Casey Anthony Trial: Jury Selection Continues Through Weekend

May 14, 2011— -- In a week that was supposed to yield an entire jury of 12 members and 8 alternates for the trial of Casey Anthony, who is on trial for the 2008 killing of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee, the pace of selection has been painfully slow due to concerns of impartiality amid exhaustive media coverage.

On Friday, day 5 in the case, six jurors were dismissed from the pool of prospective panelists, and the defense used its first peremptory strike against juror #1011 -- a man who had lied about a D.U.I. in 2006.

Eight potential jurors will return for further questioning this weekend, including a nurse, a man who works in insurance, a counselor, a newspaper circulation manager, and a shift worker.

Throughout the jury selection process, which was moved from Orlando to Clearwater, defense attorneys are attempting to ensure that they can place jurors who might be sympathetic to their client.

"The defense attorneys have two goals here. Number one: innocence. And number two: there is a penalty phase in this case. They want to make sure that if and when they get to that penalty phase, they can get jurors who might be sympathetic to their client," said "Good Morning America" legal analyst Dan Abrams.

Potential jurors have been subjected to a barrage of questions by the attorneys ranging from which television programs they watch and how they feel about the death penalty to questions about sexual, verbal and mental abuse by elders.

Every juror on a death penalty case has to be willing to say that they could impose the death penalty -- though it doesn't mean that they will ultimately choose that sentence, it is to ensure that if necessary, they could.

Lawyers for Anthony are also trying to convince a judge that the she was not properly read her rights and that key statements by Anthony should be thrown out of her upcoming trial.

Among the remarks that could be at risk are Anthony's statement to Florida police that her missing daughter was with a babysitter named Zenaida Gonzales. Police eventually determined that Anthony did not know a babysitter named Zenaida Gonzales.

Losing key testimony of this kind could make it difficult for prosecutors to get the conviction of first-degree murder -- and the death penalty -- that they are seeking.

Casey Anthony is accused of killing her daughter, Caylee Anthony, who was last seen alive in June 2008. Anthony has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Caylee's disappearance wasn't reported until July 2008, when Anthony told police she had not seen Caylee in nearly a month, since dropping her off with a babysitter.

Anthony was arrested and charged with murder in October 2008.

Her daughter's skeletal remains were found in December less than a mile from the home she and her mother shared with the toddler's grandparents.

The little girl's death was ruled a homicide of undetermined means.