ORLANDO, Fla. – Just after wrapping up the first day of his deposition, Casey Anthony's defense team has filed a motion alleging the man who found Caylee Anthony's remains could be responsible for the toddler's death.
Defense attorney Jose Baez filed the motion "to introduce prior bad acts and other circumstantial evidence pertaining to Roy Kronk" around 5 p.m. Thursday. The motion lays out the defense's strategy for the first time and claims a third party is responsible for Caylee's death.
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The motion claims that Roy Kronk, the Orange County meter reader that discovered Caylee's remains in December 2008, has a history of abusing and restraining women with duct tape as well as holding them against their will. Caylee's remains were discovered in a wooded area near the Anthony family home.
The motion also alleges that Kronk could have a history of inappropriate behavior with young girls.
The defense said it interviewed two of Kronk's ex-wives and his son.
One ex said Kronk kidnapped her and held her for two weeks against her will using duct tape to restrain her.
The defense also claimed Kronk knew the location of Caylee's remains and may have had possession of them in November 2008.
The defense said the prosecution only has circumstantial evidence against Anthony in the first-degree murder case against her, and according to Florida law, for circumstantial evidence to prevail, all other options must be ruled out.
The motion asks the court "to allow Anthony to introduce at trial circumstantial evidence tending to indicate that a third party, and not Miss Anthony, is equally likely to be responsible for the death of the child Caylee Marie Anthony."
These allegations come the same day Kronk was deposed for several hours and the defense team unveiled its newest member, Mort Smith, a private investigator and professor at DePaul University.
Kronk's attorney, David Evans, issued a news release Thursday evening stating his client is a witness, not a suspect.
"Shortly after adjourning the deposition, the Anthony defense team filed a Motion, Memorandum of Law, and accompanying materials suggesting that Roy Kronk, the individual who found Caylee Anthony's remains and repeatedly reported his find to law enforcement agencies, should be considered a suspect in the murder of Caylee Anthony," Evans said. "He voluntarily appeared today and truthfully responded to all questions asked by Anthony's attorney. He has cooperated fully with law enforcement from Day One. He has nothing to hide, and has hidden nothing."
Evans said Kronk has always understood he may become a target of the defense.
"In their zeal to defend Casey Anthony, defense counsel has filed papers with the Court that are filled with allegations that have no basis in fact and falsely accuse Mr. Kronk of various types of bad behavior," Evans said. "The State will respond to these papers in due course in the criminal proceedings. As for Mr. Kronk, he vehemently denies the allegations against him and is confident that he will be vindicated. In the meantime, as he stated early on in this case, no good deed goes unpunished."
Kronk first reported finding something suspicious in the woods near the Anthonys' home on Aug. 11, 2008, but after three phone calls, a deputy came out and said he found nothing. That deputy, Richard Cain, was later fired from the Sheriff's Office for lying to his superiors about his encounter with Kronk.
Kronk is expected to be a key witness for the prosecution, but the defense apparently hired Smith to dig through Kronk's personal life.
Kronk's deposition will continue on Friday.
Anthony, 23, remains jailed on first-degree murder charges in the Caylee's death. Caylee's grandmother reported the toddler missing in July 2008, one month after she was last seen. Anthony initially told investigators she had left her daughter with a nanny named Zenaida Gonzalez.