Defense Wants Roy Kronk Investigated

Casey Anthony's attorneys want meter reader Roy Kronk investigated
Casey Anthony tears up at check-fraud trial


Casey Anthony wipes tears from her face after Judge Strickland on Monday, Jan. 25, 2010 found her guilty thisat the Orange County Courthouse in several of the 13 check fraud charges she faced. The judge found her guilty in six of the charges and withheld adjudication in seven. Anthony is accused of stealing hundreds of dollars from former friend Amy Huizenga during the time her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee Marie, was missing and likely dead in 2008. (RED HUBER, ORLANDO SENTINEL / January 25, 2010)

By Bianca Prieto, Orlando Sentinel
10:41 p.m. EST, January 27, 2010

Prosecutors have no doubt about the identity of 2-year-old Caylee Marie Anthony's killer. Her 23-year-old mother, Casey Anthony, did it, and she's the only suspect they ever had, they say.

But now Anthony's attorneys are stepping up efforts to put someone else under a microscope — the man who found the toddler's remains.

Roy Kronk discovered what was left of the toddler when he was a meter reader for Orange County in December 2008, nearly five months after the Anthony family reported her missing.

The idea that Kronk should be a suspect — an idea first raised by Anthony's defense team in November — is one experts that say is designed to raise doubts among jurors during Anthony's murder trial.

It's also an idea that's not going away anytime soon, even though Kronk and his attorney steadfastly dispute the allegation.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Anthony, who has pleaded not guilty.

This week, her lead attorney, Jose Baez, said on national television that she won't admit to guilt in the murder trial, as she did Monday in an unrelated check-fraud case.

On the same day Anthony was found guilty of six theft-related charges, a judge cleared the way for her defense team to dig up more on violence allegations in Kronk's past.

Orange County Circuit Court Judge Stan Strickland is allowing her team to question Jill Kerley, one of Kronk's former wives, under oath.

Kerley already told a private investigator for the Anthony team that Kronk once tied her up with duct tape and kidnapped her for two weeks, records say. Her allegations were videotaped and released to the media.

Duct tape is central to Caylee Anthony's death. Forensic evidence released by the State Attorney's Office shows the toddler's mouth was covered by duct tape when she died.

It is not clear whether Kerley ever filed a criminal complaint against Kronk. Florida records show he doesn't have a criminal history in this state.

Tennessee criminal records show Kerley is a convicted felon who is on probation. Records show she has been charged several times with writing bad checks as far back as 1998.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation records also indicate that Kerley, who is a nurse, was arrested in 2000 on a controlled-substance charge. The outcome of that case was not available.

If her testimony is entered into the record, it's likely prosecutors will point to her criminal past.

Kronk's attorney said his client doesn't have a violent past, never hurt his ex-wives and had nothing to do with Caylee other than finding her bones.

"This is the continuation of a series of stories that the defense has had to cobble together to come up with a way to defend this case," attorney David Evans said. "To me, the suggestion that Roy Kronk should be suspect makes even less sense than the nanny story."

Evans was referring to the person Anthony said abducted her daughter — a nanny named Zenaida Fernandez Gonzalez, who investigators said doesn't exist.

Even though court papers filed by Anthony's attorneys say Kronk should be a suspect, Baez said, "We've never pointed the finger at him."

He called Kronk a critical witness: "We believe he should have been looked into."

Asked about what connection there could be between Kronk and Caylee, Baez replied, "That's nothing that we're going to discuss at this time. We're going to bring it out in court."

Detectives with the Orange County Sheriff's Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have spoken to Kronk at length on several occasions, Evans said. The Sheriff's Office said Kronk was never a suspect in the case.

The focus on Kronk is aimed at raising doubts among jurors as well as discrediting Kronk, a witness for the state, according to Orlando attorney Mark O'Mara.

"This is something that the defense can look at and can either expose or maybe even inflate, because one of their jobs in a case like this is to show or expose reasonable doubt," he said.

Evans said he is not concerned about what Kronk's ex-wife might say under oath.

"It's one thing to spew venom to a private investigator, but a different scenario when you're under oath and being cross-examined," Evans said.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/os-casey-anthony-20100127,0,2772056.story

exactly HOW is the Kronk did it story gonna work in court..

he killed her.. went to the anthony home to retrieve duct tape, laundry bag, garbage bags, and a pooh blanket.. found KCs conveniently abandoned car, put the body in there... left it for several days, went back to the car, removed the body, took it a few blocks away from the anthony home, dumped the body... went back-called police to tell them he found the body??

this really does not make a lick of sense. i suppose they could claim that kronk was an accomplice of KCs, but there has to be some involvement from the inside based on the items found at the crime scene...

and did kronk also break into the anthony home to use the computer to search for chloroform, neck breaking?? i bet he also forced KC into all that partying.. and the check fraud thing too... that lingerie was not for KC, it was the ransom..

and he was really imaginative when he made up the 3... count them 3 zanny the nanny kidnapping scenarios..

1. the defense is making a BIG mistake here... this WILL backfire on them in court.
2. kronk's ex wife is a loon with a felony record. she is going to be torn apart if she gets on the stand.

does it make me a bad person that i will be pleased to see her ripped to shreds by the prosecution??

I don't think it makes you a bad person to want to see Kronk's ex ripped to shreds by the prosecution Randi. I think the only reason she gave the defense this story is that she wanted to get back at Kronk, so I think she deserves what she gets in court.

You are right that it is ridiculous to blame Kronk and I hope it backfires big time. The only way to blame Kronk would be to present the scenario you described to a jury and that is even more ridiculous than any of Casey's stories.

Randi said:

does it make me a bad person that i will be pleased to see her ripped to shreds by the prosecution??

No, it makes you human..... and I agree with J4A. JK deserves anything she gets if she is willing to testify to that garbage just to get back at an ex for whom she has some hateful feelings.

I am not convinced she will actually go through with a SWORN deposition. That video taped interview by the PI was not a SWORN statement. And, as I said, if she does go through with dumping on RK, she deserves anything she gets dumped on her.

Judge: Kronk's 'Prior Bad Acts' Can't Be Used

Order One Of Several Filed Friday In Case

UPDATED: 4:15 pm EST January 21, 2011



ORLANDO, Fla. -- Judge Belvin Perry issued several new orders on Friday in the case against Casey Anthony.

Notably, Perry said that the defense cannot introduce evidence at trial of Roy Kronk's prior bad acts. The former meter reader found Caylee Anthony's remains in December 2008.

READ: Kronk Order

Read more: http://www.wesh.com/caseyanthony/26573595/detail.html

Casey Anthony case: Defense can't accuse man who found Caylee's remains of killing her

Chief Judge Belvin Perry also ruled on 5 other motions in the first-degree murder case against Casey Anthony, who is charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.

By Susan Jacobson, Orlando Sentinel
7:23 p.m. EST, January 21, 2011

Casey Anthony's defense team was dealt a blow Thursday when a judge ruled her attorneys may not introduce evidence about past "inappropriate behavior" of the man who found the remains of Anthony's 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.

The attorneys wanted to introduce circumstantial evidence at her murder trial linking Roy Kronk to the slaying. Anthony, 24, is charged with first-degree murder in the death-penalty case.

The defense wanted jurors to hear that Kronk has a "possible history of inappropriate behavior with young girls," a history of "abusing, restraining and holding women against their will, using duct tape to restrain women" and being involved in "an imaginary world of fantasy and violence," the ruling states.

"Mr. Kronk's purported inappropriate or abusive behavior does not tend to prove or disprove any material fact in the case, and it is not admissible...," Chief Orange-Osceola Circuit Judge Belvin Perry wrote.

Read more: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/caylee-anthony/os-casey-anthony-trial-photography-20110121,0,25106.story

I'm so glad that Judge Perry denied the use of Kronk's past bad acts in this trial. It was a stupid idea to start with.