Casey Anthony Appears in Court, Lawyers Want Evidence Suppressed

Jan. 3, 2011 — -- Casey Anthony, the Florida woman accused of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee Anthony, appeared in court today as her defense argued to keep evidence -- including comments about her sexual history -- out of her upcoming murder trial.

In December, Anthony's attorneys filed several motions to supress the evidence, from what court documents refer to as the "sexual interrogation" of two acquaintances of Anthony's, to the girl's tattoo and MySpace page.

Anthony's lawyers said the police questioning of a man about his alleged sexual relationship with Anthony was "scandalous and incompetent and should not be allowed in any aspects of this case," according to a report by The Orlando Sentinel.

At the hearing today, a Florida judge ruled that witnesses who had had with a romantic relationship with Anthony would be allowed, but the questioning would not veer into extremely intimate details of the relationship.

Several of the other motions, including the one regarding Anthony's tattoo, refer to evidence that the defense argues is "irrelevant character evidence."

That evidence, the defense said, serves "no other purpose than to unfairly prejudice the jury against [Casey Anthony] and even if evidence of her tattoo was found to be relevant in some limited way, its prejudicial impact would so far outweigh its probative value as to deprive her of a fair trial."

The motion cites an "outpouring" of negative comments that came after it was discovered Anthony got the tattoo -- which says "the beautiful life" in Italian -- approximately two weeks after Caylee Anthony reportedly disappeared. A decision will not be made about whether references to the tattoo would be admitted until the prosecution has had 15 days to respond to the motion.

The defense also argued against references to a MySpace page called "Diary of Days," believed to be maintained by Anthony in which song lyrics were posted "on or about the date of the Defendant's arrest." Prosecutors were also granted 15 days to respond to that motion.

Other motions dealt more directly with physical evidence, including one motion that called reports about traces of chloroform in Anthony's car a "fraud on the American public."

"These intentional false leaks were reported and repeated for months and continue until this day, despite being untrue and have prejudiced Miss Anthony's presumption of innocence that is completely unrecoverable," the motion said.

Defense Argues Against Jailhouse Reaction Video

The defense is also attempting to suppress the jailhouse footage of Anthony reacting to the news that her daughter's body had been discovered on Dec. 11, 2008, calling it "utterly irrelevant."

"The video taken was a direct attempt to elicit a response from Miss Anthony without her attorney present, a blatant violation of her rights under the Sixth Ammendment," the motion said.

Casey Anthony reported her daughter missing in July 2008, telling police she had not seen the girl in a month after dropping her off with a babysitter. After several attempts to track down the babysitter, police said they did not believe the person existed. Casey Anthony was arrested for murder in October 2008, even though Caylee's body was not discovered until December of that year.

CLICK HERE to see ABC News' Casey Anthony Case TIMELINE.

The motions decided upon today are not the first in which the defense attempted to suppress evidence.

In July, a Florida judge ruled that the content of several 911 calls made the day Caylee was reported missing would be allowed in court, over the defense team's protests.

Casey Anthony's murder trial is scheduled to begin in May this year.