Lee Anthony takes the stand.
On Friday, Lee Anthony, brother to Casey and uncle to Caylee, took the stand for the defense in the murder trial of his sister.
In an emotional testimony, Lee revealed aspects of his relationship with his sister, telling the court that he hadn’t known Casey was pregnant with his niece until days before she was born. Describing how he’d first come to suspect that his sister was pregnant, he said that he’d spied her swelling belly as she came out of a bathroom the two shared in 2005. “When I went in, she was coming out. I could see her mid-section and she was showing,” Lee testified. Though Lee said he’d questioned both Casey and their mother Cindy about it, both women waved his questions aside.
(MORE: Casey Anthony’s Mom Takes The Stand: Did She Lie?)
Lee also said that he had been too angry at his family’s deception to visit the hospital after Caylee was born in August of 2005. When the defense lawyer, Jose Baez, pressed Lee for another possible reason why he didn’t visit the hospital Lee gave none. (The defense has previously claimed that Lee had a sexually inappropriate relationship with his sister.)
Lee also testified that he owned the Pontiac Sunfire that was later given to Casey, a car that prosecutors allege she used to transfer Caylee’s body after she’d smothered the child with duct tape. The prosecution has presented evidence of body decomposition found in the car’s trunk, including stains. However, Lee said that the stains had been in the trunk when he first purchased the car, possibly casting doubt in the jury’s minds.
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