one that is getting all the breaks is Casey, this is what is wrong with our justice system. I just feel like the people that are paying for all this still need a account of every penny
Also how does a lawyer say he never kept account of his hours spent on a case, excuse me but I would think this is a big no no do you just ick a number out of your hat to charge a client. If I was paying someone for there services I sure as heck would want them to keep tract of there hours.
Pat, I agree. I wish we could have seen Bozo’s “ledger” of expenditures and his “hours.” We can only assume that the judge did and the JAC rep. But I don’t know of any way to “prove” the total amount of money the defense received – especially since the donors all seem too ashamed to want to admit it.
But the defense will have to account for every single penny they want to spend of the public’s money. The JAC oversees that.
It’s a good question whether Mason will try to delay (to catch up) or get on with it. I have no doubt in my mind that HE is in charge now. NOT Bozo. At least behind the scenes if not formally.
m2c
I bet someone digs in to the money trail.
Jan, Hope you are feeling better today, and please keep your feet under you. 🙂
I WISH someone really smart and serious would dig into the money trail INCLUDING monster’s bail (after LP threw her back in) and also into Sindee and George Marie. What are they living off of? I KNOW they’ve got something up their sleeve in spite of pulling a poor mouth with BOA on their mortgage. (grinds teeth in anger and frustration!)
Seeing as the duhfense has already been paid $200,000 by ABC (licensing fees, Ha!, yeah right) for Caylees photos, and $70,000 from the now departed Todd Malacuso and $5,000 from an anonymous donor (could it be the $5,000 from River Cruz), for a total of $275,000, what did these pie holes blow all that money on?
They went to court for the indigency hearing where KC was declared indigent, and Bozo hemmed and hawed about where the money was spent and wanted a private meeting with the judge and didn’t want to say out loud how the money was spent.
I may be wrong, but I think at the hearing, or sometime thereabouts, the court told these lawyers they cannot charge any more attorney fees; that the only moneys that can be charged for required expenses in the defense of KC’s case, and that these expenses had to be approved by the court before these expenses are incurred.
The taxpayers of Florida are going to be paying big time for this fiasco.
I think the duhfense is forgetting who the real victim in this case is – Caylee Anthony. This baby never stood a chance with this tribe of morons.
Jan you are a low life
why must you hate on someone who went thru such a traumatic experience
grow up
why is this case going on so long the baby didnot deserve it it is so sad how these ppl can use this monies and not think of what happened they must be sick
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