Casey Anthony Trial: Court in Recess to Consider Legal Issue

June 25, 2011— -- Testimony will resume on Monday instead of this morning in the Casey Anthony trial - the Florida mom accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee, due to a legal issue.

Judge Belvin Perry Jr. said the court would recess for the day and continue next week as he looked into a legal issue after a meeting with defense attorneys, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Today's session was set to start at 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

On Friday, Casey's brother, Lee Anthony, testified emotionally about his sister's pregnancy with Caylee, breaking down in tears as he claimed his family ignored her pregnancy, not talking about it until just days before she gave birth in 2005.

The brother's dramatic appearance on the witness stand left prosecutors baffled and they questioned the sincerity of his emotion as well as his memory that seemed to differ from his 2009 deposition.

Earlier in the week, on Thursday, Cindy Anthony, Casey Anthony's mother, took credit for some of the chloroform searches on the family computer, a blow to the prosecution's theory that it was Casey Anthony who searched chloroform 84 times in her computer.

The prosecution is arguing that Casey Anthony murdered her daughter with chloroform and duct tape.

Caylee was reported missing on July 15, 2008, about a month after she was last seen alive. Casey Anthony could face the death penalty if convicted of first degree murder.

The defense claims Caylee accidentally drowned in the family pool.

At one point Friday, Cindy Anthony returned to the stand where defense attorney Jose Baez asked her, "How many times had you advised law enforcement you thought Caylee drowned in the pool?"

Prosecutors objected and a sidebar, Judge Belvin Perry told her to not answer the question.

Casey Anthony's Family Surprises Prosecution With Its Testimony

Lee Anthony told the court Friday that the family ignored Casey's pregnancy even after she was visibly showing in the seventh month and he said no one acknowledged the pregnancy until days before Caylee was born.

The testimony by Lee Anthony was the latest effort by Casey Anthony's lawyers to depict a dysfunctional family that ignored the obvious at times.

Lee Anthony told jurors that he confronted his mother once about his sister's pregnancy, but he was told to let it go and it was never fully discussed until a few days before Casey Anthony gave birth in August 2005.

The brother started crying on the stand when he told the court why he wasn't present at Caylee's birth.

"I was very angry at my mom and I was also angry at my sister," said Lee Anthony, breaking into tears on the stand. "I was just angry at everyone in general that they didn't want to include me and didn't find it important enough to tell me, especially after I had already asked. So I was very hurt."

Lee Anthony's delivery of his testimony was far different from when he testified for the prosecution earlier this month. He showed little emotion and frequently said he didn't recall statements he'd made in his deposition. When prosecutors asked him about this, he said, "It's hard to remember something you did two years ago, absolutely."

On Friday, Lee Anthony's memory seemed markedly better and he was far more emotional. When asked what was making him more emotional about his testimony concerning Caylee's pregnancy then when he was deposed two years ago, he said he was in a different emotional state now.

"Two years ago I did not 100 percent hold the belief that Caylee was dead…During that two year span, I've come to the place where I believe that she is and my emotions are elicited from those facts that I have regrets and I wish I could have been there a little more than I was," said Lee Anthony.

Prosecutors countered his testimony that the pregnancy was ignored by reminding Lee Anthony that in his earlier deposition he described his parents as being "over the top" about the coming birth, that they prepared a nursery and held a baby shower.

It was also revealed upon cross examination that Lee Anthony met with defense attorney Jose Baez after he testified for the state, but before he gave today's testimony. He had previously refused to meet with prosecutors. Lee Anthony said that no one from the defense prepared him for Friday's testimony and the meeting was about a separate issue.

New evidence photos of Caylee Anthony in the family pool

Earlier Friday morning, Cindy Anthony and her daughter Casey Anthony cried as they watched a video of a giggling 2-year-old Caylee Anthony playing with her mother and saw pictures of the toddler in the family swimming pool.

Home video of Casey Anthony playing with daughter Caylee

Cindy Anthony -- mother to Casey and grandmother to Caylee -- wiped tears from her eyes with a tissue as she watched the video of Caylee bouncing on Casey Anthony's legs as the young mom laid on the floor. Both Casey Anthony and Caylee were smiling in the video.

The video from April 2007 showed Caylee in the same shorts that were found tattered with her remains on Dec. 11, 2008.

A visibly upset Cindy Anthony was rocking on the witness stand, taking deep breaths and rubbing her neck to try and stop the tears. At one point, defense attorney Jose Baez even asked her if she needed a break.

She said, "No, I'm all right."

The defense seems to be suggesting that the shorts were too small for Caylee when she disappeared in the summer of 2008 because she had grown significantly.

Upon cross examination, Cindy Anthony said that Caylee was pretty much potty trained and wasn't always wearing a bulky diaper under her shorts.

Jurors also looked at pictures of the Anthony family pool and the removable ladder used to climb into the pool.