The Day in Anthony's Defense
COOPER: "Crime & Punishment" tonight. In Orlando, the defense in the Casey Anthony trial is finishing up its case. Now, as we get closer to deliberations, the defense is hammering out a number of issues, hoping to find a crack in the prosecution's case big enough to qualify as reasonable doubt in at least one juror's mind. Casey's father, George, was back on the stand today questioned about an alleged affair with a search volunteer. And for the first time, jurors heard from the meter reader who found Caylee's body, the defense trying to prove he disturbed the crime scene enough to contaminate the evidence. Martin Savidge was in the courtroom today. He has the latest.</s>MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Orlando meter reader Roy Kronk, it was the grisly moment of truth. Using a pole, he found what the nation had been looking for.</s>ROY KRONK, FOUND CAYLEE ANTHONY'S BODY: I was standing behind it, so I was looking at it from behind. And I still didn't think it was real. So I very gently took it and put it into the right eye socket. And I gently pivoted it up. And I looked down and I realized what it was. And I set it down as gently as I could and went up and called my area supervisor.</s>SAVIDGE: It was December 11, 2008, the day 2-year-old Caylee Anthony's remains were found. For Casey Anthony's defense team, today was their moment of truth. By putting Kronk on the stand, they hoped to prove that Kronk, for months, manipulated Caylee's remains, in the hopes of gaining fame and fortune. The defense set the stage early on for their theory. Listen to how attorney Jose Baez described Kronk during opening statements over a month ago.</s>JOSE BAEZ, ATTORNEY FOR CASEY ANTHONY: I want to tell you that Mr. Kronk -- and, again, we are not saying Mr. Kronk had anything to do with Caylee's death -- but Mr. Kronk is a morally bankrupt individual who actually took Caylee's body and hid her. There was a $225,000 reward in this case, but it was for a live Caylee. Mr. Kronk didn't read the fine print, and he thought he had himself a lottery ticket.</s>SAVIDGE: But when Kronk took the stand today, defense attorney Cheney Mason over and over tried and seemed to fail to paint Kronk as a man attempting to cash in on a child's death.</s>CHENEY MASON, ATTORNEY FOR CASEY ANTHONY: You remember talking also to the detectives about the issue of the reward that you were looking for?</s>KRONK: We were discussing the crime line tip, sir. We weren't talking about the other ones, sir.</s>MASON: Ok, you were joking, you say, with Alex Roberts and the others about finding this body?</s>KRONK: No. We were joking about the money, sir. I never joked about finding the body, sir. That's not what I said.</s>SAVIDGE: Kronk said he went into the woods to relieve himself on August 11th, 2008, and saw something that looked like a skull. He called police.</s>KRONK (via telephone): I'm a meter reader with Orange County. And I had the route today that included the Anthonys' home. I noticed something that looked white and there was a -- like a gray bag down in there. I don't know what it is. I'm not telling you its Caylee or anything of that nature.</s>SAVIDGE: He called them again the next day. Finally he called them a third time and says when police arrived at the scene, they barely searched.</s>MASON: Did you watch Deputy Cain go into the woods?</s>KRONK: Yes, sir. Sorry.</s>MASON: Did you see him get close to where you had seen the skull?</s>KRONK: Am I allowed to say this? Am I allowed to say what happened?</s>MASON: Did you see Deputy Cain get close to where you --</s>KRONK: Deputy Cain went down to the water line, did this did this, walked back up the bank, slipped on the mud and then chewed me out for half an hour. That's exactly what happened.</s>SAVIDGE: At times, instead of testimony it seemed like a test of wills.</s>MASON: Do you remember January 6, 2009, sir, giving a recorded statement to Yuri Melich when your counsel Mr. David Evans behind us was there, and Eric Edwards. Do you remember doing that?</s>KRONK: I don't mean to be rude, sir, but you're being a little vague.</s>SAVIDGE: They weren't the only fireworks. Earlier, Casey Anthony's father George took the stand again with the defense implying he had an affair while his granddaughter was missing.</s>JOSE BAEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY FOR CASEY ANTHONY: Mr. Anthony, do you know a woman by the name of Krystal Holloway?</s>GEORGE ANTHONY, FATHER OF CASEY ANTHONY: I know her by that name and also another name.</s>BAEZ: What other name do you know her by?</s>G. ANTHONY: River Cruz.</s>BAEZ: Did you have a romantic relationship with her?</s>G. ANTHONY: No, sir. No. To me that's -- that's very funny.</s>BAEZ: Very funny.</s>G. ANTHONY: Yes, sir.</s>BAEZ: And were you ever intimate with her?</s>G. ANTHONY: No, sir. And also -- that's also very funny.</s>SAVIDGE: George Anthony maintains that Holloway was just a volunteer who helped look for his granddaughter. The defense alleges that George Anthony in a moment of intimacy confessed to Holloway that his granddaughter's death was an accident that snowballed out of control.</s>BAEZ: Did you, prior to finding your granddaughter, tell Krystal Holloway or River Cruz that Caylee's death was an accident that snowballed out of control?</s>G. ANTHONY: Well, sir, to clarify your question, I never found my granddaughter. To this day I never found her. And to say that I had said something to her about as been stated or even by you here that something might have snowballed out of control. That conversation was never there.</s>COOPER: So Martin, it seemed like the defense had a lot riding on the meter reader Kronk's testimony. It doesn't sound like they did much to prove their theory, though.</s>SAVIDGE: No. You know, Anderson, every day is of course a big day for the defense team, but today was really huge. And for Roy Kronk to take the stand there -- because as we know, Jose Baez had made this grand statement in his opening argument that he was going to show that Kronk somehow had taken control of Caylee Anthony's remains and had manipulated them for fame and fortune. Everybody in the courtroom, when he got on that stand they all did -- one of these, leaned forward in the seats. Even the jury did that. They were laser-focused on him. But in the end, most of those professional and unprofessional observers in the courtroom felt that defense failed to make that point. And in fact it was really not a good day for the defense team when it came to Roy Kronk.</s>COOPER: Martin Savidge. Martin thanks.</s>SAVIDGE: Yes.</s>COOPER: Just ahead we are going to dig in deeper to the relationship between Casey Anthony and her dad, especially defense claims which he denies that he sexually abused her when she grew up and that's why she acted strangely and lied so much after Caylee disappeared. The question is, is there anything in the jailhouse recordings of the father-daughter conversations that even hint at a troubled past? We'll take a look. And reputed Boston mobster Whitey Bulger in court today telling the judge why he's worried about getting a fair trial.