Giving Conflicting Statements and Depositions, It's an Anthony dilemma

George and Cindy Anthony's lawyer, Brad Conway filed a motion Tuesday, Feb.24 with Judge Jose Rodriguez who is presiding over the civil suit filed by Zenaida Fernandez- Gonzales and counter suit filed by Casey Anthony. The Motion For Protective Order was filed to prevent the Anthonys from giving sworn depositions on Thursday as scheduled in the Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez civil law suit. Conway said in the motion, that forcing them to give depositions in the suit is nothing more than an attempt to annoy and embarrass them.

Gonzalez is suing their daughter for defamation after Casey Anthony claimed a baby sitter named Zenaida Gonzalez kidnapped her daughter Caylee. Casey Anthony eventually was charged with first-degree murder in connection with Caylee's death. She is in Orange County Jail awaiting trial later this year.

Gonzalez's lawyer, John Morgan, has indeed said he planned to invite the media in and videotape the Anthony's deposition. Morgan is also reported to have said he would have some surprise questions for the Anthonys during the deposition. (This does seem to be somewhat of a taunt, and would have been best left unsaid.)

A hearing was held today to decide the motion filed by Conway. In his motion, Conway said George and Cindy Anthony have been under emotional stress since Caylee's death and their daughter's arrest, and have sought counseling."They should not be subjected to additional publication of personal information while they are still grieving deeply," he wrote.

In response Keith Mitnik, of Morgan and Morgan, agreed that George, having recently attempted suicide could wait. He stated that Cindy Anthony's deposition was more important and should go on. Gonzalez's attorney said the rights of his client and damages she's faced are lost in all this.

In his decision, Judge Rodriguez addressed the admission of media during the depositions. He allowed the media (television, print, etc.) 20 days to go back to their legal departments to have them prepare amicus briefs for the court as to why they should be allowed in the depositions. The judge also ruled to delay the depositions for 20 days to give Conway a chance to present evidence of the psychological problems the Anthonys are experiencing that Conway claimed in his motion.

While few would disagree that the Anthony's have been through a terrible loss and great emotional stress, Katfishponders wonders if their stated reasons for not complying with the deposition really holds water. George had no problem jumping in front of the cameras and involving himself in the Haleigh Cummings case and Cindy was well enough to plan a huge public memorial for Caylee.

It seems the desire to avoid being pinned down under oath is the more prevalent reason to avoid this deposition. Everyone in the Anthony family has been giving inconsistent statements to LE and the media since last July when Caylee was first reported missing. A company called Nifter Media put together a 4 part series of videos that illustrate this very well. These videos have been out there for a while, but I will post them here as a reminder of the wide range of inconsistent statements the Anthonys have put out there.

3/17/2010- for some reason the embed codes are broken...here are links to the video at YouTube:

part 1 0f 4

part 2 of 4

part 3 of 4

part 4 of 4


This is the description of the videos given by Nifter Media on YouTube:
This series of videos focuses on the 'Anthony family perspective,' so to speak; therefore most of the clips presented are of Anthony family members directly, or, about a specific family member. The song 'You Are My Sunshine' is used as a theme for these videos for a variety of reasons, foremost because videos of both Caylee and her grandfather singing this song have been released to the public, but also because the world has become so attached to this little girl and the song fits well within this context. There are also other reasons.These videos do not represent a timeline of the case, rather, they were picked randomly and pieced together in a way that we thought fit what we were trying to present. Additionally, this video is not intended to make anyone appear guilty of any wrong-doing. Editing that leaves the viewer with the impression of unlawful activity by an Anthony family member is purely coincidental and unintended.

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